Trident Missile Scores 120th Launch From Submerged Submarine: Lockheed
A Trident missile was launched from a submarine, marking the 120 test launch since 1989, according to Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT].
The unarmed Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) built by Lockheed was launched from the submerged submarine Henry M Jackson (SSBN 730) in the Pacific Ocean.
The missile launch was part of the Demonstration and Shakedown Operation (DASO) to certify the Jackson for deployment, following a shipyard overhaul period and conversion from Trident I C4 to the Trident II D5 configuration.
The Navy performs tests to assure the safety, reliability, readiness and performance of the Trident II D5 Strategic Weapon System, as required by the Department of Defense National Command Authority and conducted under the testing guidelines of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
For the tests, operational missiles are converted into inert configurations using test missile kits produced by Lockheed Martin that contain range safety devices and flight telemetry instrumentation.
First deployed in 1990, the D5 missile is currently aboard 12 Trident II Ohio-class submarines and four British Trident II Vanguard-class submarines. The three-stage, solid- propellant, inertial-guided ballistic missile can travel a nominal range of 4,000 nautical miles and carries multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., is the prime contractor and program manager for the Navy Trident Missile.
The test also involved the Lockheed Martin navigation subsystem that continuously and covertly provides navigation data required to support stringent Trident Weapon System performance requirements.
Launch Schedule
2007 Launches
Date: December 6 +
Mission: STS-122
Launch Vehicle: Atlantis
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 4:31 p.m. EST
Description: STS-122 will deliver the Columbus European Laboratory Module and will be the twenty-fourth mission to the International Space Station.
2008 Launches
Date: February 14 +
Mission: STS-123
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 11:57 a.m. EST
Description: Mission STS-123 on Space Shuttle Endeavour will deliver the pressurized section of the Kibo Japanese Experiment Logistics Module (ELM-PS) on the twenty-fifth mission to the International Space Station.
Date: April 1 *
Mission: STSS Demo – Missile Defense Agency
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 17, Pad A
Description: STSS Demo is a midcourse tracking technology demonstrator and is part of an evolving ballistic missile defense system. STSS is capable of tracking objects after boost phase and provides trajectory information to other sensors and interceptors. To be launched by NASA for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA).
Date: April 17 *
Mission: STSS ATRR – Missile Defense Agency
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base – Launch Pad SLC-2
Description: STSS ATRR serves as a pathfinder for future launch and mission technology for the Missile Defense Agency. To be launched by NASA for the MDA.
Date: April 24 +
Mission: STS-124
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 8:26 a.m. EDT
Description: Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-124 will transport the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module – Pressurized Module (JEM-PM) and the Japanese Remote Manipulator System (JEM-RMS) to the International Space Station.
Date: May 29 *
Mission: GLAST
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 17 – Pad 17-B
Description: An heir to its successful predecessor — the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory — the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope will have the ability to detect gamma rays in a range of energies from thousands to hundreds of billions of times more energetic than the light visible to the human eye. Radiation of such magnitude can only be generated under the most extreme conditions, thus GLAST will focus on studying the most energetic objects and phenomena in the universe.
Date: June 12 *
Mission: GOES-O
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta IV
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 17
Description: NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are actively engaged in a cooperative program, the multimission Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series N-P. This series will be a vital contributor to weather, solar and space operations, and science.
Date: June 15
Mission: OSTM/Jason 2
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base – Launch Pad SLC-2
Description: The Ocean Surface Topography Mission on the Jason-2 satellite will be a follow-on to the Jason mission.
Date: June 15
Mission: IBEX
Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL Rocket
Launch Site: Reagan Test Site, Kwajalein Atoll
Description: IBEX’s science objective is to discover the global interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium and will achieve this objective by taking a set of global energetic neutral atom images that will answer four fundamental science questions.
Date: June 25 +
Mission: TacSat-3
Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Minotaur Rocket
Launch Site: Wallops Flight Facility – Goddard Space Flight Center
Description: NASA will support the Air Force launch of the TacSat-3 satellite, managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate. TacSat-3 will demonstrate the capability to furnish real-time data to the combatant commander. NASA Ames will fly a microsat and NASA Wallops will fly the CubeSats on this flight in addition to providing the launch range.
Date: Aug. 7 *
Mission: STS-125
Launch Vehicle: Atlantis
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 8:24 a.m. EDT
Description: Space Shuttle Atlantis will fly seven astronauts into space for the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. During the 11-day flight, the crew will repair and improve the observatory’s capabilities through 2013.
Date: Sept. 18 +
Mission: STS-126
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 8:08 p.m. EDT
Description: Space Shuttle Endeavour launching on assembly flight ULF2, will deliver a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the International Space Station.
Date: Oct. 31
Mission: LRO/LCROSS
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 41
Description: The mission objectives of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite are to advance the Vision for Space Exploration by confirming the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at either the Moon’s North or South Pole.
Date: Dec 1
Mission: SDO
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 41
Description: The first Space Weather Research Network mission in the Living With a Star (LWS) Program of NASA.
Date: Dec 15
Mission: OCO
Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Taurus Rocket
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base – Launch Pad SLC 576-E
Description: The Orbiting Carbon Observatory is a new Earth orbiting mission sponsored by NASA’s Earth System Science Pathfinder Program.
2009 Launches
Date: Feb. 16
Mission: Kepler
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 17 – Pad 17-B
Description: The Kepler Mission, a NASA Discovery mission, is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to detect and characterize hundreds of Earth- size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone.