ULA Commemorates US Air Force 70th Anniversary with WGS-9 Launch

Delta 4 emerges onto the launch pad. Photo: ULA.

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta 4 rocket carrying the ninth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS-9) satellite for the United States Air Force (USAF) lifted off from Space Launch Complex-37 on March 18.

“This launch commemorates the 70th anniversary of the USAF,” said Laura Maginnis, ULA vice president of government satellite launch. “We are absolutely honored to play a role in this important milestone, while safely delivering WGS-9 to orbit.”

Orbital ATK provided propulsion, composite and spacecraft technologies for the launch. For WGS-9, Orbital ATK produced both loop heat pipes and standard heat pipes, which provide payload, spacecraft bus and battery thermal management, at its Beltsville, Maryland, facility. Additionally, Orbital ATK manufactured the payload pallet boom tubes at its Magna, Utah, location and the payload module at its San Diego, California, site.

For the Delta 4 rocket, Orbital ATK provided four 60-inch diameter Graphite Epoxy Motors (GEM-60). The 53-foot-long solid rocket boosters burned for 90 seconds and provided more than 1.1 million pounds of thrust. Orbital ATK produced the solid rocket motors at its Magna, Utah, facility, where it has manufactured 84 GEM-60s in support of the 36 Delta 4 launches since the initial flight in 2002.

In addition to the GEM-60 propulsion, Orbital ATK supplied a combined eighteen Delta 4 and GEM-60 key composite structures, which provide lower weight and higher performance. The largest composite structures are five meters in diameter, range from one to 14 meters in length, and are produced using either advanced wet winding or hand layup, machining and inspection techniques at Orbital ATK’s manufacturing facilities in Iuka, Mississippi, and Clearfield, Utah.

Orbital ATK also manufactured the propellant tank for the Delta 4 upper stage roll control system at the company’s Commerce, California, facility, and designed and manufactured the nozzles for Delta 4’s RS-68A liquid engine and GEM-60 solid motors at its Promontory, Utah, facility. Orbital ATK also designed and produced the nozzle’s thermal protection material.

The WGS-9 satellite is part of a larger system that increases military communications capabilities for U.S. and allied forces deployed worldwide. WGS-9 supports communications links in the X-band and Ka-band spectra and will be able to filter and downlink up to 8.088 GHz of bandwidth.