Huge Delta rocket flies from Vandenberg, California

Huge Delta rocket flies from Vandenberg, California

www.bbc.co.uk

The biggest rocket ever to launch from the US West Coast has lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The 72m-high Delta IV Heavy was carrying a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)

(visit the link for the full news article)

Had a look around the forums quickly but could not find anything relating to this missile launch....thought some of you guys on here may have some idea what this may be in aid of....

I wasnt aware that rockets this size could be classifed and if so how long before we know what it is meant for....It mentions CIA so I am assuming this probably isnt for our benefit....

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

There was another thread about this someplace earlier.... though it still did not mention what the payload was for.

reply to post by booda


Here you go

Delta IV Heavy launch, called NROL-49.
This mission is national reconnaissance office as well and its details and payload are classified.

The United Launch Alliance website has details of the launch here:

United Launch Alliance

This launch is another in the series classified reconnaissance satellites of what are known as Mentor spacecraft, a.k.a. Advanced Orion, which gather signals intelligence from inclined geosynchronous orbits. They are among the largest satellites ever deployed.

A lovely photo of the NROL-49 -


Photo Courtesy of www.comspacewatch.com...

The patch for this mission is unsettling. I'd like to see someone with a good understanding of symbolism dissect what the meaning behind the patch could be.

reply to post by DroppinSuga


It is unerving, and when deciphered ...well lets just say that wont put your fears to rest.

MELIOR DIABOLUS QUEM SCIES

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a03795ef63e0.jpg[/atsimg]

Translates into english from latin as -

better than the devil, whom thou shalt know

The patch for NRO Launch 49 depicts a phoenix rising from the flames. The patch also features fourteen stars, including one being carried in the bird’s beak. There also appears to be a fifteenth star obscured by the bird’s wing. There’s a long tradition in such patches for the stars to symbolize the number of payloads launched. Fourteen stars just happens to be the number of KH-11 type electro-optical satellites successfully launched by the United States over the years—including the one being carried into orbit by this bird. A fifteenth launch—the one obscured star—ended in failure.

The Latin words “melior diabolus quem scies” are inscribed on the patch. This roughly translates to mean “the devil you know,” as in the phrase “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.”

All of these symbols hint that this is the fifteenth launch of a KH-11 type electro-optical reconnaissance satellite.

www.thespacereview.com...

For more details about this patch, and other mission patches, see my signature

reply to post by burntheships


Thank you for the info! You were just the guy I was looking for, as I read your thread about mission patches a few days ago. I didn't notice your presence in the thread earlier (doh!).

But again, thanks for the info!

reply to post by DroppinSuga


Its ~gal~, and thanks!

Another poster has located a mission patch, which is interesting.
Check it out....

Originally posted by burntheships

Originally posted by Darce
Check out the launch emblem!



Is that the Moon on top of the Earth with the sun in the background or what? What do you think the stylised initials on the Moon (?) represent?

The patch you found has a latin phrase ( Old World Order - Rome )
primoris gravis ex occasus

Which translates into english :
from the settings at the top of grave

or setting (of the sun, etc); the west; fall, destruction.

Could equal "First Heavy From The West

Look at the ladys hand holding a wrench.

I will digg around some more....

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by burntheships


Oops! I'm sorry. This darn interwebz makes it hard to tell gender.

That patch is rather alarming. And the mission is, with all that's going on so far this year, quite concerning. Have we ever launched from anywhere other than Cape Kennedy? In fact, with what's happened at the Tampa Airport and with the GPS "testing" going on in the southeast, it seems to me that it's quite possibly related. Maybe for some reason they can't launch from the Cape.

reply to post by DroppinSuga


Yes, it does. Understandable happens all the time.
I need to get a latin phrase, and put it on my avatar -
Hints at being female and all that.

Here is an awesome video which I will embed but most likely wont play on here,
just click on the "watch on YouTube" link.

Its incredible...and to answer, no I am not one of the gals in that video.

reply to post by burntheships


When I click the "Watch on YouTube" link it says the video has been removed by the author.

reply to post by Okandetre


Here's a link to the thread you are talking about:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I tried.
Still working on it...

reply to post by burntheships

Already gone Thanks for trying!

reply to post by ~Lucidity


This one still works, and its actually just as good, or better.



www.youtube.com...

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
That patch is rather alarming. And the mission is, with all that's going on so far this year, quite concerning. Have we ever launched from anywhere other than Cape Kennedy? In fact, with what's happened at the Tampa Airport and with the GPS "testing" going on in the southeast, it seems to me that it's quite possibly related. Maybe for some reason they can't launch from the Cape.

FWIW this particular launch has been planned for several years. It's taken that long to build the rocket (in Alabama), transport it to California, and set it all up. Planning for this launch likely started a decade ago, so comparing to recent events is probably not at all valid. This is the first of seven Delta launches for 2011, including two more heavies. Some will be in Florida, some at Vandenberg.

YES, we have launched many times from other than Canaveral. The Vandenberg launch facility has been there many years and launched its first missile in 1958. It actually has six active launch sites. This is the first Delta "Heavy" launched from Vandenberg. "Heavy" effectively means the rocket itself and two boosters. Normal Delta rockets do not have the boosters.

Vandenberg is not close to the equator so it isn't suitable for some launches, but, apparenrtly, is good for polar track satellites. This one is a spy satellite, of course, and will join a zillion others already up there. This launch is really nothing out of the ordinary

reply to post by burntheships

Thanks, burn...very cool.

reply to post by schuyler

Thanks for the explanations, schuyler. I did look more things up (in the other thread, There's another site on the east coast, an island off Virginia that's actually the oldest launch site it the world too. (I think lol...I'm getting confused between threads!). What you've explained and added here really rounds things out.

Interesting about west coast launches too not being able to reach the ISS (think someone posted that in the other thread).

Being that I know quite a lot of people working for USAF Space Command....[some] patches are for fun....some are real unit patches....some are not. For example....one of USAF Space Command's unit patch
Each crew has their own design. Couple of more: Actual Unit Patch
this one some should love actual unit patch


Many of the patches you find are just jokes...they are like trading cards....so you cannot take most you see online as serious... Such as this..


With that said...I have watched a number of launches while living on VAFB....awesome to watch and listen too

I got a message from my friend who is currently there while she was watching this one launch....wish I had been there.

reply to post by greeneyedleo


Sorry but that patch you linked to with the smiling monkey seems a lot different than the hell fire devil patch on this rocket.

The patch is scary. Reminds me of a phoenix in flames getting ready for rebirth. Definitely not in the same realm as the monkey fun patch. Sorry.