The Wideband Global SATCOM will improve communications capabilities for U.S. military
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan. 12, 2011 – Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne stands poised to power the fourth in a series of Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) communications satellites for the U.S. military on Jan. 19. This first launch of the New Year is scheduled to take off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-68 and RL10B-2 engines providing booster and upper-stage propulsion, respectively. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX).
WHAT: First launch of the year using Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engines, whose power and propulsion systems have been used on launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic vehicles on critical missions for decades. PWR successfully boosted 14 launches in 2011.
WHO: Steve Bouley, vice president, Launch Vehicle & Hypersonic Systems, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, will be available for interviews. To schedule a phone interview before or after the launch, contact Carri Karuhn at 818-307-2285.
WHERE: Launch scheduled at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida
WHEN: Phone interviews available on Jan. 18
The WGS satellites are part of a larger system that increases communications capabilities for U.S. military forces. The mission will launch on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV medium rocket. The RS-68 is the world’s largest hydrogen-fueled engine, designed for heavy lift with 758,000 pounds of vacuum thrust and 663,000 pounds of sea-level thrust. The RL10B-2 is a unique cryogenic upper-stage engine that provides 465 seconds of specific impulse and 24,750 pounds of thrust.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a part of Pratt & Whitney, is a preferred provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovative system solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications, including the engines for launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines. Behind its successful designs, manufacturing processes, and hardware are Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne’s research and development engineers, who solve tough problems in extreme environments. For more information, go to www.PrattWhitneyRocketdyne.com. Follow us at www.twitter.com/pwrocketdyne and www.facebook.com/pwrocketdyne.
Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and commercial building industries.
Carri Karuhn
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
Communications Specialist
818-586-4963
We engineer groundbreaking solutions that perform in the most extreme conditions on Earth and in space.
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