Two Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engines helped boost the last in a series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, designated GOES-P, into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., today to help meteorologists monitor severe weather while improving the daily forecast. It will also provide early warning of solar disturbances that disrupt communications, navigation and power systems on earth. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company, powered a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket procured by Boeing Launch Services with an RS-68 engine and an upper stage RL10B-2 engine. This was the 245th launch of a Delta vehicle using Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engine power.
The Boeing-built GOES-P was developed by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is equipped with an advanced attitude control system that provides enhanced image resolution and navigation to better locate severe storms and other weather conditions. GOES-P is the third and last spacecraft to be launched in the GOES N-P series of geostationary environmental weather satellites, which orbit at the same speed as Earth’s rotation. This allows the GOES-P to stay above a fixed point 22,300 miles above the Earth’s surface and provides constant monitoring of atmospheric conditions that can trigger tornadoes, flash floods and hurricanes.
“Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne congratulates Boeing, ULA, NASA and NOAA for the successful launch of GOES-P, and is proud to continue our vital role in helping boost technology that will monitor unpredictable weather patterns,” said Craig Stoker, RS-68 program manager, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
The upper-stage RL10B-2 helped place the satellite into orbit. “The RL10B-2 performed exactly as expected, and we are honored to supply the ride for this satellite that will be used by scientists in their mission to provide early warning during severe weather conditions,” said Christine Cooley, RL10 program manager, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc., 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 main engines for the space shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines.
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.
