GeoEye Given OK For Launch

The 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California, has approved a September 6th launch for GeoEye-1. Hurricane Hanna has changed course away from Florida, so the Company’s launch provider, United Launch Alliance (ULA), has mobilized personnel from the East Coast to the West Coast to support the new launch date. Final preparations for launch are underway. A ‘live’ switched video feed taken from Air Force range cameras will be uplinked to a transmission satellite beginning at 11 a.m. PDT, September 6th, with bars and tone. The feed will continue until about one hour after launch or until the satellite has successfully separated from the Delta II launch vehicle. Satellite transponder and other information needed to downlink the video feed include:

• Satellite: AMC-1 C17
• Orbital Location: 103° W
• Uplink Frequency: 6265 MHz Vertical
• Downlink Frequency: 4040 MHz Horizontal
• Audio: 6.2 and 6.8

The launch video and commentary will be streamed ‘live’ over the Internet beginning at about 11:15 a.m. PDT after feeding 15 minutes of bars and tone.

Select this image for more launch info…