Matthew Nelson
United Launch Alliance has positioned an Atlas V rocket on a vertical integration platform at Cape Canaveral in Florida in preparation for a scheduled launch in February, Spaceflight Now reported Monday.
The rocket houses an initial stage equipped with the RD-180 dual-nozzle engine, a 13.1-foot payload fairing, a Centaur upper stage fitted with an Aerojet Rocketdyne-built RL10 engine and a single strap-on solid rocket booster.
Atlas V will take off on Feb. 6 and is expected to carry the Solar Orbiter mission, a spacecraft designed by Airbus“™s defense and space business to gauge the sun“™s plasma and magnetic field output through the use of 10 scientific instruments.
The mission represents ULA“™s first flight for 2020 and the 82nd launch for Atlas V. The rocket previously brought Boeing“™s Starliner crew capsule to outer space as part of an unmanned test flight effort.
