Delta IV Launch Success Ushers in Record Year for Ecliptic’s RocketCam
The successful launch of Boeing’s Delta IV rocket on Monday involved a record four RocketCam™ onboard imaging systems for capturing dramatic views of liftoff, first stage separation, second stage nozzle extension and operation, payload fairing separation, spacecraft spin-up and finally, spacecraft separation.
At the very end of the allowable launch window early Monday evening, the huge Delta IV rocket roared from its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and within 45 minutes successfully inserted its USAF DSCS III A-3 spacecraft payload into the desired low Earth orbit.
An abbreviated version of the RocketCam video can be viewed at http://www.eclipticenterprises.com/gallery_rocketcam.shtml.
This launch also represented the first of a record number of scheduled missions using RocketCams within a single year. The popular onboard imaging system, available exclusively through Ecliptic, will be employed on nine more launches in 2003 – nearly twice the launch rate and three times the number of camera systems used in any previous year. As well, RocketCams will be employed later this year on flights involving high-attitude balloons and experimental aircraft, with spacecraft-based RocketCams coming in 2004.
The next two launches involving RocketCams are expected to be a Titan IV and Delta II in April.
To date, RocketCams have been used with 100% success on nearly two dozen launches since 1997 – including Boeing Delta II, Delta III and Delta IV rockets; Lockheed Martin Atlas 2, Atlas 3 and Atlas 5 models; Lockheed Martin Titan IV; and NASA’s Space Shuttle.
AboutEcliptic Enterprises Corporation: Eclipticprovides data-transport systems and onboard imaging systems for use with rockets, spacecraft and other remote platforms operating in extreme environments. Its technical staff has a broad range of direct experience on over eighty space missions, including several recent deep-space missions and numerous low-cost missions involving small satellites. The privately held firm’s core competencies include space systems engineering, space telecommunications, aerospace avionics and instrument systems. Its popular RocketCam™ product line is used on a variety of host platforms in markets involving space systems, airborne systems, ocean systems and test support systems. See more at www.eclipticenterprises.com.
RocketCam™ is a trademark of Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation.
Marketing Contact:
Jim Cantrell
Business Development
Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation
Ph: (435) 757-9940
jcantrell@eclipticenterprises.com
Media Contact:
Lyla Foggia
Foggia+Associates
(661) 259-6561
lfoggia@sbcglobal.net
