USSF-106
United States Space Force National security Mission
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
USSF-106 is an American National Security Space Launch Mission under the vision of United States Space Force. The launch is significant as it is the First National Security Mission on United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur rocket. After reaching orbit two satellite are deployed both are based on Northrop Grumman's ESPAStar Satellite bus named NTS-3 and USA-554. Another satellite separated later named USA-571.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
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USSF-106 Launch | |
| Mission type | Technology demonstration |
|---|---|
| Operator | USSF |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft type | ESPAStar |
| Manufacturer | Northrop Grumman |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 13 August 2025 00:56 UTC |
| Rocket | Vulcan Centaur VC4S (V-003) |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, SLC-41 |
| Contractor | United Launch Alliance |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Geosynchronous orbit |
Overview
USSF had assigned USSF-106 Mission to ULA in 2020. At the time of assigning USSF-51 Mission is planned to be the first National Security Mission On Vulcan Centaur but after reassigning it to an Atlas V, USSF-106 became the first National Security Mission on Vulcan Centaur.[11]
The rocket launched on 13 August 2025, the launch was fully successful and after seven hours they provided conformation of successful launch. This mission completed ULA's longest Geosynchronous Mission.[12]
This mission also ended dependence of Russian RD-180 engine on US National Security Missions which is used on ULA's Atlas V rocket (Last mission to use RD-180 engine was the USSF-51 Mission) and is replaced with American made BE-4 engines, two of them is used on ULA's Vulcan Centaur rocket and assure a new era in High Energy geosynchronous National Security launches from ULA.[13]
