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Future U.S. military satellites will be matched to Atlas and Delta launch vehicles as late as six months before launch, a new strategy the Air Force hopes will limit cascading delays stemming from late payload deliveries.
The new slot manifest concept will begin in early 2011, when three Air Force payloads are candidates to launch on two Atlas 5 rocket flight opportunities.
“It is a philosophical change in the approach to launch scheduling from a project-centric approach frequently limited by delays in hardware readiness to an opportunity-based approach enabled through synchronizing multiple satellite payloads to a launch vehicle,” a Space and Missile Systems Center launch and range systems wing spokesperson said.
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