United Launch Alliance (ULA) and the US Air Force have carried out the Off-site Vertical Integration (OVI) of certain structural elements and the Centaur upper-stage for the Atlas V launch vehicle.

The OVI process has integrated six structural elements along with the Centaur upper-stage inside a test cell in the Delta Operations Center (DOC) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

This avoids conducting complex hardware lifting and mating tasks outside of the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF).

OVI helps reduce the time between launches by lowering the number of lifting operations performed at VIF.

"The team developed an innovative process that provides safer and more efficient launch processing of the Atlas vehicle."

The process also reduces the risks of weather-related processing delays and provides a safer working environment for employees.

ULA Atlas and Delta programmes vice-president Jim Sponnick said: "With OVI, the team developed an innovative process that provides safer and more efficient launch processing of the Atlas vehicle.

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"The associated one-week reduction in the launch-to-launch processing spans enables us to better meet the launch needs of our customers."

ULA has developed a transporter to transfer the five-storey stack of rocket hardware from the DOC to the VIF. The transporter included a tank pressure control system for the Centaur upper-stage.

"The Off-site Vertical Integration process, including ground support equipment designs and operational procedures, were developed in collaboration with our Air Force customer to support launch manifest needs and enable continuous improvement to these critical launch operations," Sponnick added.

ULA will launch the MUOS-4 mission for the US Air Force and the US Navy from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 31 August.