Arlington, Va., April 21, 2013 (ATK PR) – ATK’s CASTOR® 30 upper stage solid rocket motor supported the successful flight of Orbital Sciences Corporation’s (NYSE:ORB) Antares rocket as it lifted off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia at 5:00 p.m. EDT with the Cygnus mass simulator payload. This was the test flight of the new Antares launch vehicle.
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Amy Butler at Aviation Week has a very informative story about how new medium-class launch vehicles and commercially available satellite buses will help the U.S. Air Force reduce the cost of its launch operations. The key points: ULA — a monopoly that operates Atlas V and Delta IV — will be facing future competition from SpaceX (Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy), Orbital Sciences Corporation (Antares), Lockheed Martin (Athena III, and ATK […]
CASTOR 30XL motor. (Credit: ATK)
ARLINGTON, Va., March 28, 2013 (ATK PR) — ATK (ATK) successfully tested its newly developed CASTOR® 30XL upper stage solid rocket motor today at the U.S. Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) in Tennessee.
The test was the final qualification for the ATK commercial motor, which was jointly developed by ATK and Orbital Sciences Corporation (ORB) in just 20 months from concept to completion. The CASTOR 30XL is designed to ignite at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. In order to accurately test the motor performance, the static fire was conducted at AEDC using a vacuum chamber specially designed to simulate upper atmospheric conditions. Initial data indicate the motor performed as designed, and ATK will now analyze the results against its performance models.
BELTSVILLE, MD., March 19, 2013 (ViviSat PR) — ViviSat, the leading provider of in-orbit servicing, has announced a unique, highly agile hosted payload capability that will supplement its life extension services.
ViviSat uses the Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV), manufactured by one of its parent companies, ATK. The primary mission of the MEV is to dock with an orbiting satellite and serve as the propulsion and attitude control systems. This enables mission extension for satellites that have run out of maneuvering fuel yet still have healthy payload and power systems.
NASA 60-Day Commercial Crew Update
Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital) of Dulles, Va., has engaged top aerospace organizations in the United States and from across the globe to help develop the Antares launch vehicle and Cygnus cargo spacecraft for upcoming space station cargo resupply missions. This approach supports timely and cost effective development of their new commercial cargo transportation system and is consistent with the National Space Policy of the United States which has a goal to “expand international cooperation on mutually beneficial space activities”.
Orion abort motor (Credit: ATK)
Arlington, Va., February 21, 2013 – ATK (NYSE: ATK) successfully delivered a launch abort motor to Kennedy Space Center, Fla., for Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1) of NASA’s Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, scheduled to fly next year.
The test flight abort motor is configured with inert propellant, since the EFT-1 mission will have no crew on board, but otherwise replicates the launch abort system that will ensure astronaut safety on future crewed Orion exploration missions using the new Space Launch System (SLS). .
Atlas V launches OTV3 into orbit from Cape Canaveral. (Credit: Pat Corkery, United Launch Alliance.)
By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
New entrants hoping to break ULA’s monopoly on national security space (NSS) launches face a number of obstacles in getting their launch vehicles certified, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Perhaps the biggest challenge: the U.S. Air Force considers almost everything it launches into space to be its most critical payloads (Class A), requiring the services of proven rockets like ULA’s Atlas V or Delta IV. Military officials have yet to figure out how to re-classify some of these payloads as less critical (Class B, C and D), thus allowing them to be launched on vehicles with fewer flights under their belts.
By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
During recent public talks, Scaled Composites Founder Burt Rutan has bemoaned the lack of recent rocket development in the United States. After the initial burst of creativity in the 1950’s and 1960’s, decades went by with very few new rockets being developed. He has also pointed to Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipTwo, SpaceX’s Dragon and Stratolaunch Systems air-launch project (which he worked on for 20 years) as the only serious developments in the field at present.
My first thought was: Burt’s wrong. There’s a lot more going on than just that. Including developments just down the flight line in Mojave that he somehow fails to mention. And my second thought was: well, just how wrong is Burt, exactly?
A lot, it turns out.
WASHINGTON, D.C. –The Coalition for Space Exploration (Coalition) today announced veteran aerospace communicators George Torres of ATK and Mary Engola of Ball Aerospace will lead the Coalition in 2013. Torres will serve as the new chair and Engola will continue her role as the deputy chair. Each will serve a one-year term, effective January through December 2013.
Torres works as the vice president of communications for ATK’s Aerospace Group. He has broad experience in communications across the aerospace industry, and previously led communications organizations at Rockwell International, Boeing, Hughes Space and Communications Company, and The Aerospace Corporation. A published author, Torres has written two books on the space program and was the recipient of the Journalism Award of Excellence from the Aviation/Space Writers Association for these efforts.
Launch of Atlas V NRO satellite on June 20, 2012. (Credit: ULA)
The Pentagon has opened up its launch contracts for both large and small satellites to competition, but in a way that will likely disappoint upstart launch provider SpaceX.
For large payloads, the U.S. Air Force will go forward with a scaled back bulk buy of up to 36 Atlas V and Delta IV rocket cores over the next five years from its current sole-source supplier, United Launch Alliance. It will open up an additional 14 cores to competitive bidding, giving SpaceX the opportunity to bid with its Falcon rockets.
For smaller payloads, incumbent provider Orbital Sciences Corporation will face competition from SpaceX and Lockheed Martin Corporation for launch contracts worth up to $900 million.