Orbital Sciences has said it will likely stop using Aerojet Rocketdyne’s AJ26 engines after a preliminary investigation indicated it caused its Antares rocket failure shortly after take-off on 28 October.
The NASA mission was carrying 2.2 tonnes of…
Orbital Sciences has said it will likely stop using Aerojet Rocketdyne’s AJ26 engines after a preliminary investigation indicated it caused its Antares rocket failure shortly after take-off on 28 October.
The NASA mission was carrying 2.2 tonnes of cargo to the ISS and marked the first failure since the space agency turned to private players to resupply the station.
On 5 November Orbital said that its preliminary investigation into the accident suggested a probable turbopump-related failure in one of the two Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ26 stage one main engines.
The AJ26 is essentially a Kuznetsov NK-33 engine, designed and built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, refurbished by Aerojet Rocketdyne; part of US-based space technology manufacturer GenCorp.
Orbital said that because of the crash it will likely discontinue the engines, and announced plans to introduce its upgraded Antares propulsion system in 2016. Russian state news agency ITAR-TASS reported that this will be the RD-193 engine that is being developed by Russia’s NPO Energomash.
When asked about the report Orbital said it had made a decision on the new propulsion system, but has not discussed it publicly “due to competitive reasons”.
Orbital expects to start repairing NASA’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island shortly, allowing launch operations to continue at Wallops Island with the upgraded Antares from the start of 2016.
In the meantime Orbital plans to launch one or two missions for NASA to the ISS between 2015 and 2016 using its Cygnus cargo spacecraft, using an as yet unspecified launch vehicle and without disclosing the planned launch site.
Speaking on a conference call on 5 November Orbital’s chairman and CEO, David Thompson, said his company was in discussions with two US launch providers and a European launch provider, and that it would work with NASA to find the best option.
Thompson said its competitors would have availability to launch Orbital missions from Q2 2015 through to when its new Antares engine would be ready and added that it was looking at a number of combinations to loft the Cygnus.
In a statement Thompson said: “Orbital is taking decisive action to fulfil our commitments to NASA in support of safe and productive operations of the Space Station. While [the] Antares failure was very disappointing to all of us, the company is already implementing a contingency plan to overcome this setback.
“We intend to move forward safely but also expeditiously to put our CRS cargo program back on track and to accelerate the introduction of our upgraded Antares rocket.”
“Exact financial impacts to Orbital will depend on which of several specific options for near-term launches is selected, but they are not expected to be material on an annual basis in 2015.”
NASA has said it was disappointed with the failure but will facilitate Orbital’s next attempt and supported the company.
