Orbital Sciences has bought an Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance to resume cargo resupply flights to the International Space Station from Q4 2015, after its own Antares booster blew up during take-off in October.
The US group also has an option…
Orbital Sciences has bought an Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance to resume cargo resupply flights to the International Space Station from Q4 2015, after its own Antares booster blew up during take-off in October.
The US group also has an option for a second Atlas V to launch its Cygnus space capsule in 2016, although by accelerating work to upgrade Antares it hopes to return to flight in Q1 of that year.
The Atlas V’s greater lift capacity means Cygnus can carry nearly 35% more cargo than previously planned in 2015 under Orbital’s US$1.9bn Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. According to the company, a new propulsion system for Antares will also enable the capsule to deliver 20% more cargo to the ISS than originally envisaged.
“The flexibility of Orbital’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft to accommodate heavier cargo loads, together with the greater lift capacity of the Atlas V and upgraded Antares vehicles, will allow the company to complete all currently contracted ISS deliveries in four missions instead of the five previously planned flights over the next two years,” it said.
“In addition, the company’s revised approach is not expected to create any material adverse financial impacts in 2015 or future years as Orbital carries out the CRS cargo delivery and Antares propulsion upgrade programmes.”
The first stage of each Antares rocket is currently powered by two Russian AJ-26 engines, which were refurbished and resold by US-based Aerojet Rocketdyne and are no longer in production.
Last year Orbital sued ULA after alleging that an exclusivity deal it had with RD Amross, a joint venture between Russia’s NPO Energomash and United Technologies of the US, had forced it to use AJ-26 over the more powerful Russian RD-180 engine.
Orbital dropped its lawsuit in March this year when it said the two were pursuing a business resolution for access to the RD-180, which powers the Atlas V rocket.
However, political tensions between the US and Russia have prompted ULA, a JV between US defence giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to wean itself off the engine and develop a domestic alternative with low-profile rocket maker Blue Origin.
Notably, in September aerospace and defence products maker ATK, which is set to merge with Orbital, revealed rival plans for a solid-fuel engine that could launch an Atlas V.
But ATK has said its engine would not be ready for at least three years, and the ULA/Blue Origin venture is meanwhile targeting a first flight in 2019.
Orbital did not disclose the supplier or engine that will be replacing AJ-26, but said it expects the new propulsion systems to arrive at the Antares final assembly facility at Wallops Island, Virginia, in mid-2015 to begin testing.
The Antares explosion on 28 October caused significant damaged to Orbital’s Wallops launch complex, however, the group said yesterday that repairs will be substantially completed by next autumn, with recertification taking place before the end of 2015.
The repairs are expected to cost in the region of US$20m, which is covered by Orbital’s insurance and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) authority.
Its ISS mission in Q4 2015 with the Atlas V will launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
