Orbital ATK's Cygnus Encapsuled For March 2016 Launch on an Atlas V

Preparations for the first launch of a Cygnus cargo spacecraft in more than a year, and the first on an Atlas 5 rocket, have gone smoothly despite some changes in timing of loading cargo on the spacecraft, an Orbital ATK executive said.

An Atlas 5 is scheduled to launch the Cygnus craft from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Dec. 3. The launch will be the first for the Cygnus since the October 2014 failure of Orbital’s Antares rocket shortly after liftoff from Wallops Island, Virginia.

Dulles, Virginia-based Orbital purchased the Atlas 5 launch from United Launch Alliance shortly after the failure, and in August acquired a second Atlas 5 for a Cygnus mission planned for March 2016. While the Cygnus has not previously flown on the Atlas, integrating the cargo spacecraft to the rocket has gone well.

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Cygnus Cargo Spacecraft Fueled and Preparing for Launch on Atlas V

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Orbital ATK’s Cygnus Returning to Space Station on ULA Atlas V in December

Orbital ATK’s Cygnus spacecraft is set to return to International Space Station (ISS) resupply duties in December, hitching a ride on an Atlas V, prior to resuming operations with the modified Antares rocket in 2016. Cygnus has been out of action since the CRS-3/OrB-3 failure that occurred in October 2014 – with the full investigation results yet to be released to the public.

The return of Cygnus resupply missions will prove to be a welcome boost for the ISS, following an unprecedented loss of three Visiting Vehicle missions in close succession, including the OrB-3 Cygnus that was lost shortly after launch.

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Orbital Science's Antares Rocket Explodes Shortly After Lift off (video)

NASA Studying Cygnus Derived "Exploration Augmentation Module" for Orion Capsule?

NASA is examining adding a habitation module to the agency’s proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) that would allow astronauts to stay at the asteroid for several additional weeks.

Chris Moore, deputy director of the Advanced Exploration Systems Division at NASA Headquarters, said in a presentation at the 65th International Astronautical Congress here Oct. 3 that the module, intended to serve as a prototype of a habitat for future deep space missions, could be in place before the first crewed mission visits the captured asteroid in the mid-2020s.

“We’re doing a study now of different module types and different times it could be launched,” Moore said. “It may be used on the first mission, if it could be ready in time.”

Under NASA’s current ARM plans, a two-person crew would fly a 26-day mission in an Orion spacecraft once the captured asteroid reached a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. Only about five days would be spent at the asteroid, allowing for two four-hour spacewalks, with the rest of the mission spent in transit between the asteroid and Earth.

That schedule is driven by the life support capabilities of the Orion spacecraft. Moore said the use of what NASA calls the Exploration Augmentation Module would allow the overall mission to last as long as 60 days. “This module would provide extra life support and consumables to extend Orion’s mission,” he said.

One end of the module would attach to the robotic spacecraft that redirected the captured asteroid into lunar orbit, with Orion docking at the opposite end. The module could also include an additional docking port to allow logistics spacecraft to dock while Orion is there, and an airlock so that astronauts could perform spacewalks without depressurizing the Orion, as currently planned.

Moore described the Exploration Augmentation Module as similar in size to a Cygnus spacecraft, a comparison that may not be coincidental. Orbital Sciences Corp. has expressed interest in finding new applications for its Cygnus cargo spacecraft, including use as a habitat module for missions in cislunar or deep space.

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Orbital Sciences & ATK Merging

Orbital Sciences Corporation and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) are to merge their aerospace and defence groups to create a new USD4.5 billion company to be called Orbital ATK, Inc, the companies announced on 29 April.

Orbital ATK will operate in a range of markets including space launch vehicles and propulsion systems, tactical missiles and defence electronics, satellites and space systems, armament systems and ammunition, and commercial and military aircraft structures and related components.

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Liberty launch vehicle is completely toast, but it makes you wonder if they might not revive the capsule ATK was proposing to compete with SpaceX's Dragon for human spaceflight.

Orbital Sciences' Cygnus Berths at International Space Station

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Highlight Reel From NASA's COTS Program

Comparing the ISS Space Freighters

The ATV is, uh, huge.


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TIme Lapse Video of the Cygnus Approach and Berthing to the International Space Station

There are gaps, but that is because of the video failing at different times.  Even so, damned kewl.  Actually, the Cygnus looked like a mini Sky Lab to me at times in the video.

Antares Space Station Launch from Virginia

Orbital Sciences Antares Launch Video

Avrora and I watched this live.  NASA is getting 8 flights for $1.9 billion.  About $238 million per flight.  That means that the flights themselves will be cheaper for commercial customers.  If the ratio that SpaceX has holds true, the flight cost will be around $105 million each.  Not as good as SpaceX, but far, far better than ULA which starts at $250 million.

Orbital Sciences' Antares Rocket Successfully Flies

Caught it live (really lucky) and watched it with my daughter.  

SpaceX.  You have some competition now.

PlanetSpace Protest of NASA COTS...*DENIED*

PlanetSpace, a partnership set up by Lockheed Martin Corp, Boeing Co and Alliant Techsystems Inc has had its protest denied by the U.S. Government Accountability Office on Wednesday.

SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp can now resume work on contracts worth up to $3.5 billion. The contracts call for a total of 20 flights to the space station to deliver cargo after the space shuttles are retired in 2010.

bu-yah!

PlanetSpace Protests Commericial ISS Resupply Contracts

Losing bidder PlanetSpace has filed a protest of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) awards to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp.

Under contracts awarded earlier this month totaling $3.5 billion, SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., and Orbital of Dulles, Va., will launch unpiloted vehicles to deliver pressurized and unpressurized cargo to the International Space Station (Aerospace DAILY, Jan. 5).

Chicago-based PlanetSpace, which includes Lockheed Martin, ATK and Boeing, proposed the space shuttle-derived Athena III for station resupply. The protest effectively stops the program until the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) either dismisses or upholds the protest. GAO has 90 days from the filing of the protest to render its ruling.

"Our prices are so cheap you won't believe them!"

The problem is...we don't. At all.

This is the traditional defense contractors in a new guise. EVERYTHING they do is underbid and suffers massive cost overruns.