[Updates] Orbital's Antares (Taurus II) & Cygnus

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Parabolic Arc: Orbital’s Antares and Cygnus Flights Slide Further to the Right:

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Orbital updated its COTS and CRS operational schedules, with plans to achieve four major milestones over the next year. They are as listed below:

• Third quarter 2012 – Antares First-Stage Static Fire Test at Wallops
  
  
• Third quarter 2012 – Antares Test Flight for COTS
  
  
• Fourth quarter 2012 – COTS Demonstration Mission to ISS*
  
  
• First quarter 2013 – CRS Mission #1 to ISS*

*Orbital’s operational dates are subject to coordination with NASA’s ISS cargo delivery schedule.

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Spaceflight Now: Orbital Sciences aims for August test launch of Antares

[MattBaker]

I have the feeling that they're not really ready, but have to push forward to hold their contract with NASA. 6 months between the maiden flight of your rocket and spacecraft and your first resupply mission seems very short compared to SpaceX.

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Parabolic Arc: Antares AJ26 Engine Completes Hot Fire Test:

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SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 4, 2012 (Aerojet PR) – Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE:GY – News) company, announced today that its AJ26 engine successfully completed a hot-fire test yesterday at NASA’s Stennis Space Center.

Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital), Aerojet and NASA monitored the full-duration test in support of the Antares(R) rocket program. This is the eighth AJ26 engine to be tested at Stennis.

“This test demonstrates our 70-year legacy of propulsion performance,” said Executive Director of Space and Launch Systems, Pete Cova. “This is what we come to work for every day.”

Following review of the test data, the AJ26 will be shipped to Wallops Flight Facility for integration with Orbital’s Antares rocket.

Aerojet’s AJ26 engine is an oxidizer-rich, staged-combustion LO2/Kerosene engine that achieves very high performance in a lightweight compact package. Based on the NK-33 engine originally designed and produced in Russia for the Russian N1 lunar launch vehicle, the liquid-fuel AJ26 will provide boost for the first stage of the Antares rocket.

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ISS Update: Bruce Manners, NASA COTS Project Executive for Orbital Sciences - YouTube

ISS Update: Bruce Manners, NASA COTS Project Executive for Orbital Sciences - YouTube

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NASA: CONTRACT RELEASE : C12-027 - NASA Adds Orbital's Antares To Launch Services II Contract:

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has modified its NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract with Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va., to add the Antares launch vehicle, formerly known as Taurus II, for future missions.

The NLS II on-ramp provision provides an opportunity annually for launch service providers not presently under NLS II contract to compete for future missions, and allows launch service providers already under contract to introduce launch vehicles not currently on their NLS II contracts, such as Antares.

NLS II contracts are multiple award, indefinite delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with ordering periods through June 2020. The contracts provide for a minimum capability of delivering agency payloads weighing approximately 550 pounds or more to a minimum 124-mile-high circular orbit with a launch inclination of 28.5 degrees. The launch service providers also may offer a range of vehicles to NASA to meet higher payload mass and orbit requirements.

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Space News: Antares Added to NASA Launch Contract

Parabolic Arc: NASA Adds Orbital’s Antares to Launch Services II Contract

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Parabolic Arc: Virginia Nearly Ready to Turn Over Antares Launch Complex to Orbital

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Aviation Week: Taurus XL Mishap Inquiry Could Affect Antares:

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Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski says the company ’s Antares, Pegasus and Minotaur rockets all fly versions of the frangible joint fairing separation system. These rails are located along the seam between the two halves of Orbital’s clamshell-shaped fairing, as well as at the base of the fairing that connects to the launch vehicle itself.

“These come apart to jettison the protective nose cone once the rocket is out of Earth’s atmosphere,” Beneski says. “We have done a great deal of work on this system since the Taurus XL Glory mission failure to ensure the flight worthiness of the system for upcoming missions, including the Antares test flight.”

Gerstenmaier says a report on recent findings is expected in the first quarter of 2013. When asked whether the problem could lead to the loss of cargo slated to fly aboard Antares during a demonstration mission slated for April, he said not to worry.

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