Antares (Taurus II)

[инженегр]

А США вообще имеет право поставлять свои двигатели за рубеж?
AJ-26 хоть и сделанный на основе НК-33, все же формально считается американским.

[SFN]

инженегр пишет:
А США вообще имеет право поставлять свои двигатели за рубеж?

Интересная постановка вопроса.  Кто лишил США такого права? ООН? Договор о нераспостранении ТБР?

[salto]

SFN пишет:
 инженегр пишет:
А США вообще имеет право поставлять свои двигатели за рубеж?

Интересная постановка вопроса.   Кто лишил США такого права? ООН? Договор о нераспостранении ТБР?

По-видимому вопрос был поставлен по другому: разрешает ли законодательство США поставлять произведенные в США  двигатели за рубеж?

[SFN]

Если говорить про Антарес, то это означает проводить сборку на Украине и возвращать ступень в Америку. Вопрос только в нераспостранении. Украина приобщена к ракетным технологиям, как никак (11)я космическая держава   .
Вероятно, вопрос не в том можно ли вывозить двигатели, а в том, считать ли после сборки в украине 1ст Антареса американской, и, соответственно, разрешит ли конгресс платить Орбиталу как американскому производителю.

[salto]

SFN пишет:
Если говорить про Антарес, то это означает проводить сборку на Украине и возвращать ступень в Америку. Вопрос только в нераспостранении. Украина приобщена к ракетным технологиям, как никак (11)я космическая держава  .
Вероятно, вопрос не в том можно ли вывозить двигатели, а в том, считать ли после сборки в украине 1ст Антареса американской, и, соответственно, разрешит ли конгресс платить Орбиталу как американскому производителю.

Этот вопрос на каком-то  из форумов уже обсуждался.

[Александр Ч.]

Подготовка к ORB1

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/38589orbitals-rd-180-lawsuit-headed-for-trial-after-judge-rejects-ulas-motion

Orbital's RD-180 Lawsuit Headed for Trial after Judge Rejects ULA's Motion
By Dan Leone | Dec. 10, 2013

Orbital, which is seeking $500 million to $1.5 billion in damages, said in a Nov. 12 court filing that it "will have no choice but to exit the market unless it obtains access to the RD-180 given the limited number of 40-year-old, out-of-production AJ26 engines in existence." AJ-26 engine, above. Credit: Aerojet photo

WASHINGTON — Orbital Sciences Corp., which is suing United Launch Alliance (ULA) and one of its main vendors for access to the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine, could have its day in court as soon as May after a federal judge on Dec. 6 rejected ULA's argument that the suit should be thrown out.
Court documents filed after the hearing in Alexandria, Va.,show U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema denied motions brought by ULA and engine reseller RD-Amross to dismiss the suit. The companies argued, among other reasons, that Orbital had no case under U.S. antitrust laws because the Dulles-based rocket- and satellite-builder has viable alternatives to the RD-180.
Brinkema then ordered Orbital, ULA and RD-Amross — a joint venture of United Technologies Corp. of Hartford, Conn., and Russian rocket-engine maker NPO Energomash of Moscow — to prepare for pretrial conferences that will be overseen by a Virginia magistrate judge. The first of these conferences will take place Jan. 8. The last is set for April 17. Unless the case is settled, it will go to trial within four to eight weeks of the final pretrial conference, according to court documents.
Orbital is eyeing a replacement for the AJ-26 engines that power its Antares medium-lift rocket and has its eye on the RD-180, which RD-Amross sells exclusively to Denver-based ULA, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing that launches most U.S. government satellites.
The exclusivity arrangement, Orbital alleged in a lawsuit filed in June with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, gives ULA a monopoly for "launch systems and services used for medium-class payload missions."
ULA and RD-Amross wanted the suit to be thrown out, claiming Orbital has a number of alternatives to the AJ-26, and that the RD-180, in any case, cannot be sold to any company but ULA without approval of the Russian government, over which the U.S. court has no jurisdiction.
Orbital, which is seeking $500 million to $1.5 billion in damages, said in a Nov. 12 court filing that it "will have no choice but to exit the market unless it obtains access to the RD-180 given the limited number of 40-year-old, out-of-production AJ26 engines in existence."
AJ-26 engines are Soviet-era NK33 engines developed for a defunct Moon exploration program and refurbished and rebranded by AerojetRocketdyne of Sacramento, Calif. That company has procured 43 of these engines from the former Kuznetsov Design Bureau in Samara, Russia, of which 20 have been prepared for cargo delivery-and-disposal missions Orbital is flying for NASA to the international space station through 2016.
Orbital has raised concerns that the AJ-26 engines, mothballed for more than 40 years after the cancellation of the Soviet Union's crewed Moon program, suffer from corrosion. AerojetRockeydyne President Warren Boley said in June that the corrosion issue has been addressed, and that the company has reached an agreement with the AJ-26's Russian manufacturer to restart production, if Orbital places an order.

[napalm]

Фантасмагорично  

Надо бы отобрать их и у ULA, дабы у тех не было (не)конкурентного преимущества 

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1401/14orbital/#.UtbAGPs2NeI

Orbital Sciences plans upgrades to resupply system
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: January 14, 2014
...

The October cargo launch will also mark the first flight of the Antares rocket's more powerful Castor 30XL upper stage motor provided by ATK. The Castor 30XL is a lengthened version of the Antares rocket's flight-proven Castor 30 motor, boosting the launcher's maximum load to the space station by more than 1,000 pounds.
...

File photo of an AJ26 engine being installed into a test stand at Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi. Photo credit: Orbital Sciences Corp.
 
 Culbertson said the readiness of the Antares rocket's twin first stage AJ26 engines, built in the 1970s by Russia's Kuznetsov Design Bureau and modernized by Aerojet Rocketdyne, present the toughest challenge to Orb-2's targeted May 1 launch date.
Originally designed for the Soviet Union's doomed lunar exploration program, the engines are fired at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for final testing before shipment to the Wallops launch facility.
Orbital Sciences officials have said the aging engines suffer from corrosion, making them difficult to test and qualify for flight. Culbertson did not say what, if any, problems are being encountered in the current round of engine testing in Mississippi.
Aerojet Rocketdyne and Orbital Sciences have a contract to supply the Antares rocket with 20 AJ26 engines to cover 10 Antares launches on the manifest - the eight resupply flights to the space station and two test flights already in the books. Six of the powerplants have already flown on three launches.
Before Aerojet Rocketdyne's upgrades and rebranding, the Russian-built engines were known as NK-33s.
If Orbital signs a deal for cargo flights beyond 2016, it will need more engines.
Aerojet Rocketdyne has another 23 kerosene-fueled NK-33 engines in stock it says could be used for additional Antares launches to the space station or for other potential customers.
But Orbital Sciences wants a more permanent propulsion solution for the Antares rocket. The NK-33s are no longer in production, and although Aerojet Rocketdyne president Warren Boley said in June the company had struck a deal with Kuznetsov to resume manufacturing the NK-33, Culbertson said he was not aware of any commitment to restart production with set financial terms.
"We have active negotiations going on in a variety of areas" for engines for future Antares missions, Culbertson said, adding that Orbital was looking both domestically and internationally and would stick with a liquid-fueled first stage.
The Antares rocket's two AJ26 engines generate about 750,000 pounds of thrust.
"We're looking in the same ballpark or better," Culbertson said. "It's just a matter of what type of engines are available and what will fit in the aft compartment. A million pounds [of thrust] would be great if we could get that."
 
Photo of an RD-180 engine being test-fired in 1998. Photo credit: NASA

 Orbital filed a lawsuit against United Launch Alliance, the contractor for the Atlas and Delta rocket families, and one of its engine suppliers in June for the right to purchase RD-180 engines for the Antares rocket.
According to court documents, Orbital alleged ULA and RD AMROSS participate in anti-competitive practices and is seeking up to $1.5 billion in damages.
Lockheed Martin Corp., a ULA stakeholder along with Boeing Co., invested in the development of the RD-180 engine for the Atlas 5 rocket in the 1990s. ULA says it still maintains intellectual property rights to the engine, giving the Atlas 5 rocket exclusive access to RD-180 engines in the U.S. market.
RD AMROSS, which supplies RD-180 engines for ULA's Atlas 5 rocket, is jointly owned by U.S. and Russian companies.
A federal judge rejected an argument from ULA and RD AMROSS in December that the lawsuit be dismissed. ULA and RD AMROSS argued that Orbital Sciences has viable alternatives to the RD-180 engine.
One option is the RD-181 engine, a single-nozzle engine that would provide roughly half the thrust of an RD-180, which packs about 860,000 pounds of thrust at sea level.
But the RD-181 only exists on paper. The engine has never been built or fired.
There is not a U.S.-built kerosene rocket engine in production in the same class as the RD-180 or AJ26 engines.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

[Andrey Samoilov]

Orbital Sciences присматривает замену двигателю AJ-26. Главный кандидат - российский РД-180.  Если решат использовать - начнут с 2017 года. Но до окончательного решения ещё очень далеко.
Оригинал:  http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/39715orbital-sciences-examining-2-3-russian-alternatives-to-antares%E2%80%99-aj-26

[Salo]

Рассматриваются две-три альтернативы и все они российские.
Статья полностью:
http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/39715orbital-sciences-examining-2-3-russian-alternatives-to-antares%E2%80%99-aj-26

Orbital Sciences Examining 2-3 Russian Alternatives to Antares' AJ-26 Engine
By Peter B. de Selding | Mar. 4, 2014
 

Orbital and its suppliers have enough AJ-26 engines to complete Orbital's Commercial Resupply Services space station cargo-supply contract with NASA. Credit: Orbital Sciences photo

PARIS — Orbital Sciences is investigating "two or three alternatives," all of them Russian, to the current AJ-26 engine that powers the company's Antares rocket, Orbital Chief Financial Officer Garrett E. Pierce said March 3.
Orbital's exploration includes filing suit against United Launch Alliance of Colorado in an attempt to break ULA's exclusivity contract with the makers of Russia's RD-180 engine, which powers the first stage of ULA's Atlas 5 rocket.
In a presentation to a conference organized by Raymond James investment advisers, Pierce said Dulles, Va.-based Orbital and its suppliers have enough AJ-26 engines to complete Orbital's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) space station cargo-supply contract with NASA, which totals eight Antares missions, and several additional missions as well. NASA is preparing to solicit bids for a follow-on contract that would call for four to five flights a year between 2017 and 2024.
"Right now we are exploring the various avenues that could be available to the company to continue to use the AJ-26 or to use other rocket systems — Russian-sourced systems — we're looking at right now," Pierce said. "There are two or three alternatives. Right now the AJ-26 is the standard rocket [engine] that we use on the Antares for the [CRS] contract and a bit beyond that. Then we'll have the option — this is a few years out — to change the system or continue with it."
 
Follow Peter on Twitter: @pbdes

[Salo]

Как я понимаю, это РД-180, РД-191 и РД-181.

[Александр Ч.]

Salo пишет:
Как я понимаю, это РД-180, РД-191 и РД-181.

Вроде по поводу РД-181 говорили, что он "бумажный", потому мол только в перспективе.

[Rifkat]

Российские альтернативы.... Если все не успокоится, алтернатив не будет.

[Andrey Samoilov]

ВАШИНГТОН, 12 марта. /Корр. ИТАР-ТАСС Дмитрий Кирсанов/. http://itar-tass.com/nauka/1038391
США выясняют стоимость налаживания лицензионного производства российских ракетных двигателей РД-180 на американской территории. Это подтвердил заместитель министра военно-воздушных сил (ВВС) США Эрик Фэннинг.
Вместе с тем, поскольку речь идет о "критически важной части" американской программы космических запусков, США "хотели бы иметь более разнообразное предложение", а не полагаться только на одного производителя, заявил замминистра ВВС. По его словам, американская сторона "изучает вопрос о том, как этого можно было бы добиться, сколько в действительности стоило бы создание линии производства данного двигателя в США, если бы мы получили лицензию". "Сейчас проводится бизнес-анализ этого вопроса, рассматривается эффективность такого рода инвестиций", - отметил он.
По его словам, американские ВВС, осуществляющие космические пуски в интересах национальной безопасности, внимательно следят за "текущей ситуацией в двусторонних (российско-американских) отношениях, чтобы убедиться, что мы можем защитить эти поставки" двигателя РД-180 в США. Выработка таких оценок началась "задолго до того, как возникла нынешняя ситуация с Украиной", она происходит всякий раз, когда "мы полагаемся в плане получения столь важного оборудования на продавцов за пределами США", заверил Фэннинг.
Комментируя в октябре минувшего года вопрос о возможности сборки РД-180 по лицензии в США, он заявил, что это бы привело к росту стоимости такой продукции на 50%.
http://itar-tass.com/nauka/1038391

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/article/financial-report/40319orbital-hopes-to-parlay-stratolaunch-work-into-more-capable-antares

Orbital Hopes To Parlay Stratolaunch Work into More-capable Antares
By Peter B. de Selding | Apr. 23, 2014
 

The air-launched version of Orbital's existing Antares vehicle will be able to carry between 7,000 and 8,000 kilograms of payload into low Earth orbit. Credit: Stratolaunch artist's concept

PARIS — Orbital Sciences Corp.'s contract with startup Stratolaunch Systems on a rocket to be launched from beneath a large aircraft will produce an enhanced version of Orbital's Antares rocket capable of handling 15-25 percent more payload, depending on the orbit, Orbital Chief Executive David W. Thompson said April 23.
Addressing a meeting of Dulles, Va.-based Orbital's shareholders, Thompson said Stratolaunch, backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's Vulcan Capital, "is one of our most exciting programs" and will lead to an operational vehicle in three or four years.
The air-launched version of Orbital's existing Antares vehicle, which debuted in early 2013 and is now focused on sending cargo to the international space station under a NASA contract, will be able to carry between 7,000 and 8,000 kilograms of payload into low Earth orbit.
Given the competitive market for heavier-lift rockets, Thompson said, there is no need for Orbital to continue to add muscle to Antares beyond the Stratolaunch-enhanced performance. The market for launch services carrying 10,000 to 20,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit "is sufficiently served by other operators," he said.
The relationship with Huntsville, Ala.-based Stratolaunch will require no investment in research and development by Orbital, he said.
The Antares rocket now operated by Orbital has made two cargo deliveries to the space station and is scheduled to conduct a third in June. Frank L. Culbertson, manager of Orbital's advanced programs group, told shareholders that three cargo missions in eight months compares favorably with Space Exploration Technologies Corp., which is operating under a similar cargo-delivery contract with NASA.
"That other company, by the way, launched last week and made it to the space station," said Culbertson, who like Thompson did not mention SpaceX by name. "It was their first flight in 18 months. But, you know, who's counting."
Thompson said the current NASA station-resupply contract and a likely extension, followed by a new contract this year or next, should result in Orbital launching Antares and the Cygnus pressurized cargo module on "two or three missions a year for at least the next decade" given NASA's intention to operate the station at least until 2024.
A steady rate of Antares-Cygnus launches is one reason why Orbital is predicting a huge increase in annual free cash flow starting this year and continuing through 2016. With Antares and Cygnus research and development spending completed, the cargo supply program is transitioning from a cash consumer to a cash producer.
Asked whether tensions with Russia about its relations with Ukraine could disrupt the Antares program, which uses Russian engines for its first stage and a Ukrainian first-stage airframe, Thompson said he had no real concerns about supply-chain stability.
The United States and Russia have maintained steady cooperation in space for nearly 40 years, through multiple diplomatic ups and downs, he said. "I expect that's likely to be the case now as well," Thompson said.
But as a precaution, he said Orbital is considering an all-U.S.-built Antares first stage, for both the engine and the airframe, as it weighs a long-term contract. Thompson told investors on April 17 that Orbital is weighing offers from three companies for the Antares first-stage engine. Two are from Russia, including the current supplier, and one is from the United States.
  
Follow Peter on Twitter: @pbdes

[Salo]

Thompson told investors on April 17 that Orbital is weighing offers from three companies for the Antares first-stage engine. Two are from Russia, including the current supplier, and one is from the United States.

Интересно какой американский двигатель имеется в виду.

[Петр Зайцев]

Salo пишет:

Thompson told investors on April 17 that Orbital is weighing offers from three companies for the Antares first-stage engine. Two are from Russia, including the current supplier, and one is from the United States.

Интересно какой американский двигатель имеется в виду.

Дык AJ-500 опять, ясный перец. Вариантов-то нет.

[makis1515]

Петр Зайцев пишет:

Salo пишет:

Thompson told investors on April 17 that Orbital is weighing offers from three companies for the Antares first-stage engine. Two are from Russia, including the current supplier, and one is from the United States.

Интересно какой американский двигатель имеется в виду.

Дык AJ-500 опять, ясный перец. Вариантов-то нет.

Это даже прикольно что AJ-500

[Александр Ч.]

Гм... спамеры эволюционируют...