Orbital ATK next-generation launch vehicle

Автор Salo, 14.01.2016 11:27:36

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tnt22

ЦитироватьChris G - NSF‏ @ChrisG_NSF 9 ч. назад

Interested in learning all the specifics about @OrbitalATK's new #Omega rocket? Here's our piece from @NASASpaceflight detailing the rocket's development from a couple weeks ago!

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/03/orbital-atk-next-phase-ngl-rocket-development/ ...


tnt22

http://spacenews.com/orbital-atk-selects-aerojet-rocketdynes-rl10c-for-newly-christened-omega-rocket/
ЦитироватьOrbital ATK selects Aerojet Rocketdyne's RL10C for newly christened OmegA rocket
by Sandra Erwin and Brian Berger — April 16, 2018


An artist's concept of Orbital ATK's OmegA rocket in flight.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Orbital ATK on Monday revealed new details about the rocket it has been developing over the last three years in an effort to take U.S. Air Force launch contracts away from United Launch Alliance and SpaceX.

With the Air Force expected to sel ect up to three companies this summer to build and test rockets capable of launching intermediate to heavy-class national security payloads, Orbital ATK executives announced at the 34th Space Symposium here that they have picked Aerojet Rocketdyne's RL10C engine to power the upper stage of a next-generation launch vehicle they are now calling OmegA.
Спойлер
OmegA's solid-fuel lower stages, as previously disclosed, are based on space shuttle solid rocket motor segments developed by Orbital ATK, and solid strap-on boosters used on ULA's rockets.

OmegA was developed under a three-year, $250 million cost-sharing partnership with the Air Force. At a news conference, Orbital ATK spokesman Barron Beneski said OmegA is the "number one priority for growth initiatives in the company, and is projected to be the largest discretionary spending item in the company over the next couple of years."


Orbital ATK intends to use variants of the OmegA rocket to launch intermediate to heavy-class payloads for U.S. national security customers. Credit: Orbital ATK

The new rocket will compete against SpaceX, ULA and Blue Origin for further development contracts the Air Force plans to award under its Launch Services Agreement (LSA) program this summer. Before naming the rocket OmegA, the company had been using the name "next generation launch system" as a placeholder, said Scott Lehr, president of Orbital ATK's Flight Systems Group.

OmegA is on a path to complete propulsion system ground tests in 2019 and conduct its first launch in 2021.

Orbital ATK chose the existing RL10C for the upper stage rather than gamble on a new development. "It has an extensive flight history and provides a low-risk affordable engine," said Mike Pinkston, deputy general manager of Orbital ATK's launch vehicles division.

The RL10C is currently used by ULA to power the Centaur upper stage used on its Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets.


OmegA features solid rocket motors for the lower stages and an Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10C for the upper stage. Credit: Orbital ATK

As recently as a year ago, Orbital ATK planned to use a vacuum-optimized of Blue Origin's BE-3 engine that the Jeff Bezos-owned company is currently flying on its New Shepard suborbital vehicle.

Both the BE-3U and a variant of Aerojet Rocketdyne's RL10 are in the running for Vulcan, the next-gen rocket ULA is using to go after the same pot of Air Force LSA money as Blue Origin, Orbital ATK and SpaceX. Orbital ATK provides solid rocket motors for Vulcan. Lehr said the manufacturing of solid rocket motors for Vulcan will be "firewalled" fr om the OmegA program.

The next phase of the OmegA program will begin after the Air Force makes the next round of LSA awards in July. That would allow for further development and verification of the vehicle and its launch sites.

Orbital ATK officials said that after initial flights of its intermediate configuration in 2021, OmegA will be Air Force certified for operational missions starting in 2022, with initial heavy configuration flights beginning in 2024.

About 500 employees currently are working on OmegA, the company said, and the number is expected to grow to 1,000 over the next 18 months.

Pinkston said Orbital ATK expects OmegA to be cost-competitive in both the EELV and commercial markets, but said he could not provide any price estimates yet. The company is in search of customers. "We have some 'letters of intent' in hand for payloads," he said. With Orbital ATK being a major satellite manufacturer, the plan is to offer "our own sallites in our own rockets for an attractive price."


After machining an Omega first-stage case, Orbital ATK technicians install fasteners into the forward attach ring. Credit: Orbital ATK
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Сергей

Грамотно все делают, сроки отработки впечатляют, пожалуй побыстрее чем у европейцев.

Salo

"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"

Salo

"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"

Salo

"Были когда-то и мы рысаками!!!"

tnt22

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/04/20/orbital-atk-names-new-launcher-selects-upper-stage-engine/
ЦитироватьOrbital ATK names new launcher, selects upper stage engine
April 20, 2018 Stephen Clark


Artist's illustration of Orbital ATK's proposed OmegA rocket. Credit: Orbital ATK

Orbital ATK's proposed rocket to answer the U.S. Air Force's desire for two families of satellite launchers with U.S.-made propulsion systems will be named OmegA, and the company has sel ected the cryogenic Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engine to power the vehicle's upper stage, officials announced this week.

The OmegA rocket could launch for the first time in 2021, but Orbital ATK is competing against several aerospace companies for a pot of Air Force funding the military is expected to award this summer. Blue Origin, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance are expected to compete for the government support, and then Air Force says it will make up to three funding awards.
Спойлер
Orbital ATK previously disclosed that two solid-fueled rocket motors will power the first and second stages of the OmegA launcher. Company officials considered hydrogen-fueled engine proposals from Blue Origin and Ariane Group before settling on Aerojet Rocketdyne's RL10 engine for OmegA's upper stage.

Artist's illustrations of the OmegA rocket show two RL10 engines on the OmegA's third stage. The new engine derivative sel ected to fly on the OmegA rocket is known as the RL10C-5-1, a modified version of the RL10C-1 engine currently flying on United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket.

Aerojet Rocketdyne said the new version of the RL10 engine will feature a 3D-printed injector assembly. Variants of the RL10 engine have flown in space nearly 500 times since the 1960s.

"The RL10 has provided reliable upper stage propulsion for more than five decades and we look forward to continuing that legacy with Orbital ATK and its OmegA rocket," said Eileen Drake, Aerojet Rocketdyne's CEO and president, in a statement. "By selecting the RL10, Orbital ATK is able to leverage investments made by the U.S. Air Force and others to build resilient space launch capabilities for our nation."

Orbital ATK officials said the OmegA rocket's development has advanced over the past three years with a more than $250 million joint investment with the Air Force. The company ranks the launcher project — the most powerful rocket yet developed by the commercial space firm — as one of its top strategic programs, and Orbital ATK said in a press release it has committed an "even larger" investment to complete OmegA development and certification.

"Orbital ATK is very excited to partner with the U.S. Air Force to develop OmegA, our new EELV-class launch vehicle," said Scott Lehr, president of Orbital ATK's flight systems group, in a statement. "Our OmegA rocket provides the best combination of performance, affordability and reliability to support the full range of our customers' mission requirements."

"The RL10 has an extensive flight history and provides a low-risk, affordable engine with outstanding performance," said Mike Pinkston, deputy general manager of Orbital ATK's launch vehicles division. "OmegA is a robust all-American launch system with its entire design based on flight-proven technologies and common components from Orbital ATK's diversified lineup of rockets and propulsion systems."


A cutaway view of the OmegA rocket. Credit: Orbital ATK

Orbital ATK said it named the rocket for the Omega Centauri star cluster, with the capitalized "O" and "A" representing the company's name. Orbital ATK's other launchers, like the Pegasus, Taurus and Antares, are named for constellations and stars.

The OmegA rocket, previously known as the Next Generation Launch system, will use segmented solid rocket motors based on the posters Orbital ATK built for the space shuttle. But engineers developed a new composite case to replace the metallic structures used for the shuttle, making the OmegA solid motors lighter and easier to manufacture, according to Mike Laidley, Orbital ATK's vice president for the OmegA program.

The OmegA rocket will come in two basic versions: an intermediate and a heavy configuration.

The intermediate version would have a two-segment solid-fueled core stage, called a Castor 600, that would generate 2.1 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. The heavy version would have a four-segment core rocket motor, the Castor 1200, putting out 3.1 million pounds of thrust.

Both configurations would have a single-segment Castor 300 second stage motor, built using the same tooling as the multi-segment first stage motors at Orbital ATK's facility in Promontory, Utah.

Up to six strap-on solid rocket boosters could be added to the OmegA rocket to lift heavier payloads into space.

The intermediate version of the OmegA rocket could launch for the first time in 2021 from pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The heavy configuration is expected to fly in 2024.

Orbital ATK is assessing a location for a West Coast launch site for polar orbit missions, with Space Launch Complex-2 and Space Launch Complex-6 — the current homes of ULA's Delta 2 and Delta 4 rockets — emerging as the primary options, Laidley said.

The OmegA rocket will be fully expendable, and the company aims to reduce costs through simpler manufacturing processes and shared costs with other Orbital ATK programs. Officials have not disclosed how much each OmegA flight will cost.

Orbital ATK plans to build the launcher's 5-meter (16-foot) diameter payload shroud — roughly the same diameter as fairings flown on Atlas 5, Falcon 9 and Ariane 5 rockets — at the company's structures division in Iuka, Mississippi.

According to an Orbital ATK fact sheet, the intermediate version of OmegA will lift between 10,800 pounds (4,900 kilograms) and around 22,300 pounds (10,100 kilograms) into a geostationary transfer orbit, an elliptical loop around Earth commonly by communications satellites transiting to geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator.

That performance range is comparable to the lift capacity of ULA's Atlas 5 rocket family.

The heavy OmegA configuration can loft between roughly 11,600 pounds (5,250 kilograms) and 17,200 pounds (7,800 kilograms) of payload directly into geostationary orbit — eliminating the need for a spacecraft to use its own fuel for major orbital maneuvers.

The OmegA's exact performance capability depends on the number of solid-fueled boosters added to the rocket.

"Right now, we're planning on about three to four missions per year to close our business case," Laidley said in a recent interview with Spaceflight Now. "A couple of those could come fr om the Air Force and a couple of those could come fr om either our internal needs or the commercial community.

A previous round of Air Force funding awarded to Orbital ATK — along with ULA, SpaceX and Aerojet Rocketdyne — was limited to development of the Common Booster Segment, the name for each segment the OmegA's core solid-fueled Castor 1200, 600 and 300 rocket motors. Early design work on the rest of the rocket was funded by Orbital ATK's internal coffers.

If Orbital ATK wins a further tranche of Air Force funding this summer, the money will complete the development of the launcher's solid-fueled core stage and prepare for a ground test-firing of the motor next year. Orbital ATK said engineers have built four composite cases for ground testing of the OmegA's core motor, and technicians will begin pouring an inert propellant mixture into one of the test casings for the first time next week.

The Air Force plans to down-select to two launch providers in late 2019, giving the military two contractors capable of delivering all the U.S. government's defense-related payloads to orbit.

ULA and SpaceX currently provide launch services for the government's most critical national security payloads, but ULA's Atlas 5 rocket uses a Russian-made main engine, and ULA admits its Delta 4 rocket is too expensive to be competitive. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is less expensive and uses U.S.-made engines, but the company's bigger Falcon Heavy rocket is not yet certified by the Air Force for national security missions. The Falcon Heavy could be certified as soon as next year after further successful flights, which will make it eligible to compete for Air Force EELV-class contracts following a flawless maiden test launch Feb. 6.
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Феликс

какаято реинкарнация старой Дельты...

Дмитрий В.

ЦитироватьФеликс пишет:
какаято реинкарнация старой Дельты...
Очень мало общего.
Lingua latina non penis canina
StarShip - аналоговнет!

Apollo13

Это реинкарнация Арес-1

Seerndv

ЦитироватьApollo13 пишет:
Это реинкарнация Арес-1
- а это, тово, эта реинкарнация не вытрясет душу нафиг из ПН?
Свободу слова Старому !!!
Но намордник не снимать и поводок укоротить!
Все могло быть еще  хуже (С)

Apollo13

ЦитироватьJeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust May 22

Michael Laidley, Orbital ATK: we have about 500 people working on our OmegA rocket right now; expect that to ramp up to about 1,000. Ground testing of first stage to begin next year. #SpaceTechExpo

ЦитироватьJeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust May 22

Laidley: on schedule for first flight of intermediate version of OmegA in 2021, with USAF certification in 2022. Heavy version first launch 2024. #SpaceTechExpo

ЦитироватьJeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust May 22

Laidley: if we don't win Launch Services Award from USAF for OmegA, we would not proceed with the vehicle as currently defined. It would be some other design that doesn't address all EELV requirements. #SpaceTechExpo


tnt22

ЦитироватьOrbital ATK ретвитнул(а)

Defense Daily‏ @DefenseDaily 21 ч. назад

OmegA, @OrbitalATK's new heavy-class rocket, will have a payload capacity of up to 10,100 kg to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and up to 7,800 kg to Geostationary Equatorial Orbit (GEO)

Seerndv

- и сколько ж будет стоить запуск 7,800 kg to Geostationary Equatorial Orbit на  OmegA?
Свободу слова Старому !!!
Но намордник не снимать и поводок укоротить!
Все могло быть еще  хуже (С)

Искандер

ЦитироватьSeerndv пишет:
ЦитироватьApollo13 пишет:
Это реинкарнация Арес-1
- а это, тово, эта реинкарнация не вытрясет душу нафиг из ПН?
Кстати да, у Арес-1 были большие проблемы с вибрацией.
И не понятно как они собираются решать эту проблему.
Aures habent et non audient, oculos habent et non videbunt

Дмитрий В.

ЦитироватьИскандер пишет:
ЦитироватьSeerndv пишет:
ЦитироватьApollo13 пишет:
Это реинкарнация Арес-1
- а это, тово, эта реинкарнация не вытрясет душу нафиг из ПН?
Кстати да, у Арес-1 были большие проблемы с вибрацией.
И не понятно как они собираются решать эту проблему.
У Арес-1 проблема проявлялась в том, что на некоторых участках полета из-за вибраций экипаж мог неверно считывать с экранов мониторов текст размером меньше 10 кегля, что считалось потенциально опасным. Вот и вся проблема. При выведении автоматических КА этой проблемы не существует.
Lingua latina non penis canina
StarShip - аналоговнет!

Искандер

ЦитироватьДмитрий В. пишет:
У Арес-1 проблема проявлялась в том, что на некоторых участках полета из-за вибраций экипаж мог неверно считывать с экранов мониторов текст размером меньше 10 кегля, что считалось потенциально опасным. Вот и вся проблема. При выведении автоматических КА этой проблемы не существует.
OK. И это хорошо.
Aures habent et non audient, oculos habent et non videbunt

Искандер

ЦитироватьSeerndv пишет:
- и сколько ж будет стоить запуск 7,800 kg to Geostationary Equatorial Orbit на OmegA?
Пока это военная тайна. Цены не сложили. Проходила информация про порядка 100 млн, но не понятно в какой конфигурации.
Aures habent et non audient, oculos habent et non videbunt

Seerndv

ЦитироватьДмитрий В. пишет:

У Арес-1 проблема проявлялась в том, что на некоторых участках полета из-за вибраций экипаж мог неверно считывать с экранов мониторов текст размером меньше 10 кегля, что считалось потенциально опасным. Вот и вся проблема. При выведении автоматических КА этой проблемы не существует.

ЦитироватьFirst Stage Design Problems Arise For NASA's Ares 1 Rocket
By Keith CowingPosted Friday, November 16, 2007
NASA has run into some problems with the design of its new Ares 1 launch vehicle - problems that could affect its ability (as designed) to safely launch its human cargo into space.

The Ares 1 and the Orion capsule (also under development) are designed to replace the crew carrying function of the current Space Shuttle fleet which is due to be retired in 2010. The first flight of humans aboard an Ares 1 is planned for March 2015.

According to NASA sources, the Ares 1 first stage, as currently designed, would produce a frequency of 25 Hz at liftoff. The concern is that this oscillation could shake the Ares 1 upper stage and Orion capsule designed to carry human passengers, causing considerable damage and that it could also adversely affect the Guidance, Navigation, and Control avionics in the rocket's Instrumentation Unit.

When asked to comment on this development, NASA's Exploration System Mission Directorate (ESMD) Public Affairs Officer replied:

"The Ares Project Office identified Ares I thrust oscillation as a potential integrated stack challenge as a part of its system definition review which concluded in October. Thrust oscillation or resonant burning is a characteristic of all solid rocket motors. It is caused by vortex shedding inside the solid rocket motor, similar to the wake that follows a fast-moving boat. When the vortex shedding coincides with the acoustic modes of the motor combustion chamber, pressure oscillations generate longitudinal forces that may affect the loads experienced by the Ares I during the last phase of first-stage flight. NASA is assessing the analyses in more detail, looking for any potential impacts to the integrated stack and ways to mitigate those impacts. Results are due in spring 2008. It is a normal part of the development process to identify, mitigate and track challenges such as this."

NASA sources also report that the 6 month slip in the Ares 1 PDR (Preliminary Design Review) recently announced could impact the first launch of humans aboard an Ares 1 by as much as 14-16 months beyond the publicly announced first flight date of March 2015.

NASA ESMD's response: "NASA decided to move the Ares I first stage preliminary design review to summer 2008 to allow better alignment with current Ares Project and Constellation Program preliminary design review planning. Conducting the first stage preliminary design review in summer 2008 will not cause NASA to delay the target date for the first flight with humans."

In addition, NASA sources report that the option of having a non-recoverable first stage for Ares 1 is also still under active consideration within the Ares design team - this despite stern statements to the contrary by former ESMD head Scott Horowitz last year.

NASA's response: "NASA is not considering a non-recoverable first stage for Ares I. A recoverable system is the preferred approach, and the agency confirmed this baseline through a trade study as part of the recent systems definition review."




Цитировать

MORE ARES I DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS: IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?
 Article written: 28 Oct , 2008
Updated: 24 Dec , 2015by Ian O'Neill



There's been a lot of bad news surrounding the development of the Constellation Program of late. We've had news of general design flaws, rebelling NASA engineers, failed parachute tests, budget overruns, vibrational issues and job losses. Now we have a new one to add to the mix, the Ares I launch vehicle could bump into the launch tower during blast-off. According to a Florida report, only a tiny gust of wind is required to cause the rocket to hit the tower or scorch it, causing catastrophic failure and/or costly damage to the pad.
You'd be forgiven for thinking Constellation is a failed project, that is obviously going to overrun, obviously going to cost too much and is obviously a waste of time. But forget the media naysayers for a moment. Despite the challenges faced by NASA engineers, a bumpy road on the way to launching the most advanced rocket system ever devised is well worth the ride...



The Orion parachute test drop didn't go so well... (NASA)

Back in August, I reported on the testing of the Ares and Orion parachute systems. Very little news was available about the Ares parachute successes, so the focus was placed on the spectacular failure of the Orion test vehicle, which fell to the ground like a stone (captured in full video glory). This wasn't a critical failure of the technology, it was more of an experimental anomaly. After all, isn't that what test flights are all about?


Ares V: Heavy lift capability comes with a price (NASA)
Then there was much emphasis placed on the predicted vibrational problems facing Ares I during launch. Fortunately, as Nancy reported on August 19th, NASA engineers had a solution. Just when the NASA engineers thought they were winning, a few days later a report comes out saying the old Apollo era crawlerway would not be able to support the weight of a fully laden Ares rocket (cue more budget over-stretching).



More bad news has come fr om other areas too. During the transition from the Space Shuttle to Constellation, it was estimated that 8,000 jobs would probably be lost. Even after this projected number was reduced to 3,000-4,000 job losses, US Senator Bill Nelson said that NASA job losses and an increased dependence on Russian space vehicles will result in "generating jobs in Russia." However, this argument may not hold water for much longer as the Russian Soyuz manufacturer has run out of money.

Now prepare yourself for some more bad news. The Orlando Sentinel has published an article entitled "Is NASA's Ares doomed?" Oh dear.

This headline comes in response to computer models that show the Ares I rocket could get blown into the launch tower during lift-off. Ares I could experience "liftoff drift", a phenomenon that occurs when the rocket's solid-fuel motor ignites, making the 309 ft (100 m) Ares I "jump" sideways. If this should occur during a breeze of a little over 12 mph (19 kmh), Ares I could fall into its launch tower, or cause severe and expensive damage to the tower under the extreme heat of its boosters.
"We were told by a person directly involved [in looking at the problem] that as they incorporate more variables into the liftoff-drift-curve model, the worse the curve becomes," said an anonymous NASA contractor. Contractors are not authorized to talk about Ares development, but the contractor continued, "I get the impression that things are quickly going from bad to worse to unrecoverable."




The future of space travel - Artist impression of Ares V on the launchpad (NASA)
But are these problems insurmountable? Surely NASA engineers will find a solution to this difficulty (much in the same way as they found an answer to the vibrational problems)?

"There are always issues that crop up when you are developing a new rocket and many opinions about how to deal with them," said Jeff Hanley, Constellation Program manager. "We have a lot of data and understanding of what it's going to take to build this."
The Orlando Sentinel also posted information about continuing rifts in NASA pointing out that a growing number of engineers are quitting the Constellation program through fears of unrealistic goals and safety concerns, calling the whole Constellation concept into question.
"If they push hard enough, yes, it will fly," said one disgruntled NASA engineer working on Ares. "But there are going to be so many compromises to be able to launch it, and it will be so expensive and so behind schedule, that it may be better if didn't fly at all."


In my view, any massive project like Constellation will attract its critics. Ares and Orion are new technologies wh ere NASA engineers will have to make some huge strides to make it work. As already mentioned, the Ares rocket system is going to fly, but it might overrun in spending and schedule. However, all these challenges will be worth it when we see the first Ares I launch from Cape Canaveral in six or seven years time.


Astronaut Eugene Cernan from Apollo 17, the last mission to the Moon (NASA)
Never before have we had the opportunity to build a space technology not only used for transportation to the space station, it will be used to facilitate the next lunar mission, and eventually a trip to Mars. These projects come at a huge cost for the entire nation, but like the run-up to the Apollo missions in the 1960's, the US needs to build an enthusiasm for the future of space flight. We are on the cusp of a huge advance for mankind, there's no budget or timescale for that kind of achievement.

It may not be politically or economically realistic, but more money should be ploughed into NASA and Constellation. This is a momentous challenge requiring a momentous effort from the nation. Let's just hope some of the spending promises of the presidential candidates last beyond November 4th...
Original source: Orlando Sentinel


- да-да, запуск "чугуниевой" болванки несомненно может пройти успешно :D
Свободу слова Старому !!!
Но намордник не снимать и поводок укоротить!
Все могло быть еще  хуже (С)

tnt22

ЦитироватьNorthrop Grumman‏Подлинная учетная запись @northropgrumman 23 июл.

Progress on our #OmegaRocket! This C600 rocket motor case was recently delivered to our casting pits in Promontory, Utah where we will fill with inert propellant this week. This pathfinder motor will be one of three for the rocket. #NorthropGrumman