Antares (Taurus II)

[Salo]

http://twitter.com/#/jeff_foust/status/94077263011778561

@jeff_foust Jeff Foust
Frank Culberson, Orbital: now planning Taurus 2 test firing on pad in November, demo launch late December, COTS flight next February.

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/launch/110722-taurus-debut-delayed.html

Fri, 22 July, 2011
Taurus 2 Debut Delayed Two Months by Launch Pad Issues[/size]
By Peter B. de Selding

    An artist's concept of Orbital Sciences' Taurus 2 rocket on the pad at Wallops Island, Va. Credit: Orbital Sciences artist's concept
        An artist's concept of Orbital Sciences' Taurus 2 rocket on the pad at Wallops Island, Va. Credit: Orbital Sciences artist's concept Enlarge Image

    PARIS — The inaugural flight of Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus 2 rocket will be delayed by about two months, to December, to allow time for the completion and certification of rocket propellant and pressurization facilities at the vehicle's Wallops Island, Va., launch site, Orbital Chief Executive David W. Thompson said July 21.

    Dulles, Va.-based Orbital still intends to demonstrate its space station cargo vehicle on the second Taurus 2 flight about two months after the first successful liftoff, meaning that mission, in which the Cygnus capsule will approach the international space station, will be delayed to February, Thompson said.

    In a conference call with investors, Thompson said an early-June test failure of a Taurus 2 first-stage AJ26 engine is unlikely to have much impact on the rocket's overall launch schedule as an initial assessment of the other AJ26 engines in supplier Aerojet's inventory shows that two-thirds appear not to have the defect that caused the mishap. The remaining one-third will require rework or repair, he said.

    Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski said July 21 that the engine being tested caught fire because of a "fuel line breakage."

    Sacramento, Calif.-based Aerojet is overseeing adaptation of the Ukrainian-built AJ26 engine and its testing at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Thompson said Aerojet has already taken delivery of more than three dozen AJ26 engines. Each Taurus 2 first stage is equipped with two engines.

    The Taurus 2 vehicle and Cygnus cargo freighter are being developed in partnership with NASA, with funding for the early flights from the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility provided in part by the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation System project.

    Thompson said neither the delay in the propellant facility nor the engine failure will have a financial impact on Orbital's Taurus 2 program as both are mainly the responsibility of subcontractors. In addition, he said, Orbital had included in its early estimate of total Taurus 2 and Cygnus development costs a financial safety margin that has not been used up, allowing the company to sustain program milestone slips without exceeding its budget.

    Orbital will be submitting the Taurus 2 to NASA and the U.S. Air Force later this year for inclusion in the list of approved rockets used by these two agencies for missions beyond space station cargo-resupply, Thompson said. Orbital is under contract to make eight cargo delivery runs to the space station starting next year; Thompson said it is unlikely that any new orders will arrive before the vehicle's first successful flight.

    Thompson also said Orbital has completed a review of the March failure of its smaller Taurus XL rocket, whose fairing malfunctioned for the second consecutive time. In both cases the principal payloads were NASA science satellites whose combined cost is estimated at more than $600 million.

    Orbital's June 29 flight of a Minotaur rocket, a converted ICBM, used a fairing that had been redesigned to account for the two Taurus XL failures. The launch, carrying the U.S. Defense Department's Operationally Responsive Space-1 satellite into low Earth orbit, was a success.

    Orbital's financial results for the three months ending June 30 highlighted the company's regular business in launching classified as well as unclassified U.S. national security satellites.

    Thompson said Orbital's position as a relatively low-cost supplier to U.S. intelligence and defense agencies should enable it to emerge relatively unscathed from the wave of budget cuts.

    "Our competitive position is enhanced given our focus on affordable systems," Thompson said, adding that defense and military customers are forcing "a major shift" in focus away from large and vulnerable satellites to smaller spacecraft.

    Orbital has played the same smaller-and-less-expensive card in the market for commercial telecommunications satellites operating in geostationary orbit.

    The company has booked two commercial orders this year of the three that were awarded in Orbital's weight and power class: roughly 3,000 kilograms and 5 kilowatts or less of on-board power.

    Orbital expects a total of 17-20 commercial geostationary-orbiting telecommunications satellites to be ordered worldwide this year, with five or six of them in Orbital's class. The company's objective is to win three of these smaller spacecraft, and possibly a fourth, Thompson said.

    In its second-quarter earnings announcement, Orbital said it had "deployed the New Dawn communications spacecraft for Intelsat during the second quarter." The company did not give an update on the satellite's failure to deploy one of its two broadcast antennas since its launch in April, or the fact that the other New Dawn antenna needed more time than usual to complete its deployment.

    Beneski said New Dawn's C-band reflector antenna remains stuck, "although we are still grinding on the problem." He said the company's inquiry into what happened has not yet concluded its work.[/size]

[Saul]

Срочно, некогда искать тему, Днепропетровск, с ул Рабочей в сторону парка Чкалова (Глобы) - в небе кружатся световые пятна, но луча снизу не видно. Подтверждение, с набережной тоже видели (по телефону). Пока набирал - пошёл дождь.

[Frontm]

Срочно, некогда искать тему, Днепропетровск, с ул Рабочей в сторону парка Чкалова (Глобы) - в небе кружатся световые пятна, но луча снизу не видно. Подтверждение, с набережной тоже видели (по телефону). Пока набирал - пошёл дождь.

Самару ищут

[Saul]

Да река Самара у нас на месте. И пива кстати не много выпил.

[Saul]

Опять летают!!!

[Saul]

Извиняюсь, это всё-таки прожектора с другого берега. А такие фантазии розыгрались!

[Frontm]

А такие фантазии розыгрались!

А у меня из-за вас ностальгия разыгралась :evil:
Лоц-каменку в яндекс-карте увеличиваю и увеличиваю  

[Salo]

http://www.orbital.com/TaurusII/

Updated Taurus II & COTS/CRS Development & Flight Milestones
July 2011
Orbital has released an updated milestones chart to the reflect the most current projections for the integration, testing and operations of its Taurus II and Cygnus spacecraft for the COTS and CRS programs.



http://www.orbital.com/TaurusII/files/July-Milestone2011.pdf[/size]

[SpaceR]

Извиняюсь, это всё-таки прожектора с другого берега. А такие фантазии розыгрались!

Товарисч-земляк из Днепра только счас нашёл время взглянуть на небо.  :lol:
Я эти "световые пятна" уже лет 6 наблюдаю, если не больше. Почти на каждые выходные, особенно летом.
Дискотечно-развлекательная установка, хотя лампы действительно на редкость мощные (возможно, дуговые, как на освещении ж.д. станций). Весьма эффектно бегают зайчики-лучи по облакам.
Кстати, это на правом берегу, где-то в районе цирка.

[Saul]

Извиняюсь за оффтоп, да ту дискотеку я тоже давно наблюдаю, но в этой части неба впервые. Видимо предгрозовой оптический эффект. В различных свидетельствах отмечают световое пятно от НЛО без луча. Супруга тоже отметила необычность. Кстати она давно видела над городом золотистый шар. Сегодня посмейтесь, но возможно стоит модераторам создать форум "Непонятных оптических эффектов" и воякам разрешить часть ресурсов наблюдений быстро переводить на означенные точки. Всё.

[Денис Лобко]

Раньше на крыше цирка стояла установка с прожекторами, мне с Солнечного очень хорошо было видно (окна на Днепр выходили)

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1107/25cotsdemo/index.html

Orbital Sciences will launch the Cygnus spacecraft on the Taurus 2 rocket from a new pad at Wallops Island, Va.

Delays in installing and checking out the Wallops launch complex's propellant and pressurization systems has pushed back the Taurus 2 rocket's debut flight from October to December, Thompson said July 21.

The launch pad should be completed in August, and a pathfinder version of the Taurus 2 rocket will be moved to the complex in October.

The December test launch was added with the help of NASA funding to reduce the risk in Orbital's rocket and spacecraft development programs. If the launch is successful, Orbital aims to bolt the first Cygnus craft to the second Taurus 2 rocket for liftoff in February.
 
 Thompson said a failure during a June ground test of Aerojet's kerosene-fueled AJ26 engine is also unlikely to cause any significant delays in the Taurus 2 launch manifest. Each Taurus 2 rocket first stage is powered by two AJ26 engines, which were built in Russia for the Soviet Union's moon program in the 1960s and 1970s.

Aerojet acquired and modified the engines for U.S. launches.

"Orbital, Aerojet and NASA have substantially completed our analysis of the cause of this test failure and have developed a screening process which is now being applied to an initial batch of the three dozen or so AJ26 engines that are in inventory at Aerojet," Thompson said in a conference call with financial analysts.

Thompson said about two-thirds of Aerojet's AJ26 inventory are ready for flight as is, with the remaining engines needing "some level of rework or repair" before being cleared for launch.

The June testing mishap occurred at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The AJ26 engine caught fire after a leak in one the powerplant's fuel lines.

According to Thompson, two Taurus 2 first stages built in Ukraine are already at the Wallops launch site. One solid-fueled Castor 30 second stage motor is also now at Wallops.

The Cygnus mass simulator and instrumentation package that will fly on the Taurus 2 rocket's December test flight has also been shipped to the coastal Virginia launch site.[/size]

[Seerndv]

Какое-то туманное объяснение, с расплывчатым намёком непонятно на кого.

[Salo]

Что наводит на мысль о попытке отмазать Аэроджет.

[Seerndv]

Ну не могут они написать что сильфон крякнул:)
Только ж расписались в грандиозных планах и ткнуть в себя пальцем - акционеры с кредиторами не поймут-с! :roll:

[Seerndv]

Once more:   :wink:
WASHINGTON — An Aerojet AJ-26 main engine undergoing acceptance testing for the inaugural flight of Orbital Science Corp.'s Taurus 2 rocket was badly damaged June 9 when a metal fuel line ruptured, causing the engine and test stand to catch fire, according to an industry source with knowledge of the mishap.

The fuel line that failed was part of the engine, not the test stand, the source said. The resulting fuel fire, which NASA said caused only minor damage to Stennis Space Center's E-1 Test Stand in Mississippi, took approximately four minutes to extinguish.

The source, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said the AJ-26  team investigating the mishap suspects a flaw in the metal used for that particular fuel line.

Не фиг батон крошить на СНТК :wink:  

"If this looks like it's a processing flaw when the metal was made, then the problem is probably just a one-off," the source said.
The AJ-26 is a rebuilt NK-33, the Soviet-era liquid oxygen/kerosene engine Aerojet acquired in bulk in the 1990s.

Three AJ-26 engines have completed acceptance testing at Stennis and been delivered to Orbital's Taurus 2 integration facility at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Two of those engines were intended to be used for an upcoming hold-down test of the Taurus 2's first stage and then refurbished for the rocket's second flight. The other engine already at Wallops was to have been paired with the now-damaged engine for the Taurus 2's maiden launch, targeted for October.

That launch — a demonstration flight meant to help qualify the vehicle to launch cargo capsules bound for the international space station — now appears likely to slip at least a month since the next available engine still must undergo acceptance testing at Stennis, according to the source.

Orbital spokesman Barry Beneski acknowledged June 22 that the engine was damaged in a fire caused by a fuel leak but said details of the incident were still being investigated. He said a more extensive report on how badly the engine was damaged is expected the week of June 27.

Aerojet spokesman Glenn Mahone said June 24 the "fuel line leading into the engine"  ( ну а это, вероятно, самое честное и достоверное заключение  :lol: )appears to be what caused the mishap, but cautioned that the investigation has not concluded. "Once the investigation is complete, we will make whatever changes or repairs we need to make and after that be prepared to go on with our testing," he said.

Ну и стоит ли батон крошить на СНТК? :wink:

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1108/21nlsonramp/

A rocket's resurrection?[/size]
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: August 21, 2011

The familiar green and white Delta 2 rocket now on the cusp of retirement could be given new life to launch a handful of NASA climate research satellites later this decade.

NASA is considering proposals from United Launch Alliance and Orbital Sciences Corp. to add the Delta 2 and Taurus 2 rockets to the space agency's stable of launch vehicles for medium-class science satellites, according to industry and government sources.


File photo of a Delta 2 rocket launch. Credit: William Hartenstein/United Launch Alliance
 
The companies submitted bids in an interim "on-ramp" period established by NASA to fill a void between lightweight rockets and the more costly intermediate-class Atlas 5 rocket.

NASA is facing a cost crunch in the rocket business as rising launch prices threaten to scale back the agency's Earth science satellite program.

United Launch Alliance's Delta 2 rocket is the only medium-class rocket available that meets NASA requirements to launch the agency's most complex and expensive payloads. It has carried 60 percent of NASA's scientific satellites into space over the last decade, and it can haul from 5,600 pounds to 12,000 pounds into low Earth orbit.

But a 10-year omnibus contract signed last year between NASA and four launch companies didn't include the Delta 2. The Air Force stopped using the venerable launcher in 2009, and without a stable anchor customer, the Delta 2's future seemed uncertain.

When the Air Force retreated from the Delta 2 program, NASA picked up the cost of maintaining the rocket's ground infrastructure to ensure it was ready to launch a series of research missions through this year. There are now two NASA launches left on the Delta 2's manifest -- one from Florida and one from California.

ULA didn't propose the Delta 2 rocket for the new NASA Launch Services contract awarded last year. Instead of picking the Delta 2, NASA ended up selecting ULA's larger Atlas 5 rocket, the Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus XL and Taurus XL launchers, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and the Athena 1c and 2c vehicles from Lockheed Martin Corp. The contract's overall value could be as much as $15 billion for up to 70 missions over the next decade.

When the space agency chooses rockets to launch unmanned satellites or robotic science probes into the solar system, managers usually must pick one of those approved vehicles to launch them from Earth.


File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket launch. Credit: Chris Thompson/SpaceX
 
But as launch costs skyrocket -- rising by 50 percent in three years in some cases -- NASA is seeking more cost-effective solutions to launch a slate of Earth science satellites. Tightening federal budgets put more pressure on finding less expensive rockets to launch NASA payloads.

ULA says it has components for five Delta 2 rockets left in its inventory. The rocket's production line has already been shut down.

Vernon Thorp, ULA's program manager for NASA missions, said his company is proposing adding the Delta 2 to the space agency's pool of rocket choices for future satellite missions.

His sales pitch is simple: "It works."

"It's a good performance fit and it has a great track record," Thorp said. "NASA knows what they're getting with Delta 2."

Although its last mission is now set for October, Thorp said ULA foresees no issue with a multi-year gap between this year's launches and follow-on missions as late as 2014. The company can occupy its workforce on the larger Atlas 5 and Delta 4 launch vehicles until crews are needed again for the Delta 2, he said.

The five leftover Delta 2 vehicles are built to fly in the rocket's Heavy configuration, which are powered off the ground by bigger 46-inch solid rocket boosters. The Delta 2's launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., is not set up to support launches with the more powerful boosters.

Thorp said ULA could restart procurement of the Delta 2's smaller 40-inch diameter solid rocket boosters for West Coast missions, assuming NASA shows interest. Most of the NASA satellites requiring a rocket like the Delta 2 would launch into polar orbit from the West Coast.

The rocket's solid-fueled boosters are built by ATK in Utah.

NASA needs reliability

The Delta 2 rocket is the only launch vehicle in its class with a Category 3 certification, meaning it's in the running to launch any NASA scientific spacecraft that will fit on it. ULA's larger Atlas 5 rocket, which has launched NASA probes to Mars, Jupiter and Pluto, also holds a coveted Category 3 certification from the space agency.


Artist's concept of a Taurus 2 rocket launch. Credit: Orbital Sciences
 
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which is in roughly the same class as the Delta 2, is now eligible to be awarded contracts for individual missions, but the certification process won't begin until NASA issues such a task order. According to a Government Accountability Office report in November 2010, the Falcon 9 rocket may not receive a top Category 3 certification until 2014 despite having racked up two successful launches in 2010.

A rocket must be certified at least six months before a NASA launch, according to agency policy.

Since its first launch in 1989, the Delta 2 has amassed 147 successful flights in 149 tries.

Most of NASA's medium-class payloads lacking a reliable, economic launch vehicle are Earth science satellites. Because those spacecraft go into orbit over Earth's poles, they must blast off from the U.S. West Coast. Launches from Florida, which are more suited for equatorial orbits or interplanetary missions, can't reach polar orbit because the rocket would overfly populated areas.

The reflight of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, or OCO 2, is scheduled for February 2013. It's the most immediate concern for NASA's rocket selection team.

Although NASA had a contract to launch OCO 2 on a solid-fueled Taurus XL rocket from California, agency officials have stated the Taurus XL must be recertified or demonstrated before placing another NASA payload aboard the vehicle. NASA stopped making payments to Orbital Sciences for the OCO 2 launch this spring.

That's because the Taurus XL suffered back-to-back launch failures in 2009 and 2011, costing NASA nearly $700 million with the loss of two satellites. One of the doomed payloads was the original Orbiting Carbon Observatory in 2009.

OCO 2 will track concentrations and movements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, including human-produced greenhouse gases. Results from OCO 2 will help scientists make better predictions about how increased carbon dioxide will impact Earth's climate and inform government leaders as they develop policies to confront climate change, according to NASA.

Having ceased payments for the Taurus XL launch of OCO 2, NASA is now shopping for a new rocket to deliver the spacecraft into orbit. The Delta 2, Athena and the U.S. military's Minotaur rocket could do the job. But the law requires NASA to consider commercial rockets before turning to military launch vehicles. Even then such a decision requires approval by the Secretary of Defense.


An artist's concept of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2, one of the satellites waiting to be assigned a rocket. Credit: NASA
 
Other satellites in need of a medium-class launch vehicle in the next few years include the joint U.S.-French Jason 3 ocean observation satellite scheduled to launch in 2013 or 2014, the Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite in 2014, and the second Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat 2, slated to blast off in early 2016.

NASA typically awards launch contracts for each satellite mission about three years ahead of liftoff. Some of the spacecraft awaiting rocket assignments, such as OCO 2 and Jason 3, are scheduled to launch in less than three years, so the missions could face delays and overall cost increases as a result of the rocket dilemma.

Responding to the urgent need for rocket options, NASA opened up a fresh round of proposals -- called an on-ramp in NASA terminology -- in July and August for companies to submit offers to add new rockets to the NASA Launch Services contract.

Orbital Sciences and ULA responded with the Taurus 2 and Delta 2 rockets, respectively.

NASA officials declined to comment on the proposals because it is still an open competition, but the agency expects to announce a decision by the end of this year, according to a NASA spokesperson.

The Taurus 2, mostly unrelated to the troubled Taurus XL, is being developed by Orbital Sciences to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. The Dulles, Va.-based company says it wants to sell the expendable rocket for launches of NASA and U.S. military payloads.

"We are submitting proposals both to NASA and to the Air Force so that they can include Taurus 2 on the contracts that they have for space launch vehicles," said David Thompson, Orbital's chairman and CEO, in a conference call last month. "My expectation would be that we will not see the first order placed for a Taurus 2 under those contracts until sometime after the first launch late this year."

According to Orbital, the first launch of the Taurus 2 is scheduled for December from a new launch facility at Wallops Island, Va. If the test flight goes well, the next mission would demonstrate Orbital's Cygnus cargo freighter on a voyage to the space station.[/size]

[Salo]

http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/release.asp?prid=786

Orbital Receives FAA Commercial Space Launch License for Taurus II COTS Demonstration Mission[/size]
-- Company Secures Required Authorization to Conduct Launch After Extensive Technical and Management Review --

(Dulles, VA 31 August 2011) -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world's leading space technology companies, today announced that it received a Commercial Space Transportation Launch License from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to conduct the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program demonstration mission in early 2012. An expanded license covering the test flight of the company's Taurus® II rocket in late 2011 is expected to be granted in the near future.

To secure the license, Orbital was required to submit extensive technical and program management data to the FAA about its Taurus II rocket and Cygnus™ spacecraft to ensure that all necessary operational requirements and safety precautions are met. Among the many items reviewed by the FAA were the rocket's planned trajectory, ground tracking procedures, onboard safety and flight termination systems, and the experience and training of the launch operations team.

"We are very pleased to have been granted the Commercial Space Transportation Launch License by the FAA well in advance of our scheduled launch date in early 2012," said Mr. Brent Collins, Orbital's Senior Vice President and Taurus II Program Manager. "While we are very knowledgeable of the FAA licensing process because of our extensive experience with Pegasus and Taurus space launch vehicles, securing the FAA's approval for a new rocket system is always challenging because of the rigor of their oversight. We feel this is a great vote of confidence in our launch vehicle design, the robustness of its subsystems, the thoroughness of our processes, and the training and operational experience of our launch team."

For the COTS demonstration mission, Orbital will launch a Taurus II rocket carrying an operational Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft that will autonomously rendezvous with and operate in close proximity to the International Space Station (ISS) until it is grappled with a robotic arm and berthed to the Station. For the earlier Taurus II test flight, an instrumented Cygnus simulator will be onboard to accurately characterize the launch environment

About Taurus II

Orbital is developing the Taurus II medium-class space launch vehicle to boost payloads into a variety of low Earth and geosynchronous transfer orbits and Earth escape trajectories. Taurus II incorporates proven technologies from the company's Pegasus®, Taurus and Minotaur rockets, and is supported by a "best-in-class" network of suppliers from the U.S. and around the world.

The Taurus II program currently has a backlog of 10 launches, beginning with a test launch slated for December 2011, followed by the COTS demonstration mission in early 2012. COTS is a joint research and development effort with NASA to develop a space transportation system capable of safely and reliably supplying the ISS with essential cargo. Orbital is also under contract with NASA for the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program with an eight-mission, $1.9 billion agreement to deliver cargo to the ISS from 2012 through 2015.

In addition to its work with NASA on the COTS and CRS programs, Orbital is also offering the Taurus II rocket to U.S. civil government, military and commercial customers for dedicated launch services for medium-class satellites. From its launch site at Wallops Island, Virginia, Taurus II will be capable of supporting mid-inclination and polar orbiting spacecraft weighing approximately 13,500 lbs. and 5,500 lbs., respectively. In addition, Orbital plans to decide in early 2012 on the location of a West Coast launch site to optimize Taurus II's performance to high-inclination orbits.

About Orbital

Orbital develops and manufactures small- and medium-class rockets and space systems for commercial, military and civil government customers. The company's primary products are satellites and launch vehicles, including low-Earth orbit, geosynchronous-Earth orbit and planetary exploration spacecraft for communications, remote sensing, scientific and defense missions; human-rated space systems for Earth-orbit, lunar and other missions; ground- and air-launched rockets that deliver satellites into orbit; and missile defense systems that are used as interceptor and target vehicles. Orbital also provides satellite subsystems and space-related technical services to U.S. Government agencies and laboratories.[/size]

[Salo]

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/09/29/successful-test-firing-conducted-on-taurus-iis-aj-26-engine/

Successful Test Firing Conducted on Taurus II's AJ-26 Engine[/size]
Posted by Doug Messier
on September 29, 2011, at 11:26 am

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Aerojet, a GenCorp company, announced today that along with NASA and Orbital Sciences Corporation, the team conducted a successful ground test firing of an AJ26-62 flight engine that will power Orbital's Taurus® II medium-class space launch vehicle. The test was conducted at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

"The successful test is a testament to our strong belief in collaboration and commitment," said Executive Director of Space and Launch Systems, Pete Cova. "Successful engine testing, integration and deliveries are evidence of the strong partnerships that Aerojet has with Orbital, along with NASA's Stennis Space Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, Kennedy Space Center, Johnson Space Center, Wallops Flight Facility and Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE)."

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 Taurus II launch vehicle.

About Taurus II:

The Taurus II medium-class space launch vehicle is being developed to boost payloads into a variety of low-Earth and geosynchronous transfer orbits and to Earth escape trajectories. Taurus II incorporates proven technologies from Orbital's Pegasus®, Taurus and Minotaur rockets, and is supported by a "best-in-class" network of suppliers from the U.S. and around the world.

The Taurus II rocket will also be available to civil government and U.S. military customers for dedicated launch services for medium-class scientific and national security satellites. Taurus II will also be capable of supporting mid-inclination and polar orbiting spacecraft weighing 10,000 lbs. and 5,500 lbs., respectively.

About Aerojet:

Aerojet is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader principally serving the missile and space propulsion, defense and armaments markets. GenCorp is a leading technology-based manufacturer of aerospace and defense products and systems with a real estate segment that includes activities related to the entitlement, sale, and leasing of the company's excess real estate assets. Additional information about Aerojet and GenCorp can be obtained by visiting the companies' websites at http://www.aerojet.com and http://www.gencorp.com .[/size]