Orbital ATK next-generation launch vehicle

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Зажигание!

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Отсечка!

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CBS_FactSheet.pdf - 1.9 MB, 2 стр, 2019-05-30 15:02:46 UTC

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Что это было???

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Northrop Grumman‏Подлинная учетная запись @northropgrumman 8 мин. назад

#NorthropGrumman successfully completed the test of OmegA's first stage; the motor performed nominally with an observation noted at the very end of test involving the aft exit cone of the nozzle. Tune in to the press conference starting at 2:05 p.m. MDT http://www.northropgrumman.com/OmegA 

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NGIS OmegA First Stage Test (Nozzle Failure)

NASASpaceFlight Videos

Опубликовано: 30 мая 2019 г.

First static Fire Test of the new OmegA rocket first stage suffered an anomaly near the end of its firing. Appears to be a nozzle failure

(3:41)

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Полная запись (NG) трансляции SFT 1-й ступени и итогового пресс-брифинга

OmegA Milestone: First Stage Static Test Fire

Northrop Grumman

Трансляция началась 107 минут назад

(1:45:24)

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OmegA-Static-Test.pdf - 10.4 MB, 2 стр, 2019-05-30 20:05:29 UTC

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https://tass.ru/kosmos/6492460

31 МАЯ, 01:02
В Юте прошли первые огневые испытания ракеты OmegA

Запуск носителя запланирован на 2021 год

НЬЮ-ЙОРК, 31 мая. /ТАСС/. Специалисты корпорации Northrop Grumman провели в четверг на полигоне в штате Юта первые огневые испытания первой ступени новой ракеты-носителя OmegA. Об этом сообщила пресс-служба корпорации. В ходе испытаний ракетный двигатель проработал 122 секунды. Полномасштабные огневые испытания второй ступени запланированы на осень нынешнего года.

"Разработка ракеты-носителя OmegA является приоритетом, и мы намерены обеспечить ВВС США гарантированную возможность вывода в космос важнейших полезных нагрузок, - заявил вице-президент и главный управляющий корпорации Скотт Лер. - Мы обещали провести испытания первой ступени весной 2019 года и выполнили обещание".

В октябре прошлого года ВВС США предоставили корпорации Northrop Grumman контракт на сумму $792 млн на завершение разработки ракеты OmegA. Первый старт новой ракеты-носителя запланирован на 2021 год.

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https://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/northrop-grumman-successfully-completes-first-stage-test-for-omega-rocket

Northrop Grumman Successfully Completes First Stage Test for OmegA Rocket

OmegA on track to support certification launch in 2021
May 30, 2019

PROMONTORY, Utah – May 30, 2019 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) successfully conducted a full-scale static fire test of the first stage of its new OmegATM rocket today in Promontory, Utah. This milestone keeps OmegA on track to perform its first launch in 2021 and begin operational launches of national security payloads in 2022.

"The OmegA rocket is a top priority and our team is committed to provide the U.S. Air Force with assured access to space for our nation's most critical payloads," said Scott Lehr, vice president and general manager, flight systems, Northrop Grumman. "We committed to test the first stage of OmegA in spring 2019, and that's exactly what we've done."

During today's test, the first stage motor fired for approximately 122 seconds, producing more than two million pounds of maximum thrust—roughly the equivalent to that of eight-and-a-half jumbo jets. The test verified the performance of the motor's ballistics, insulation and joints as well as control of the nozzle position.

Last October, the U.S. Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $792 million contract to complete detailed design and verification of OmegA and launch sites. Today's test verified performance of the first stage solid rocket motor for the intermediate version of OmegA.

The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act specified that a domestic next-generation rocket propulsion system "shall be developed by not later than 2019." With today's successful test fire, Northrop Grumman demonstrated the company is on track to meet this Congressionally-mandated schedule.

"Congratulations to the entire team on today's successful test," said Kent Rominger, OmegA vice president, Northrop Grumman. "OmegA's design using flight-proven hardware enables our team to meet our milestones and provide an affordable launch system that meets our customer's requirements and timeline."

A full-scale static fire test of OmegA's second stage is planned for this fall.

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OmegA's design leverages flight proven technologies from Northrop Grumman's Pegasus®, Minotaur and AntaresTM rockets as well as the company's interceptors, targets and strategic rockets. Northrop Grumman has conducted nearly 80 successful space launch missions and has decades of experience launching critical payloads for the U.S. Department of Defense, civil and commercial customers.

The company's vehicle development team is working on the program in Arizona, Utah, Mississippi and Louisiana, with launch integration and operations planned at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The program will also support thousands of jobs across the country in its supply chain.

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A replay of the May 30 live broadcast, including the OmegA first stage static test, can be found here.

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https://spacenews.com/northrop-grumman-to-investigate-anomaly-after-omegas-first-rocket-motor-test/

Northrop Grumman to investigate anomaly after OmegA's first rocket motor test
by Sandra Erwin — May 30, 2019


Northrop Grumman on May 30, 2019, conducted a full-scale static fire test of the first stage of its new OmegA rocket. Credit: Northrop Grumman/ YouTube

"What we observed today was successful test," said Kent Rominger, Northrop Grumman's vice president and capture lead for the OmegA launch system.

WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman on Thursday conducted a full-scale static fire test of the first stage of OmegA, the company's new rocket it is developing for national security missions. Company officials called it a successful test although it appeared that something went wrong near the end when sparks and burning debris were seen coming out of the nozzle.

More than 12 feet in diameter and 80 feet long, the first stage fired for 122 seconds at the company's test facility in Promontory, Utah. The static fire produced more than two million pounds of maximum thrust — roughly the equivalent to that of eight-and-a-half jumbo jets. The test verified the performance of the motor's ballistics, insulation and joints as well as control of the nozzle position, Northrop Grumman said in a statement.

"What we observed today was successful test," Kent Rominger, Northrop Grumman's vice president and capture lead for the OmegA launch system, told reporters at a news conference following the test.

Rocket motors are tested at high and low temperatures, he said. This test was at a high temperature of 90 degrees "so you get a little bit higher thrust," Rominger said. "It appears that everything worked very well. At the very end when the engine was tailing off, we observed the aft exit cone, maybe a portion of it, doing something a little strange that we need to go further look into."

A large plume of black smoke seen during the test was normal, Rominger said. When a motor burns out on the ground in tests, black smoke is expected whereas in space it's a much cleaner burnout.

Rominger would not confirm whether a piece or pieces of the aft exit cone came apart. "We have to dig into all that data, analyze it to see what happened," he said. The nozzle in OmegA's C600 first stage motor is a commercial nozzle that is different than the one used by NASA's Space Launch System, he said.

Michael Sanjume, chief of the Launch Enterprise Acquisition Division at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, said the Air Force will work with Northrop Grumman to analyze the data. "We view this test as an integral part of the development process," said Sanjume.

Rominger said the work required to analyze the results of Thursday's test will not affect the planned schedule for a full-scale static fire test of OmegA's second stage. That test should take place in August or September, he said.

The first flight of the OmegA rocket, scheduled for 2021, will employ a C600 first stage and a C300 second stage rocket motor. The second flight of OmegA will have the C600 and C300 configuration, with the addition of two GEM63XLT strap-on rocket motors.

Last October, the U.S. Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $792 million Launch Service Agreement contract to complete the development of OmegA and the required launch sites. The company will compete in the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 Launch Service Procurement competition that is now under way. The Air Force plans to select two launch providers in 2020. The other contenders are Blue Origin, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.

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https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/05/30/northrop-grumman-looking-into-dramatic-nozzle-anomaly-on-omega-rocket-motor/

Northrop Grumman looking into dramatic nozzle anomaly on Omega rocket motor
May 30, 2019 | William Harwood

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION

Near the end of a ground-shaking test firing of Northrop Grumman's solid-propellant Castor 600 rocket motor — the first stage of a new booster being designed to launch spy satellites and other national security payloads — a major part of the rocket's big nozzle appeared to break apart, littering the test site with shards of debris.

Built by Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK), the rocket was mounted horizontally at the company's test stand in Promontory, Utah. The Castor 600 motor, which will be used as the first stage of the company's new intermediate-class Omega rocket, appeared to fire normally for the first minute and 58 seconds or so.

At that point, just a few seconds before the rocket's solid propellant was exhausted, at least part of the nozzle appeared to break into multiple fragments. Even so, Kent Rominger, a former shuttle commander and now a Northrop Grumman vice president, called the test a success.

"It appears, everything worked very, very well on this test," he told reporters. "And at the very end when the engine was tailing off, we observed the aft exit cone, maybe a portion of it, doing something a little strange that we need to go further look into."

Northrop Grumman webcast the test firing and to the untrained eye, a significant portion of the nozzle appeared to suddenly shatter toward the end of the burn, breaking into multiple fragments that shot away from the booster's still-rushing exhaust plume.

The Castor 600 booster, similar in design to the boosters used to launch space shuttles, was heavily instrumented for its first test firing with more than 700 channels of telemetry being recorded. For the test Thursday, the booster's propellant was heated to 90 degrees before firing, allowing it to generate slightly higher-than-normal thrust.

Rominger said the observed nozzle anomaly that long after ignition might not have had a major impact during an actual flight, but "we've got to get through the data."

"The quick-look data we'll be getting within several hours, but then we have to dig into all that data and analyze kind of what it is you're talking about to see, in fact, what happened," he said. "So what you saw was at the very end of the tail off, you could have had a very normal, nominal thrust profile, but the truth is we need to go pull the data to analyze that."

Northrop Grumman is building more powerful solid-propellant boosters for NASA's huge Space Launch System rocket, which will be used in the early 2020s to launch astronauts back to the moon. It was not immediately known what impact, if any, the test anomaly Thursday might have on the SLS program.

But Rominger downplayed commonality between the two designs.

"This nozzle is a little bit different, a little bit more of a commercial nozzle than SLS," Rominger said. "So there are distinct differences between these nozzles."

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In October 2018, Northrop Grumman, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin won Air Force contracts totaling more than $2 billion to develop next-generation rockets capable of boosting high-value national security payloads into orbit. Northrop Grumman's share for development of the Omega rocket was $791.6 million. Two of the new rockets will be selected for military use in a second competition.

Northrop Grumman is developing two versions of the three-stage Omega rocket, one featuring the Castor 600 first stage motor and the other a more powerful Castor 1200. Both versions will use Castor 300 solid-propellant second stages and an upper stage powered by hydrogen-fueled RL10C engines provided by Aerojet Rocketdyne.

Smaller strap-on solid-propellant motors can be attached to the first stage for additional lift-off power.

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The company said earlier that two full-scale static test firings, one of the first stage and one of the second, would qualify the intermediate version of the rocket for an initial test flight in 2021. Operational flights could begin in 2022.

A test firing of the Castor 300 upper stage motor is planned for the August-September timeframe, but that assumes no major delays due to the nozzle anomaly or any other issues.