Antares (Taurus II)

[Александр Ч.]

Salo,   

[Александр Ч.]

Кстати, держал в руках дисер по исследованию модификаций РД-120, ЕМНИП, использование его на Союз давало прибавку в 900кг.

Нагуглил ссылку на неё: http://www.dissercat.com/content/issledovaniya-problem-svyazannykh-s-modifikatsiei-dvigatelya-rd-120-dlya-pervykh-stupenei-ra

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/37558orbital-sues-virginia-says-state-owes-it-165-million

Orbital Sues Virginia, Says State Owes It $16.5 Million
By Dan Leone | Oct. 4, 2013

WASHINGTON — Orbital Sciences Corp. is suing the state of Virginia over $16.5 million the company says it shelled out a few years ago to help cover cost overruns incurred during construction of the state-owned launchpad Orbital leased to launch cargo delivery missions to the international space station (ISS) for NASA.

In a lawsuit filed Sept. 24 with the Richmond Circuit Court, Orbital is demanding the $16.5 million, plus interest. Orbital is seeking a jury trial and has named as defendants Virginia; the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority that runs the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Va.; and Virginia's state comptroller, David A. Von Moll.

Reached by email Oct. 4, Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski declined comment, as did Dale Nash, executive director of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority. None of the defendants had filed a response to Orbital's complaint as of Oct. 4.

Orbital filed suit less than a week after its Antares rocket launched the first Cygnus space freighter to the station from MARS Pad-0A, which is located on NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Funding for the vehicles came mostly from NASA in the form of a roughly $300 million technology development contract signed in 2007, and an eight-flight, $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract signed in 2008.

Orbital struck a deal with Virginia to launch its missions from Pad-0A, which the state agreed to build. However, Virginia bungled the construction project, which led to delays and cost overruns beginning in 2010, Orbital said in the complaint. The company stepped in — "reluctantly," according to the complaint — and started buying MARS assets to provide the state with cash to continue construction.

Orbital bought $42 million worth of hardware, with the understanding that Virginia would eventually buy these assets back, the complaint says. The state bought back about $25.5 million worth of hardware in 2012, but balked at repurchasing a horizontal rocket transporter and associated hardware. The state argued this hardware could only be used for Antares and therefore was not a reimbursable cost. Orbital disagreed.

The Aerospace Corp., a federally funded think tank specializing in military space, was brought in to mediate and ruled  in Orbital's favor in 2012, according to the complaint. Orbital subsequently sought payment but was told June 5 by Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton that the state would not pay. Connaughton informed Orbital of the state's decision during a meeting of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority's board of directors, according to the complaint.

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/37748buoyed-by-antares-success-orbital-sciences-in-hot-pursuit-of-commercial

Buoyed by Antares Success, Orbital Sciences in Hot Pursuit of Commercial Launch Contract
  By Peter B. de Selding | Oct. 18, 2013

 
The Antares rocket's success in its first two NASA-funded demonstration flights has begun to draw interest fr om commercial and non-NASA government customers, according to Orbital Sciences CEO David W. Thompson. Credit: Orbital Sciences Corp.
 
  PARIS — Satellite and rocket hardware manufacturer Orbital Sciences on Oct. 17 said that its new Antares rocket's success in its first two NASA-funded demonstration flights has begun to draw interest fr om commercial and non-NASA government customers.
In a conference call with investors, Orbital Chief Executive David W. Thompson said the company is already chasing one commercial customer for a one- or two-launch contract to be conducted starting in 2016.
Thompson did not identify the customer or the type of orbit, but said Orbital would be submitting a contract proposal in the coming weeks. A contract decision is likely in the first three months of 2014, he said.
"With two really good launches under our belt, things are picking up in terms of customer interest," Thompson said of Antares, whose first two flights — one delivering a cargo module to the international space station — were conducted for NASA.
A third flight, and the second carrying the Cygnus space station freighter, is scheduled for December. It will be the first delivery on an eight-launch contract with NASA for station resupply, with the second and third of these flights to occur in the spring and autumn of 2014.
The first Cygnus demonstration flight to the station carried about 682 kilograms of payload. The second will carry double that amount, with future flights increasing their payload complement. Under the $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services, or CRS, contract, Orbital is obligated to deliver 20,000 kilograms of supplies to the station over the eight flights.
Clearly basking in the glow of the first two Antares successes, Thompson said the eight CRS launches are likely to be completed by the end of 2016. Orbital expects NASA to move out on a CRS follow-on contract sometime in 2014.
The partners in the space station — the United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada — have agreed to maintain the orbital outpost until 2020 at least. They are talking about an extension to 2027 or 2028 pending an assessment of what hardware would need to be replaced, or recertified for further use beyond 2020.
Until the recent Antares successes, Orbital officials had been circumspect about Antares' market beyond NASA. Thompson said that for the next few years the main non-NASA customer will almost certainly be other U.S. government agencies.
Thompson made no mention during the call of Orbital's ongoing attempts to secure a supply of Antares first-stage engines, whether by restarting production of the Russian AJ-26 engines, purchased through Aerojet Rocketdyne for use on Antares, or finding an alternative.
In the past, Orbital officials have said the supply of refurbished, or refurbishable, AJ-26 engines was lim ited and that the company would need to settle on a long-term solution by mid-2014. Orbital has said it has enough of the current-generation AJ-26 engines to complete the NASA CRS contract flights. Each Antares first stage uses two AJ-26 engines.
Orbital and Aerojet Rocketdyne have not always agreed on the number of AJ-26 engines that could be made available without restarting the Russian factory wh ere their production ended years ago. Restarting that production line, Aerojet Rocketdyne officials have said, would not be a problem.
Dulles, Va.-based Orbital reported an 8.5 percent drop in revenue, to $989.9 million, for the nine months ending Sept. 30 compared with last year mainly because of lower revenue in its commercial geostationary telecommunications satellite business.
Thompson said late orders, and orders that were signed but late in taking effect in terms of revenue flow, in the commercial satellite segment hurt 2013's revenue picture.
But it did not hurt the company's operating profit margins, which rose to 9.2 percent from 7.5 percent over the same nine-month period.
The same Satellites and Space Systems division whose revenue dropped 24 percent in the nine months ending Sept. 30 saw its operating profit margin increase to 10.5 percent from 8.1 percent.
Do not expect a repeat of the profit performance in 2014, Thompson said. What happened in 2013 was that several challenging commercial satellite contracts moved through Orbital's factory without a hitch, allowing the company to apply reserves it had held in the event of a hiccup to be transferred to the profit line.
Orbital has also been conservative in its profit estimates under the CRS contract. But Thompson did not disagree with investors who presumed that the CRS contract would be much more profitable for Orbital than the two-launch demonstration contract with NASA that preceded it.
 
Follow Peter on Twitter: @pbdes

[Seerndv]

Salo пишет:
Thompson made no mention during the call of Orbital's ongoing attempts to secure a supply of Antares first-stage engines, whether by restarting production of the Russian AJ-26 engines, purchased through Aerojet Rocketdyne for use on Antares, or finding an alternative.
In the past, Orbital officials have said the supply of refurbished, or refurbishable, AJ-26 engines was lim ited and that the company would need to settle on a long-term solution by mid-2014. Orbital has said it has enough of the current-generation AJ-26 engines to complete the NASA CRS contract flights. Each Antares first stage uses two AJ-26 engines.
Orbital and Aerojet Rocketdyne have not always agreed on the number of AJ-26 engines that could be made available without restarting the Russian factory wh ere their production ended years ago. Restarting that production line, Aerojet Rocketdyne officials have said, would not be a problem.

- таки уже можно тихо радоваться за НК-33?
... а "Южмашу" начинать проектировать новый вариант "Маяка" на базе первой ступени "Антареса", для максимальной унификации

[Старый]

Seerndv пишет:
- таки уже можно тихо радоваться за НК-33?

Ах если б это говорили официальные лица не только Рокитдайна...

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1310/20antares/#.UmUAeFM3fpM

Orbital drafting Antares commercial launch bid
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: October 20, 2013

Orbital Sciences Corp. officials say the success of the company's first two Antares rocket launches has positioned the medium-class launcher to battle for contracts for commercial and national security missions.
 
 [SIZE=-2]Photo of the first Antares launch on April 21. Credit: Orbital Sciences Corp.[/SIZE]
 
 "With two really good launches under our belt, things are picking up in terms of customer interest," said David Thompson, Orbital's chairman and CEO, in a conference call with investment analysts.
Orbital Sciences conducted the Antares rocket's two flights to date under the auspices of a NASA-funded test program for the International Space Station's commercial cargo resupply service.
"The five-month interval between its first launch in April and its second launch in September gives us confidence both that the overall vehicle design is solid and that we are in a good position to carry out three more Antares launches during the next 12 months," Thompson said Oct. 17.
The first launch on April 21 put a dummy payload in orbit, and the second Antares flight Sept. 18 launched Orbital's Cygnus cargo capsule on a demonstration mission to the space station.
The automated Cygnus spaceship arrived at the space station 11 days later and is set to depart the orbiting research complex Tuesday.
With two missions completed, eight more flights remain on the Antares launch manifest through 2016. All of the launches are dedicated to delivering supplies to the space station under a $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services, or CRS, contract with NASA.
According to Thompson, Orbital has at least two opportunities for Antares launch contracts in the next year.
"We have one specific pursuit that we're engaged in with a commercial customer," Thompson said, without identifying the customer. "A proposal will be submitted this quarter and we're anticipating a decision in the first quarter of next year, hopefully a positive one."
Launches fr om the Antares rocket's existing launch site at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Va., can put payloads into low Earth orbit.
Orbital Sciences has an option to add a third stage to the basic two-stage Antares rocket to serve payloads requiring a launch into high-altitude orbits, such as geostationary communications satellites, and interplanetary probes heading away from Earth.
Missions into high-inclination polar orbits must launch from a West Coast facility. Orbital is considering Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., and Kodiak Launch Complex, Alaska, to host potential polar orbit launches.
"In 2014, I think we've got a decent opportunity mid- to late-year in the government market as well," Thompson said. "Until we got a few launches under our belt, there was a lim it to what we could reasonably do there, but with these two launches, particularly being as smooth as they both were, I think customer interest now is pretty high."
Thompson said the next Antares launch, and the first mission of the eight-flight resupply contract, is set for liftoff in mid-December.
 
 [SIZE=-2]File photo of an Antares rocket lifted inside its hangar at Wallops Island, Va. Credit: Orbital Sciences Corp.[/SIZE]
 
 By 2016, Thompson said Orbital aims to have three or four Antares launches per year.
"If it's four per year, half of those would be CRS missions and half would be for other customers," Thompson said.
Orbital officials on the Oct. 17 conference did not discuss the company's long-term strategy for the procurement of Antares first stage engines. The rocket is currently powered by two AJ26 engines provided by Aerojet Rocketdyne.
The engines, known in Russia as NK-33s, were built in the 1960s and 1970s for the Soviet Union's ill-fated N1 moon rocket. Aerojet Rocketdyne says it has enough engines to cover its commitments for 10 Antares launches, plus 23 more engines already purchased from Russia available for new contracts.
Beyond that, Aerojet Rocketdyne would need to buy more engines or facilitate the resumption of a cold NK-33 production line in Russia. Orbital has also inquired about alternative engines.
Frank Culbertson, Orbital's executive vice president and general manager of advanced programs, said in September the company had contacted every U.S. rocket engine-builder to survey the market.
If Orbital's flight rate prognostications come true, the Antares would need a fresh supply of engines, either newly-purchased or -built AJ26s or another engine from a different supplier, by about 2019.
"Over the longer term, we would hope to see the annual flight rate increase to five or six per year by the end of the decade," Thompson said.

[Salo]

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article/PrintArticle.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_11_04_2013_p28-631738.xml&p=1&printView=true

Boyko says Ukraine is ready to supply crewmembers to the ISS, and to participate in other ways. It has also made preliminary studies of using the new upper stage for the Cyclone 4 on Antares. Powered by the RD-861K engine, the new stage would improve the accuracy of Antares payload placement over the ATK-supplied solid-fuel upper stage that will be used on the ISS contract, Alexseyev explained.

[Salo]

Слабоват моторчик.

[Антикосмит]

Salo пишет:
 http://www.aviationweek.com/Article/PrintArticle.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_11_04_2013_p28-631738.xml&p=1&printView=true

Boyko says Ukraine is ready to supply crewmembers to the ISS, and to participate in other ways. It has also made preliminary studies of using the new upper stage for the Cyclone 4 on Antares. Powered by the RD-861K engine, the new stage would improve the accuracy of Antares payload placement over the ATK-supplied solid-fuel upper stage that will be used on the ISS contract, Alexseyev explained.

А что на счет обязательной доли американских составляющих? РД-861 гептильный по идее? На кой черт он нужен на керосиновой первой ступени?

[Александр Ч.]

Антикосмит пишет:
РД-861 гептильный по идее? На кой черт он нужен на керосиновой первой ступени?

Вроде в статье речь о замене РДТТ верхней ступени Антареса на жидкостный РД-861.

[Антикосмит]

Александр Ч. пишет:

Антикосмит пишет:
РД-861 гептильный по идее? На кой черт он нужен на керосиновой первой ступени?

 
Вроде в статье речь о замене РДТТ верхней ступени Антареса на жидкостный РД-861.

Вся проблема в том, что у Антареса должен быть определенный процент компонентов американского производства. И никого не интересуют радужные перспективы украинской второй ступени на вонючке.

[asmi]

Антикосмит пишет:
Вся проблема в том, что у Антареса должен быть определенный процент компонентов американского производства.

Вообще-то такого требования скорее всего нет - иначе они не выклянчивали бы РД-0124 в своё время для второй ступени.

[Salo]

Есть. Но на CRS жизнь не заканчивается.

[Антикосмит]

Salo пишет:

Apollo13 пишет:

Антикосмит пишет:
Вторую ступень твердотопливной и микроскопической это надо было додуматься сделать.

За почти 2 миллиарда можно и не до такого додуматься    

"Микроскопическая" ступень имеет массу от 14 до 26 тонн. А "додумываться" пришлось исходя из требования о 50% американских комплектующих.

[Петр Зайцев]

Salo пишет:

Apollo13 пишет:

Антикосмит пишет:
Вторую ступень твердотопливной и микроскопической это надо было додуматься сделать.

За почти 2 миллиарда можно и не до такого додуматься    

"Микроскопическая" ступень имеет массу от 14 до 26 тонн. А "додумываться" пришлось исходя из требования о 50% американских комплектующих.

Не только. Это известный пунктик главного конструктора Taurus II, доктора Антонио Элиаса. Он не раз заявлял, что изменить верхнюю ступень значительно легче, чем нижнюю (кстати семейство Р-7/"Восток"/"Союз" тому пример), и таким образом если проэктировать на перспективу, то всегда нужно закладывать переразмерную нижнюю ступень. Это, конечно, было задолго до того как Элон Маск раздул первую ступень Фалькона на 45%, а так же до того, как русские отказали в продаже РД-0124. Твердотопливная ступень должна была служить временным решением, пока решался вопрос с жидкостной ступенью. Но увы, правительство РФ решило иначе, и теперь антикосмиты в недоумении.

[salto]

...

Петр Зайцев пишет:
Элон Маск раздул первую ступень Фалькона на 45%, а так же до того, как русские отказали в продаже РД-0124. Твердотопливная ступень должна была служить временным решением, пока решался вопрос с жидкостной ступенью. Но увы, правительство РФ решило иначе, и теперь антикосмиты в недоумении.

      ....повидимому к боьшому разочарованию КБХА.

[salto]

Антикосмит пишет:
РД-861 гептильный по идее? На кой черт он нужен на керосиновой первой ступени?

Можно было предлагать и 11Д513 ( рулевик второй ступени "Зенита"). Он на благородной паре компонентов, выше удельная, тяга такая же как и РД861К

[Apollo13]

salto пишет:

Антикосмит пишет:
РД-861 гептильный по идее? На кой черт он нужен на керосиновой первой ступени?

Можно было предлагать и 11Д513 ( рулевик второй ступени "Зенита" . Он на благородной паре компонентов, выше удельная, тяга такая же как и РД861К

Может лучше РД-809? Его разработка по идее не должна быть дорогой и сложной.

[Bell]

а по факту будет попил и долгострой.