Antares (Taurus II)

[napalm]

Луноход пишет:
Сколько людей и сколько времени уже хоронят Южмаш, а он стоит как прежде.

"Как прежде" это перегиб в другую сторону... но Зенит безумно жаль

[Александр Ч.]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1410/19antares/#.VEXcIaDHnqD
 
Orbital selects future Antares engine, but withholds details
[SIZE=-2]BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: October 19, 2014[/SIZE]
Orbital Sciences Corp. has sel ected a new first stage propulsion system for its Antares rocket, the head of the company said last week, offering improved performance for launches beginning in 2017.

[SIZE=-2]File photo of an Antares rocket launch from Wallops Island, Va. Credit: Orbital Sciences Corp.[/SIZE]
 
But David Thompson, Orbital's chairman and CEO, revealed few details of the selection, saying the information will be withheld until the company completes upcoming bids for several competitive launch procurements, including a potential follow-on contract with NASA to resupply the International Space Station.
Orbital's Antares rocket, which is now powered by Russian-built AJ26 engines modified in the United States, is one of two launchers NASA uses to send up cargo to the space station. SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster is the other launch vehicle.
After running into technical difficulties due to the old age of the AJ26 engines -- they were manufactured in the 1970s -- and concerns over the sustainability of the supply chain for new engines, Orbital looked at other options for its Antares first stage once its existing NASA resupply contract is up at the end of 2016.
"The company had set an objective of making a decision on our future main stage propulsion approach by early fall, which we have done," Thompson said Thursday in a conference call with investors. "I think we're very pleased with our decision. It's going to position Antares to be very competitive in the future -- to have a little higher level of payload performance -- which will be helpful in a variety of applications."
Thompson told investment analysts not to expect any "material blip" in Orbital's research and development spending to pay for the redesign of the Antares rocket to accomodate the future engine.
"The cost to make the necessary modifications are in line with our prior estimates, and those will be incurred over a couple of year period and will fit comfortably within normal levels of R&D and capex (capital expenditures) for the company," Thompson said.
Industry officials said Orbital was eyeing a switch to a solid-fueled first stage for the Antares rocket. Orbital expects to close a merger with ATK, a solid rocket motor supplier, by early next year, Thompson said.
ATK already builds the Antares rocket's Castor 30 upper stage and provides rocket motors to Orbital's other launch vehicles.
The Dulles, Va.-based company was also looking at engines from two Russian suppliers -- the Kuznetsov Design Bureau, which originally built the AJ26 engine currently flying on Antares, and NPO Energomash, the manufacturer of the RD-180 engine used by the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.
Aerojet Rocketdyne imported 43 Kuznetsov-built NK-33 engines from Russia in the 1990s to integrate on U.S. rockets. The first American launch contractor to fly the engines was Orbital Sciences, which bought 20 engines for 10 missions, consisting of two test launches and the eight cargo deliveries to the space station.
Aerojet Rocketdyne converted the 20 NK-33 engines into the AJ26 configuration by adding U.S. electronics, qualifying the engines for U.S. propellants, putting in equipment to permit the engines to gimbal for steering, and adding electromechanical valve actuators, according to officials familiar with the engine's modernization.
The AJ26 engines consume liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants. Each engine generates more than 350,000 pounds of thrust at sea level.
Orbital plans to launch the fifth flight of an Antares rocket from a launch facility at Wallops Island, Va., as soon as Oct. 27.
The Antares launcher carries Orbital's Cygnus supply ship into orbit to rendezvous with the space station and deliver food, provisions, experiments and critical items to maintain the international research complex.
Orbital is on schedule to complete work under its eight-mission, $1.9 billion resupply contract with NASA by the end of 2016.
NASA is negotiating with Orbital Sciences and SpaceX to extend their cargo transportation contracts for about a year, with each company standing to receive payments for additional missions in 2017 beyond their existing slate of launches.
The space agency intends to conduct a full and open competition for cargo missions in 2018 and beyond.
According to Thompson, the Antares rocket's new first stage will be ready by 2017, and Orbital has access to enough AJ26 engines ensure a smooth switch to the new engine if it encounters delays.
"We have an adequate supply of our current engine to overlap for six months or longer in the event there were any delays in the new system," Thompson said.
Besides submitting a proposal for the new NASA cargo transportation contract, for which bids are due Nov. 14 and winners are to be sel ected next spring, Orbital expects the Antares rocket to compete for deals to launch government and commercial satellites.
The next Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA will cover logistics missions fr om 2018 through 2024, the date that the Obama administration has committed to supporting the space station.
Orbital officials said the company has seen improving profit margins over the course of its current NASA resupply contract, thanks to streamlined operations and reduced recurring costs.
"Our target will be to achieve superior profit margins on that new contract fr om the outset," Thompson said. "Exactly what those numbers are and so on, I won't comment on, but they should definitely be stronger than the first contract."
Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

[Apollo13]

Принимаются ставки. AR-1 в 2017 сомнительно. Форсированный НК-33 тоже. РД-180 не даст ULA. РД-193/181?

[Александр Ч.]

Apollo13 пишет:
Принимаются ставки. AR-1 в 2017 сомнительно. Форсированный НК-33 тоже. РД-180 не даст ULA. РД-193/181?

АТК забыли

Industry officials said Orbital was eyeing a switch to a solid-fueled first stage for the Antares rocket. Orbital expects to close a merger with ATK, a solid rocket motor supplier, by early next year, Thompson said.

[Apollo13]

Александр Ч. пишет:
АТК забыли

Нет это явно ЖРД.

Александр Ч. пишет:
Thompson told investment analysts not to expect any "material blip" in Orbital's research and development spending to pay for the redesign of the Antares rocket to accomodate the future engine.
"The cost to make the necessary modifications are in line with our prior estimates, and those will be incurred over a couple of year period and will fit comfortably within normal levels of R&D and capex (capital expenditures) for the company," Thompson said.

Что-то недорогое и не революционное. На NSF тоже в основном склоняются к РД-191/193/181.

[Александр Ч.]

Apollo13 пишет:
Нет это явно ЖРД.

Я о круге вероятных претендентов на первую ступень.

[Apollo13]

В статье говорится что выбор уже сделан. К 2017 полностью новую 1-ю ступень явно не успеют. Даже AR-1 не успеют. Что-то уже почти готовое. Тем более дешево.

[Salo]

Apollo13 пишет:
Принимаются ставки. AR-1 в 2017 сомнительно. Форсированный НК-33 тоже. РД-180 не даст ULA. РД-193/181?

РД-193 неподвижный и на замену AJ26-62 не годится.

[Dude]

Какие они загадочные.

[SFN]

Apollo13 пишет:
РД-180 не даст ULA.

Привернут к РД-180 позолоченную гайку, назовут РД-18Х и усе...

[Apollo13]

Salo пишет:

Apollo13 пишет:
Принимаются ставки. AR-1 в 2017 сомнительно. Форсированный НК-33 тоже. РД-180 не даст ULA. РД-193/181?

РД-193 неподвижный и на замену AJ26- 62 не годится.

Видимо РД-181.

[Apollo13]

SFN пишет:

Apollo13 пишет:
РД-180 не даст ULA.

Привернут к РД-180 позолоченную гайку, назовут РД-18Х и усе...

К двум РД-191 скорее.

[SFN]

Apollo13 пишет:

SFN пишет: Привернут к РД-180 позолоченную гайку, назовут РД-18Х и усе...

К двум РД-191 скорее.

Нет под кардан есть еще укороченный вариант РД181 без знаменитого сильфона. правда он известен только по картинкам.
 
и самоцитата про 181  "ИМХО Выглядит так как будто подгоняют под компоновку 33го."

[Nilk]

РД-181 совсем не подходящее название :-(

[SFN]

Nilk пишет:
РД-181 совсем не подходящее название :-(

Когда оно только появилось народ гадал "что это?", было предположение что у энергетиков должно быть так 17х-4сопловый, 18х-2, а 19х-1сопловый. Как бы классификация.

А вот и нет. РД181 это двигатель на замену НК33 в Аэроджетовском тандеме. Получаются характеристики как у РД-180, который к тому же на слуху у американцев. Чистый маркетинг в названии.

[АниКей]

Report: Orbital to seek new engine for Antares booster          
             
Photo Credit: Elliot Severn / SpaceFlight Insider
         
             
Jason Rhian
October 25th, 2014
          
                                 
SpaceFlight Now has posted a report detailing how Dulles, Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corporation is looking into a new, as yet unnamed, rocket engine for use on the first stage of the firm's Antares launch vehicle. The article, appearing on Oct. 19, came just slightly more than a week before the company is set to launch its Cygnus spacecraft atop an one of these rockets from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's Pad-0A.
SpaceFlight Now's Stephen Clark has detailed how this, as yet, unnamed rocket engine would be used on Antares by 2017. It highlights a rather dynamic situation in terms of the booster's status.
 

Photo Credit: Orbital / NASA

 
Orbital issued a lawsuit in October of last year in order to gain access to the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine (it has since dropped that lawsuit). Currently, United Launch Alliance (ULA ) uses the RD-180 on its Atlas V family of boosters. With ULA considering moving away from NPO Energomash's RD-180 – it is unclear if this engine could be considered for future use on Antares.
If so, Antares could be moving from one Russian-made rocket engine to another, as the launch vehicle currently employs the AJ-26 engine in its first stage.
The Aj-26, formerly known as the NK-33, was developed and produced by the Kuznetsov Design Bureau back in the late 1960s / early 1970s. Forty-three of these engines were imported from Russia by Aerojet Rocketdyne in the 1990s – for use on U.S. launch vehicles. Orbital purchased 20 of those engines. The AJ-26 is a high-pressure, stage combustion engine that uses super-cold liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene as propellant that is capable of producing 350,000 lbs of thrust at sea level.
The age of the AJ-26 engines was brought to the fore when an AJ-26 failed during a test at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi back on May 22 of this year.
 

The Antares rocket that is slated to launch on Oct. 27, 2014 at Pad-0A at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Photo Credit: Joel Kowsky / NASA

 
SpaceFlight Now was informed by Orbital's CEO, David Thompson, that the company was waiting to make an official announcement after bids for acquiring the engines had been completed. Orbital has a lot riding on the Antares launch system – making the reliability of the booster's first stage – a critical concern.
Under the $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract that Orbital has with NASA, the company is required with conducting eight resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS ) by 2016.
The CRS contract is set to be renewed, and Orbital is certain to bid on this lucrative follow-on. The second CRS contract is currently scheduled to run from 2018 through 2024.
Proposals for the next phase of the contract is open to other competitors and are due by the middle of November. This could mean that another entity besides the two current company's – could be tapped to provide services to the station.
NASA is working with both SpaceX and Orbital to extend the first phase of the CRS contract through 2017. The same year as when Orbital is planning to have Antares' new engine operational by.
Both of the companies currently participating on the CRS contract employ a two-step method of sending cargo and supplies to the space station. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX ) launches its Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida atop the company's Falcon 9 rocket. Orbital uses its Cygnus spacecraft, which lifts off atop the Antares rocket from Pad-0A at Wallops.
 

Photo Credit: Elliot Severn / SpaceFlight Insider

 
Orbital is poised to launch the fifth of the company's Antares rockets on Oct. 27, 2014. The flight will mark the third operational mission carried out under the CRS contract and the fourth mission overall that the Cygnus spacecraft has undertaken.
"...We are very pleased to be a reliable partner with NASA to meet their need for reliable, regularly scheduled cargo resupply for the ISS," Thompson said after one of the company's prior missions to the ISS.
 
 http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/orbital-sciences-corp/report-orbital-selects-new-engine-antares-booster/

 This article was edited on Oct. 26, 2014 at 19:50 p.m. EDT to reflect the current status of Orbital's lawsuit
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[SFN]

 

[SFN]

 

[Apollo13]

Таки РД-180:

https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/526721347993759744

Orbital Sciences: We settled our antitrust lawsuit w/ Russian RD-180 engine seller RD Amross & are negotiating an RD-180 access deal w/ ULA.

https://twitter.com/pbdes/status/526721627988697089

Orbital Sciences: If our negs w/ ULA for access to Russian RD-180 engine fail, we can refile our antitrust lawsuit against ULA.

[Apollo13]

http://www.dailypress.com/news/science/dp-nws-orb-three-launch-cover-20141028-story.html

"We will not fly until we understand the root cause (of the explosion) and the corrective action to make sure it does not happen again," Culbertson said. "I can assure you we will find out what went wrong, and we will correct it and we will fly again."