Antares  (formerly Taurus-II)
 
 

Orbital Sciences Corporation / Orbital ATK / Northrop Grumman Inovation Systems (NGIS)

Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) has been NASA's new contractor since the Nov. 17, 2018 launch of an Antares 230 (powered by the Russian RD-181 engine).


History
NASA established the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to develop a competitive market for crew and cargo flights to the International Space Station (ISS). The program breaks from the traditional government contracting approach by allowing the private sector to develop, own, and operate its own launch vehicles in service of NASA's ISS delivery needs. Unlike today's Space Shuttle, the reusable launch vehicles (RLV's) developed under COTS will also be able to serve commercial customers.
The original COTS announcement listed several capability requirements. These included the ability to lift a combined total of "up to" 16 tonnes of cargo per year to ISS using two to eight flights per year. Thus, the minimum launch vehicle/cargo carrier would need to be able to haul at least 2 tonnes of cargo per flight.

In August 2006, NASA announced its competitive selection of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Rocketplane-Kistler (RpK) as partners in the COTS program.

In November 2007, PlanetSpace company, announced that it had teamed with aerospace giants Lockheed Martin and ATK to submit a proposal response for NASA's COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) program. The proposal was triggered by NASA's October 18, 2007 decision to cancel Rocketplane-Kistler's original COTS contract.

Meanwhile, it can be contemplated alongside other proposed launch vehicles like Orbital Sciences Taurus II and SpaceX Falcon 9.

 

Orbital is currently in early stage development of his medium-class launch vehicle, dubbed Taurus II, to extend its family of small-class Pegasus, Taurus and Minotaur launchers. The Taurus II design adapts elements from these proven launch technologies along with hardware from one of the worlds leading launch vehicle integrators to provide low-cost and reliable access to space for civil, commercial and military Delta II-class payloads.
Taurus II will be designed to achieve a 98% or greater launch reliability. It will be developed, manufactured and launched using identical management approaches, engineering standards and production and test processes used in Orbitals other major launch vehicles Pegasus, Taurus, Minotaur and OBV missile defense interceptor.
 

The first stage structure will be manufactured by Ukrainans Yuszhnoe company. The stage structure is based on the Zenit launch vehicle and uses two AJ-26-62 (NK-33) engines. The second stage is a Castor-30, which is based on a shortened Castor-120 solid rocket motor. The optional third stage called ORK (Orbit Raising Kit) is based on the propulsion system of Orbitals Star-2 satellite bus. For high energy orbits a Star-48V can be used as third stage.


On February 19, 2008, NASA awarded a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Demonstration Mission to Orbital. The project award was expected to be combined to develop Taurus II and a new "maneuvering spacecraft" named "Cygnus".
Taurus II and Cygnus would be developed to perform a demonstration of commercial cargo delivery to the International Space Station (ISS). Cygnus would carry up to 2.3 tonnes of pressurized and unpressurized cargo on speciallized interchangeable modules. A reentry version would be able to return as much as 1.2 tonnes of cargo from ISS to Earth.
On December 23, 2008, NASA awarded Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract to Orbital, purchasing eight ISS resupply missions to be launched by Taurus II/Cygnus from Wallops Island.
ATK will provide the CASTOR 30XL, an upgraded second stage solid rocket motor for the Taurus II, slated to deliver cargo for NASA to the International Space Station (ISS). The CASTOR 30XL will provide greater payload capability for Taurus over the currently used CASTOR 30 rocket motor.
                                                                                                                                                                                        

 

Orbital is currently in development of the launch vehicle Antares (fomerly Taurus II).
As before, the first stage structure will be manufactured by Ukrainian Yuzhnoe company and features two AJ26-62 (americanized NK-33) engines. The stage structure is based on the Zenit launch vehicle. The second stage is a Castor-30, which is based on a shortened Castor-120 solid rocket motor. A Castor-30A second stage will help propel the first two Antares-110 rockets into orbit, then a higher-performing
Castor-30B motor will be used with the Antares-120 on the third and fourth flights. The optional third stage called BTS (Bi-Propellant Third Stage, formerly ORK, Orbit Raising Kit) is based on the propulsion system of Orbital's Star-2 satellite bus. For high energy orbits a Star-48V can be used as third stage.
An enhanced version called Antares-130 featuring a Castor-30XL upper stage will be used for later flights.
 

Performance LEO SSO GTO IPT
Antares-110        
Antares-120 5100 850    
Antares-121 4800 2850    History
Antares-130 6000 4200    
Antares-131        
Antares-132       1110

 

2014, December -- Orbital Sciences Corp. says it will resume flights of its Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) using United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 401 rockets starting in September 2015. Orbital has contracted with ULA for an Atlas V launch of Cygnus from Cape Canaveral, Florida with an option for a second Atlas V launch in 2016 if needed. Orbital says the Atlas rocket’s greater lift capacity will allow Cygnus to carry nearly 35% more cargo to the ISS than previously planned for CRS missions in 2015.

Since an October failure of the Antares rocket, Orbital has confirmed its ability to accelerate the introduction of a new main propulsion system for the Antares rocket and has scheduled three additional CRS launches in the first, second and fourth quarters of 2016 using the upgraded vehicle. The greater payload performance of the upgraded Antares will permit Cygnus spacecraft on each of these missions to deliver over 20% more cargo than in prior plans. Orbital says with necessary supplier contracts now in place, the first new propulsion systems are expected to arrive at the Antares final assembly facility at Wallops in mid-2015 to begin vehicle integration and testing.
Orbital has yet to publicly disclose the supplier, but among propulsion options considered were continued use of the NK-33, production of which could have been restarted in Russia; a solid-motor solution proposed by ATK; and a variant of the Russian RD-180.

Now Orbital has published, it will be a variant of the Russian RD-180 (the RD-181).

 

2015, July -- Orbital Sciences Corp. and RKK Energia have signed a contract worth approximately $1 billion for up to 60 Russian-made RD-181 rocket engines to power the redesigned first stage of the commercial Antares launcher. Orbital Sciences Corp. will have directly from Russia’s NPO Energomash the new rocket engine. The first pair of RD-181 rocket engines set to launch on Orbital ATK’s redesigned Antares rocket are in the final stages of acceptance testing in Russia ahead of their export to the United States in early July 2015. The first Antares flight with RD-181 engines is scheduled for March 2016, Orbital ATK officials said. The new RD-181 engines consume the same propellant mixture as the old AJ26 engines. Two engines providing a combined 820,000 pounds of thrust at full throttle.