ATK LV

 

 

Alliant Techsystems
 

Alliant Techsystems (ATK) is undergoing a four-phase development process that will ultimately lead to the development of a family of low-cost, operationally responsive launch vehicles capable of delivering 200 to 750 kg to LEO.

The first phase, ALV X-1, which is already in testing, will be a sounding rocket program launched from Wallops Flight Facility. It consists of an Orion-50SXL stage of Pegasus / OBV Interceptor heritage and an thrust vectored Star-37FM motor as second stage.
The second phase, for which funding has already been secured, will consist of a two-stage, three-axis controlled vehicle capable of reaching suborbital heights of up to 2,000 kilometers.
The unfunded third phase will be scaled-up version of the Phase Two vehicle capable of delivering 225 - 350 kg to LEO, while the fourth phase, contingent on government funding, would involve an advanced vehicle based on new technologies

During its inaugural flight, the ALV will carry a hypersonic boundary layer transition experiment (Hy-BoLT) payload sponsored by NASA's Hypersonics Project within the Fundamental Aeronautics Program. A secondary payload consisting of a suborbital aerodynamic re-entry experiment (SOAREX) is being developed by NASA Ames. The inaugural flight of the ALV will be launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, located at NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility.

Next year's ALV X-1 flight is part of ATK's plan to develop a low-cost launch vehicle for the operational responsive space (ORS) market. Possible ORS programs include the delivery of small payloads to low-earth orbit in support of DOD missions, NASA scientific missions, and commercial and university satellite programs.

The ATK Launch Vehicle (ALV) and ATK Small Launch Vehicle (SLV), which both uses numerous off-the-shelf components and requires minimal ground support to keep costs down.

In 2008 it appeared, that only the protoype would be flown as a demonstrator, but no further flights were planned.