Tag: Northrop Grumman
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Video: Engines ignited for hold-down test on SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket
Video credit: William Harwood/CBS News Nine Merlin main engines at the base of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired at launch pad 39A Saturday, passing a major test before the company’s next launch, a secretive mission slated for liftoff Wednesday night. Throttling up to full power for a few seconds, the Merlin 1D engines ignited…
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Video: Engines ignited for hold-down test on SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket
Video credit: William Harwood/CBS News Nine Merlin main engines at the base of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired at launch pad 39A Saturday, passing a major test before the company’s next launch, a secretive mission slated for liftoff Wednesday night. Throttling up to full power for a few seconds, the Merlin 1D engines ignited…
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JWST launch slips to early 2019
Artist’s concept of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: Northrop Grumman Extra testing of the James Webb Space Telescope and delays in assembling the powerful observatory will push back the $10 billion mission’s launch by at least six months to early 2019, officials announced last week as the telescope successfully completed an extensive performance test…
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Northrop Grumman to purchase Orbital ATK for $9.2 billion
An Orbital ATK Antares rocket readies for launch to the International Space Station in this October 2016 file photo. Credit: Orbital ATK Northrop Grumman announced Monday plans to acquire Orbital ATK, a company with a portfolio ranging from satellite manufacturing and orbital servicing to launch vehicles, missile defense and munitions, for approximately $9.2 billion, a…
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Northrop Grumman’s $7.8B deal to acquire Orbital ATK fuels aerospace consolidation
Northrop Grumman is known for stealth airplanes such as the B-2 bomber, the X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle and the B-21 long-range strike bomber. (Northrop Grumman Photo) Northrop Grumman’s purchase of Orbital ATK for $7.8 billion will create a company involved in projects ranging from America’s next stealth bomber and ballistic missile system to the…
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NASA resumes JWST vibration testing
A clean tent is lowered over the James Webb Space Telescope, with its wings folded back in launch configuration, before the start of vibration testing in November. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn Vibration testing on the James Webb Space Telescope, the multibillion-dollar successor to Hubble, has resumed after engineers traced a problem that cropped up last month…
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Engineers examine unexpected readings from JWST shake test
The James Webb Space Telescope’s primary mirror, composed of 18 individual segments, is seen inside a clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center earlier this year. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center NASA says engineers are diagnosing the source of “anomalous readings” during a recent vibration test of the sensitive optics and sensors at the…
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Stratolaunch announces plan to fly with Pegasus rockets
An artist’s concept of Stratolaunch’s carrier aircraft with three Pegasus rockets. Credit: Stratolaunch Systems Stratolaunch Systems, a company backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, will launch Pegasus XL rockets produced by Orbital ATK from the world’s largest airplane as officials shift focus toward deploying lighter satellites into orbit. Stratolaunch and Orbital ATK announced the “production-based”…
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Hubble telescope’s successor has a ride to space
File photo of an Ariane 5 ECA launch. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG The European Space Agency has cinched an agreement with Arianespace for the October 2018 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, which will dispatch the nearly $10 billion observatory on a bold mission that…