Tag: Orbital ATK
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Officials target mid-October for first launch of upgraded Antares cargo rocket
The Italian-built pressurized cargo module and U.S.-built service module of the next Cygnus spacecraft were mated earlier this year at Wallops. Credit: NASA/Patrick Black Orbital ATK ground crews in Virginia are fueling the next Cygnus cargo freighter this week for launch toward the International Space Station in mid-October on the first flight of the company’s…
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NASA picks 6 companies to develop prototype space habitats
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of a Lockheed Martin-built habitation system with the Orion capsule. Credit: Lockheed Martin NASA has selected six companies to work on designs for deep space habitat modules that could be used by astronauts living and working near the moon as technology is developed for eventual flights…
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High-tech camera records rocket test in never-before-seen detail
A major booster test for NASA’s Space Launch System in June doubled as a demonstration of a new high dynamic range video recorder that captured unprecedented imagery of the rocket firing, revealing hidden details normally masked by the motor’s bright-hot exhaust. Developed by engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, the high-tech camera is…
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First two Iridium Next satellites shipped to Vandenberg
Technicians load the first two Iridium Next satellites into their shipping containers at Orbital ATK’s manufacturing facility in Gilbert, Arizona. Credit: Iridium The first two next-generation Iridium satellites, designed to connect global subscribers with data and voice traffic, arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base on Tuesday, where they will join eight more message relay craft…
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Iridium satellites rolling off assembly line in Arizona
The first two fully-complete Iridium Next satellites. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now Construction is complete on the first batch of 81 new satellites to overhaul Iridium’s mobile communications network, and the data relay stations will soon head from their factory near Phoenix to California’s hilly Central Coast for launch in September on a SpaceX Falcon 9…
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Orbital ATK order nine additional Cygnus PCMs for ISS CRS missions
The role of the Cygnus spacecraft in resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) saw its long term future gain a boost on Monday, with a contract agreement between Orbital ATK and Thales Alenia Space for nine additional Pressurized Cargo Modules (PCM). The news comes as the next Cygnus awaits on news for when it…
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NASA must decide soon on Dawn mission’s next act
Artist’s concept of the Dawn spacecraft, with its ion propulsion system active, in orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA NASA managers face a July 12 deadline to decide whether to send the Dawn spacecraft on an unplanned visit to a third object in the asteroid belt or keep the probe at dwarf planet…
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Photos: SLS test booster ignited in Utah
Pushing out a brilliant plume of nearly 5,000-degree exhaust, a test booster for NASA’s Space Launch System fired in Utah for more than two minutes Tuesday to verify the upgraded space shuttle-era solid rocket motor is ready to help send astronauts into deep space. The 154-foot-long (47-meter) booster ignited at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1405 GMT;…
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Space Launch System booster fired in final preflight qualification test
The 154-foot-long solid rocket motor ignited at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1505 GMT) in Promontory, Utah. Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News A solid-fueled rocket motor mounted horizontally on a Utah hillside ignited and powered up to more than 3 million pounds of thrust Tuesday in a final full-up test-firing before a similar booster helps propel NASA’s…
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It’s a blast! NASA’s booster for heavy-lift SLS rocket gets final pre-launch test firing
Orbital ATK’s solid-rocket booster is in the midst of a test firing in Utah. (Credit: NASA) The solid-rocket booster that’s destined to help send future NASA missions into deep space has blasted through its last full-scale test firing in advance of 2018’s maiden launch of the heavy-lift SLS rocket. Today’s two-minute, six-second firing at Orbital ATK’s test…