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While the release was full of financial details aimed more at the markets than the average space flight follower, the overall message was positive, showing Orbital continue to be in a healthy financial state. *The full release can be viewed here*<\/p>\n
With a deep history of not just launching payloads, but building them too, the company has been the developer and manufacturer of small and medium-class Space Systems for the past three decades, serving customers in Commercial, National Security and Civil Government Markets.<\/p>\n
As such, their operational highlights of late cover a wide range of space systems and missions.<\/p>\n
![\"LADEE\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Z41.jpg\")
\u201cIn the third quarter of 2013, the company carried out six major space missions and launched four research rockets,\u201d noted the release. \u201cOrbital carried out the inaugural flight of the Minotaur V rocket, which successfully launched NASA\u2019s LADEE lunar orbiting spacecraft. The Minotaur V launch was the 24th mission for the Minotaur family of rockets since 2000, all of which have been successful.<\/p>\n\u201cIn addition, Orbital\u2019s missile defense interceptor rocket was successfully launched in support of a U.S. government test of the long-range Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system. The company also carried out the first two Coyote naval target missile launches for the Australian Navy and launched four scientific research rockets for NASA.\u201d<\/p>\n
NASA educational resources
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However, the flagship mission for Orbital was the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration mission that included the second successful launch of the company\u2019s Antares medium-class space launch vehicle from NASA\u2019s Wallops Flight Facility and the first deployment of the company\u2019s new Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft.<\/p>\n
![\"Z5\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Z54.jpg\")
The Cygnus spacecraft successfully berthed with the ISS on September 29 and is due to depart from the station on October 22.<\/p>\n\u201cOrbital generated good profit margins and strong free cash flow in the third quarter, even though revenues were lower on reduced satellite production activity,\u201d noted Mr. David W. Thompson, Orbital\u2019s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.<\/p>\n
The company also successfully completed several important operational events during the quarter, including the second successful launch of our Antares medium-class rocket and the first flight of the Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, Orbital received about $450 million in new orders and option exercises, boosting year-to-date new business volume to approximately $1.75 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Z4\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Z46.jpg\")
Less known is the benefit felt by their numerous partners, ranging from Rocketdyne Aerojet \u2013 who provide the AJ-26s main engines for Antares, ATK \u2013 who provide the upper stage power via their Castor motors, through to Thales Alenia Space in Italy \u2013 who manufacture the Pressurised Cargo Module for the Cygnus spacecraft.<\/p>\nOther associated companies include NanoRacks, LLC \u2013 who announced it has now fulfilled over one hundred customer payloads delivered to space via the berthing of Cygnus during its ORD-D mission.<\/p>\n
Since its founding in 2009 NanoRacks has realized a total of 109 space station payloads, marking the company as the market leader in low earth orbit utilization.<\/p>\n
![\"Z6\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Z63.jpg\")
A total of 11 of their customer payloads rode to the International Space Station on Cygnus.<\/p>\n\u201cWe are proud that Orbital\u2019s first ISS mission brought us over the century mark,\u201d said NanoRacks\u2019 CEO Jeff Manber. \u201cWe are excited to be part of the new era of commercial space science and research on the International Space Station (ISS). Our customers are pushing the boundaries of what is possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look forward to working with NASA and the other ISS partners to reach the next 100 payloads.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preparations are already in full swing for the next flight of the Cygnus, this time on the first Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission. The ORB-1 (CRS-1) mission is currently set to launch on December 15 \u2013 the first of eight CRS missions to the ISS.<\/p>\n
Click here for more Orbital Sciences News Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/orbital\/<\/p>\n
\u201cThe company also plans to launch a Minotaur I rocket for the U.S. Air Force and deploy up to three commercial communications satellites,\u201d Orbital added. \u201cIn addition, two Coyote naval target missiles and four or five research rockets are expected to be launched. In total, by year end Orbital expects to have carried out space missions or product deliveries to customers at a pace of approximately one per week, making 2013 one of the busiest years in the company\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Z4\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Z45.jpg\")
In aiding the salvo of Cygnus missions, Andrews Space (Andrews) recently noted they had completed on-time delivery of four more Cargo Module Power Units (CMPUs) to Orbital.<\/p>\nThe CMPUs provide up to 150 Watts of 28VDC payload power to mid-deck locker payloads destined for the ISS aboard the vehicle \u2013 and will debut on ORB-1 mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe successfully met Orbital\u2019s schedule and were even able to accelerate the last two flight units to deliver ahead of schedule,\u201d said Melissa Wuerl, Director of Programs and Business Development for Andrews Space.<\/p>\n
All Andrews products and components are built domestically using Andrews\u2019 AS9100C certified quality procedures for spaceflight hardware.<\/p>\n
\u201cOrbital is very pleased to utilize innovative small businesses like Andrews to support the Cygnus program. Andrews has delivered quality hardware on schedule that is critical to providing power to support various payloads on future cargo resupply missions,\u201d said Frank DeMauro, Cygnus Program Manager for Orbital Sciences Corporation.<\/p>\n
Two Orbital satellites are currently in launch preparation for rides on the next two SpaceX Falcon 9 v.1.1 rockets, namely SES-8 and Thaicom-6. Both launches will take place with a month of each other \u2013 should current schedules hold \u2013 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.<\/p>\n
(Images: via L2\u2019s Antares\/Cygnus Section \u2013 Containing presentations, videos, images \u2013 including 100s of mbs of unreleased ORB-D hi-res photos \u2013 interactive high level updates and more, with additional images via Orbital).<\/p>\n
(Click here: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/l2\/ \u2013 to view how you can support NSF and access the best space flight content on the entire internet).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Orbital announced their third quarter earnings for 2013 on Thursday, providing an overview of a company that is generating good profit margins and strong free cash flow. The quarter saw the second successful launch of the Antares rocket and the debut of their Cygnus spacecraft \u2013 with several other space industry partners benefiting in their success. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1871,639,2167,7577],"class_list":["post-39734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-antares","tag-cygnus","tag-minotaur","tag-orbital"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39734"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}