Orbital Sciences Wins NASA COTS Contract

[bpfeifer]

NASA just awarded Orbital Sciences the other $171 million COTS Contract.<br /><br />Highlights:<br />Launch System: Taurus II medium launcher<br />Spacecraft: Cygnus<br />First demonstration flight: 2010<br /><br />Detailed Information:<br />http://www.orbital.com/AdvancedSpace/COTS/index.shtml<br />http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/release.asp?prid=644<br />http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/080219-sn-cotswinner-orbital.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Brian J. Pfeifer http://sabletower.wordpress.com<br /> The Dogsoldier Codex http://www.lulu.com/sabletower<br /> </div>

 

[mainmind]

Anyone know more about their "Taurus II" launch vehicle? Estimated range, etc? <br /><br />If early launches for COTS will be from Wallops in Virginia, won't they need a lot more delta-V to deliver medium payloads to GEO like they say they will? Sounds a bit much for a solid fuel booster.

 

[PistolPete]

It doesn't surprise me that much that NASA went with a more well established aerospace company. I guess NASA learned from Kistler that some of the newspace companies are little more than million dollar powerpoint machines. (although I hope that it didn't scare off NASA too much from the newspace crowd)<br /><br />The Cygnus looks a little like the ATV.<br /><br />The interesting thing is the Taurus II rocket. This will be the first liquid fueled rocket for Orbital. According to the Space Launch Report the rumor mill has it that they may be teaming up with the Yuzhnoe Design Bureau that builds the Zenit LVs to build the first stage.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>

 

[PistolPete]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>If early launches for COTS will be from Wallops in Virginia, won't they need a lot more delta-V to deliver medium payloads to GEO like they say they will? Sounds a bit much for a solid fuel booster.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />The fist stage for the Taurus II will be liquid, not solid, so it should be less difficult. However, that being said, I doubt that they will get many GTO launches. If they do launch to GTO from Wallops, it will be because they want to launch to all conceivable launch azimuths (you can launch to SSO from Wallops as well) from one pad, bringing down infrastructure costs. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>

 

[gunsandrockets]

Interesting news.<br /><br />Orbital is cleverly trying to recreate the capability of the Delta II but with a simpler rocket, the Taurus 2.<br /><br />In a similar fashion SpaceX is recreating the capability of the old Saturn I (not to be confused with the Saturn IB) but with a lighter rocket, the Falcon 9.<br /><br />I think both rockets should find plenty of business in the future because the particular performance of each fits certain roles very well. Just consider how many launches of Soyuz and Delta II that have happened in the past.

 

[docm]

And what about the Falcon 9 Heavy? <br /><br />Seems to be a slightly downscaled version of the Titan IV. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>