Antares – Page 6 – Northrop Grumman

Some Public Launch Viewing Sites Closed; Help Wallops Refine its Viewing Maps

This "first-sight" map indicates potential to see Orbital ATK's Antares rocket in the minutes following its launch. Credit: Orbital ATK — This “first-sight” map indicates potential to see Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket in the minutes following its launch. **Credit: Orbital ATK**

East Coast map with circles indicating approximate post-launch time for first potential sighting of Antares launch — Viewing map prepared by NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility

Local to the Wallops area, Arbuckleneck Road and Assateague Island have been closed to the public by area officials and will not be available for viewing the Antares rocket launch.

Additional information on public viewing locations in the Wallops-Chincoteague area is available here.

Launch of Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft is proceeding as scheduled for a 7:40 p.m. EDT liftoff this evening, Oct. 17, 2016, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

For viewers elsewhere in the Mid-Atlantic, NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility could use your help! Our talented mission planners and engineers help us develop launch visibility maps, to give you all an idea of where to look to see launches from Wallops.

Let us know where you watch the Antares launch, when it comes into view, and how high you see it in the sky. Share details and your own photos with NASA Wallops on social media (Facebook and Twitter). Your timed observations with approximate latitude-longitude (or city and state) help us refine our maps!

Statement on Antares Slip to October 17, 2016

Today’s launch of Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket is postponed 24 hours due to a ground support equipment (GSE) cable that did not perform as expected during the pre-launch check out. We have spares on hand and rework procedures are in process. The Antares and Cygnus teams are not currently working any technical issues with the rocket or the spacecraft.

The launch is now scheduled for October 17 at 7:40 p.m. EDT.

Meet the New Engines of the Antares Rocket

For the Antares Return to Flight, Orbital ATK will rely on the Energomash RD-181 rocket motor. It is an all-new engine based on other successful liquid rocket engines Energomash designed and produced. The engines use an oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle that can be throttled, and has a variable mixture ratio for controlling relative flow rates of oxidizer and fuel.

illustration of rocket engine — The Energomash RD-181 is an all new engine based on successful models.

The Antares second stage is powered by a CASTOR 30XL solid rocket motor produced and tested at Orbital ATK facilities in Utah. The CASTOR 30XL is based on the CASTOR 120, used in more than a dozen missions. The OA-5 mission will be the first use of this motor, allowing Antares to significantly increase its payload capability.

text and picture of rocket suspended above people — The CASTOR 30XL solid rocket motor will help boost Cygnus payload capacity.

The Antares 230 rocket for this mission is a two-stage launch vehicle consisting of a liquid-fueled Liquid Oxygen/Refined Petroleum (LOX/RP) first stage powered by two Energomash RD-181s that will burn about 209 seconds. Antares employs a 9.9 m (32.5 ft.) long fairing to protect Cygnus as Antares accelerates through Earth’s atmosphere. It will separate at 250 seconds into flight, after which the second stage will burn about 163 seconds. The Cygnus cargo capsule will reach its initial orbit about 9 minutes after launch.

The Alan G. “Dex” Poindexter Mission

astronaut in orange suit with helmet — Alan Poindexter
Credit: NASA

Orbital ATK is proud to name the OA-5 Cygnus Cargo Delivery Spacecraft after former astronaut and Naval Aviator Captain Alan Poindexter. Poindexter is the only other fallen astronaut, after Rick Husband, to have been directly involved with the construction of the International Space Station.

Poindexter was born in Pasadena, California, but considered Rockville, Maryland, his hometown. Poindexter graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a bachelor of Aerospace Engineering in 1986. He received a master of science in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1995.

Before joining NASA, Poindexter served in the United States Navy as an aviator and test
pilot for 12 years, including assignments at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, and Oceana, Virginia. During his Desert Storm deployment, he flew combat missions with current Orbital ATK Vice President Kent Rominger. Throughout his Navy career, he logged 4,000 hours in more than 30 types of aircraft and completed more than 450 carrier landings. Poindexter was selected for NASA’s astronaut program in June 1998 and flew on two shuttle missions. He was pilot on STS-122, which delivered flight engineer and now Orbital ATK Senior Director Daniel Tani back to earth from the ISS, and he served as commander on STS-131. During his career at NASA, Poindexter logged more than 669 hours in space. He retired from NASA in December 2010.

Poindexter passed away July 1, 2012, and is survived by his wife, Lisa, and their two sons, Zach and Samuel.

What’s On Board?

On the OA-5 mission, Cygnus will carry supplies and equipment to the International Space Station, as well as science payloads. The total mass of the cargo is approximately 2,425 kg (5,346 lb.), which includes 56 cargo bags of multiple sizes.

Payloads:

Spacecraft Fire Experiment-II (Saffire-II)
Fast Neuron Spectrometer
ACM and Experiment Tray
SLMMD

Cargo:

ISS Experiment Hardware
EVA Equipment– EMU Repair Kit– EVA Supplies
Emergency Equipment
Photo/TV and Computer Resources– Computer – iPad Air 2
– Laptop – T61P and Connectors – Camera – Nikon D4
ISS Hardware and Spare ORUs – Cupola Scratch Panes
– Water ORU
Food, Crew Supplies and Crew Provisions
Flight Crew Equipment
Cargo Environment SensorsAdditional payload details can be found at www.nasa.gov/iss-science.

The Saffire-II experiment will start a controlled fire on the Cygnus capsule after it departs the station to observe and measure how the fire behaves in micro-gravity.

“One of the least understood risks in space is how a fire starts, how it propagates, how you will detect the fire and how you put it out,” said Jintendra Joshi, Saffire technology integration lead for the Advanced Exploration Systems Division at NASA Headquarters.

The first Saffire experiment showed slower than expected spread of fire in a convective air flow environment in the experiment capsule, Joshi said. Further exploration “will help us make space travel safer,” he said.

Future experiments will try burning in different conditions, then investigate strategies for putting fires out.

The Cool Flames experiment will investigate why some combustible materials seem to burn at a lower-than-expected temperature in micro-gravity. “In certain cases with certain fuels something unexpected happens that can’t be replicated on the ground,” said Jesse Robins of NASA’s Glenn Research Center.

What you see, he said, is after an initial hot burn the visible flame extinquishes but the fuel droplet size diminishes at a faster rate than evaporation would suggest. Sometimes the fuel can re-ignite, he said, “like a trick birthday candle.”

Throwback Timelapse: Putting It All Together

Antares is on the launchpad now, but you don’t often get to see all the pieces coming together. Patrick Black set up this time-lapse shot inside the Horizontal Integration Facility next to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport several days ago.

You can see the rocket being prepped, the fairing put into a standby location and the coverings come off the Cygnus cargo capsule before it is integrated onto the rocket body. If you look closely you’ll also notice the “duck’s legs” paddling furiously as the people making it happen zip around seemingly at super speed.

L-1: Making Space Flight Look Peaceful

After a successful rollout of the Antares rocket Friday and installation on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A, preparations continue for a Sunday night launch.

NASA photographer Bill Ingalls caught this amazing image of Antares and the setting moon

rocket on the pad with orange moon behind — The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is seen on launch Pad-0A as the moon sets, predawn, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Orbital ATK’s sixth contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver more than 5,100 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew.

Update on Bermuda Tracking Station

The NASA Wallops Flight Facility and Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport are set to support the launch of Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket at 8:03 p.m. EDT, Oct. 16.

The NASA tracking station in Bermuda received minor damage from Hurricane Nicole when it passed over the island Oct. 13, 2016. Repairs to the station have been made and the team is currently readying to support the launch.

upright rocket on pad. — The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft aboard. **Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls**

The Bermuda site provides tracking, telemetry and flight terminations support for Antares launches from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Final testing is scheduled to be conducted the morning of Oct. 15 prior to the launch readiness review later that day.

Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket will launch the company’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft, loaded with some 5,100 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware bound for the International Space Station. Antares will launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport pad 0A at Wallops.

As of 3:30 p.m. EDT on Oct. 14, the latest forecast from the Wallops Weather Office has conditions for the Sunday evening launch at 95 percent “go.”

The launch may be visible, weather permitting, to residents throughout the east coast of the United States. Local public viewing of the launch will be available at the NASA Visitor Center at Wallops and Robert Reed Park on Chincoteague Island or Beach Road spanning the area between Chincoteague and Assateague Islands. Assateague Island National Seashore/Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia will not be open for viewing the launch.

Antares Rocket Raised on the Pad

The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, was raised into the vertical position on launch Pad-0A, Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

rocket at 45 degree tilt near towers. — The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, is raised to the vertical position
Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Orbital ATK’s sixth contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver over 5,100 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew.

The International Space Station-bound Antares is currently scheduled for launch no earlier than Sunday, Oct. 16, at 8:03 p.m. EDT. The Cygnus cargo capsule is packed with supplies and science for the space station.

These images, along with others, are also available on Flickr: https://flic.kr/s/aHskLshgNU

Antares Roll-Out Photo Gallery

Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket rolled out of the Horizontal Integration Facility at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on the afternoon of Oct. 13, 2016. Antares, with its Cygnus cargo spacecraft aboard, arrived at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s pad 0A a few hours later. The distance between the HIF and the launch pad is roughly a half-mile.

Antares rocket roll-out from Wallops HIF to MARS launch pad on Oct. 13, 2016 — Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

More roll-out photos are available on NASA’s Flickr page. The International Space Station-bound Antares is currently scheduled for launch no earlier than Sunday, Oct. 16, at 8:03 p.m. EDT.