background preloader

Orbital Sciences + Virgin Galactic + SNC

Facebook Twitter

Spaceport America. Port's Construction Heralds Era of Commercial Space Travel. LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Spaceport America is billed as the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.

port's Construction Heralds Era of Commercial Space Travel

Under construction roughly 45 miles north of Las Cruces on a remote desert landscape, the 18,000-acre Spaceport America site sports a nearly two-mile long, 200–foot-wide “spaceway” that can handle the suborbital traffic flow of pay-per-view space tourists using anchor tenant Virgin Galactic and its WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo system. A futuristic-looking terminal hangar is nearly complete, adding to the facility’s space-age ambiance. But another vibe is in the air – a “build it and they will come” optimism, but one that also has its fingers crossed for good luck. [Photos: Spaceport America Blooms in N.M. Desert] “The spaceport Phase 1 construction work is now 90 percent done and the first phase is on schedule to be done by the end of 2011,” said David Wilson, head of Spaceport America Media Relations here in Las Cruces. Meet the new boss. SpaceDev. SpaceDev is based near San Diego in Poway, California.

SpaceDev

Its objective is to make routine commercial spaceflight possible and to help open space for all of humanity. Previously a publicly traded company (OTCBB:SPDV), on 20 October 2008 SpaceDev officials announced that the company would be acquired by Sierra Nevada Corporation, a privately owned company. The announced acquisition price was 38 million dollars. Integrated Mission Systems (IMS)

Space Future Journal - Chasing the New Space Dream. Space and technology writer Michael Belfiore has reported on Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) DreamChaser seven-seat spacecraft.

Space Future Journal - Chasing the New Space Dream

SNC was one of four companies awarded development money from NASA , was impressed with SNC’s capabilities and the progress already made in developing the DreamChaser , which will be boosted into orbit atop an Atlas V rocket. He is also correct that NASA ’s in-house Shuttle successor, Constellation, is way behind schedule and over budget, with Congress pushing Constellation more as a jobs program than as a viable next step in human spaceflight. SNC is an aerospace and defense company with nearly 2100 employees, according to the company’s own website. Dream Chaser. The Dream Chaser is a reusable crewed suborbital and orbital[6] vertical-takeoff, horizontal-landing (VTHL) lifting-body spaceplane being developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems.

Dream Chaser

The Dream Chaser is designed to carry up to seven people to and from low Earth orbit. Orbital Sciences Corporation. Orbital Sciences Corporation. Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC, though commonly referred to as Orbital) is an American company specializing in the manufacturing and launch of satellites.

Orbital Sciences Corporation

Its Launch Systems Group is heavily involved with missile defense launch systems. Orbital formerly owned ORBIMAGE (now GeoEye) and the Magellan line of GPS receivers, though they have now divested, the latter to Thales. Orbital's NYSE ticker symbol is ORB. It has its headquarters in the Dulles area of unincorporated Loudoun County, Virginia, United States.[2] Since its inception Orbital Sciences has built 569 launch vehicles with 82 more to be delivered by 2015. 174 satellites have been built by the company since 1982 with 24 more to be delivered by 2015. Pegasus (rocket) The Pegasus is carried aloft below a carrier aircraft and launched at approximately 40,000 ft (12,000 m).

Pegasus (rocket)

The carrier aircraft provides flexibility to launch the rocket from anywhere rather than just a fixed pad. A high-altitude, winged flight launch also allows the rocket to avoid flight in the densest part of the atmosphere where a larger launch vehicle, carrying more fuel, would be needed to overcome air friction and gravity. The Pegasus's three Orion solid motors were developed by Hercules Aerospace (now Alliant Techsystems) specifically for the Pegasus launcher. Additionally, wing and tail assemblies and a payload fairing were developed. Most of the Pegasus was designed by a team led by Dr. Mass: 18,500 kg (Pegasus), 23,130 kg (Pegasus XL)Length: 16.9 m (Pegasus), 17.6 m (Pegasus XL)Diameter: 1.27 mWing span: 6.7 mPayload: 443 kg (1.18 m diameter, 2.13 m length) The Pegasus XL with fairing removed exposing payload bay and the IBEX satellite Air launching reduces range costs.

Taurus (rocket) On September 21, 2001, a Taurus XL rocket failed during launch.

Taurus (rocket)

When the second stage ignited at T+83 seconds, a nozzle gimbal actuator drive shaft seized for approximately 5 seconds causing loss of control. The vehicle recovered and continued to fly the mission profile, but failed to reach a stable orbit and reentered near Madagascar.[11] On February 24, 2009, a Taurus XL rocket failed during the launch of the $270m Orbiting Carbon Observatory spacecraft.[12] Liftoff occurred successfully at 09:55 GMT from Vandenberg Air Force Base, but data received at a later stage of the flight suggested that the fairing failed to separate. Taurus II. NASA awarded to Orbital a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Space Act Agreement (SAA) in 2008 to demonstrate delivery of cargo to the International Space Station.

Taurus II

For these COTS missions Orbital intends to use Antares to launch its Cygnus spacecraft. In addition, Antares will compete for small-to-medium missions.[7] On December 12, 2011 Orbital Sciences renamed the launch vehicle "Antares" from the previous designation of Taurus II, after the star of the same name.[8] The NASA COTS award was for US$171 million; Orbital Sciences expects to invest $150 million in addition, split between $130 million for the booster and $20 million for the spacecraft.[9] As of April 2012, development costs are estimated at $472 million.[10] On December 10, 2009 Alliant Techsystems Inc.

An assembled Antares rocket in the Horizontal Integration Facility The optional third stages planned, are the Bi-Propellant Third Stage (BTS) and an ATK Star 48-based third stage. Taurus II. Cygnus (spacecraft) Www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Publications/Cygnus_fact.pdf. Virgin Galactic. Robert D. Richards - Home. Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic is an American-based, British-owned commercial spaceflight company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group which plans to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists, suborbital launches for space science missions, and orbital launches of small satellites.

Virgin Galactic

Further in the future, Virgin Galactic hopes to offer orbital human spaceflights as well.[1] Virgin Galactic's spacecraft is launched from a large aeroplane, giving the spacecraft more initial speed and altitude than if it were launched from the ground. Mothership[edit] White Knight Two in the air. SpaceShipTwo. The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is a suborbital, air-launched spaceplane designed for space tourism.

SpaceShipTwo

It is under development as part of the Tier 1b program[1] under contract to The Spaceship Company, a California-based company that is wholly owned by its sister company Virgin Galactic. The Spaceship Company was formerly a joint venture between Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites, but Virgin became the company's sole owner in 2012.[2] SpaceShipTwo is carried to its launch altitude by a jet-powered mothership, the Scaled Composites White Knight Two, before being released to fly on into the upper atmosphere, powered by a rocket motor. It then glides back to Earth and performs a conventional runway landing.[3] The spaceship was officially unveiled to the public on 7 December 2009 at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.[4] On 29 April 2013, after nearly three years of unpowered testing, the spacecraft successfully performed its first powered test flight.[5]