Template:Launching/Antares

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Antares
Size
An Antares 110 awaiting its inaugural flight at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport
Function	Medium expendable launch system
Manufacturer	Orbital Sciences
Country of origin	United States
Height	40.5 m (133 ft)^[1]
Diameter	3.9 m^[2] (12.8 ft)
Mass	~240,000 kg^[1] (530,000 lb)
Stages	2 to 3^[2]
Capacity
Payload to LEO	5,000 kg (11,000 lb)^[2]
Associated rockets
Comparable	Athena III Delta II
Launch history
Status	Active
Launch sites	Pad 0A, MARS
Total launches	1
Success(es)	1
First flight	April 21, 2013^[3]
Type of passengers/cargo	Cygnus
[edit on Wikidata]

Antares, known in early development as Taurus II, is an expendable launch system developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation. Designed to launch payloads of mass up to 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) into low-Earth orbit, it made its maiden flight on 21 April 2013,^[3] but the launch was postponed due to strong winds.^[4]

NASA awarded to Orbital a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract in 2008 to demonstrate delivery of cargo to the International Space Station. For these COTS missions Orbital intends to use Antares to launch its Cygnus spacecraft. In addition, Antares will compete for small-to-medium missions.^[5] On Dec. 12, 2011 Orbital Sciences renamed the launch vehicle "Antares" from the previous designation of Taurus II, after the star of the same name.^[6]

Development

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.^[7] As of April 2012, development costs are estimated at $ 472 million.^[8]

On 10 June 2008 it was announced that the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, formerly part of the Wallops Flight Facility, in Virginia, would be the primary launch site for the rocket.^[9] Launch pad 0A (LP-0A), which is the former launch pad for the failed Conestoga rocket will be modified to handle Antares.^[10] A launch from Wallops would reach the International Space Station's orbit as effectively as from Cape Canaveral, Florida, while being less crowded.^[7]^[11] The first Antares flight will launch a Cygnus mass simulator.^[12]

On December 10, 2009 Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) test fired their Castor 30 motor for use as the second stage of the Antares rocket.^[13] In March 2010 Orbital Sciences and Aerojet completed test firings of the NK-33 engines.^[14] On 22 February 2013 a hot fire test was successfully performed, the entire first stage was erected on the pad and held down while the engines fired for 29 seconds.^[12]

Design

The first stage uses RP-1 (kerosene) and liquid oxygen (LOX) as propellants, powering two NK-33-derived engines (sold by Aerojet as AJ-26 engines). As Orbital has little experience with large liquid stages and LOX propellant, some of the Antares first stage work was contracted to Yuzhnoye SDO, designers of the Zenit series. One source claims that the contract includes the "main-stage fuel tanks and associated plumbing".^[7] The core provided by Yuzhnoye includes propellant tanks, pressurization tanks, valves, sensors, feed lines, tubing, wiring and other associated hardware.^[15] Like Zenit, the Antares vehicle will have a 3.90 m (154 in) diameter. It will have a 3.9 m diameter payload fairing.^[2]

The second stage is a solid-fuel rocket, the Castor 30, developed by ATK as a derivative of the Castor 120 solid stage, with a 293.4 kilonewtons (66,000 lb_f) average (395.7 kilonewtons (89,000 lb_f) maximum) thrust, utilizing electromechanical thrust vector control.^[16] The first two flights (Antares 110) will use a Castor 30A, the next two flights (Antares 120) will use an enhanced Castor 30B. The longer Castor 30XL second stage will be used on subsequent flights.^[16]^[17] Updated Antares second-stage technical details and program schedule data were provided by NASA Spaceflight in March 2013.^[18]

The optional third stages planned, are the Bi-Propellant Third Stage (BTS) and an ATK Star 48-based third stage. BTS is derived from the Orbital Science's GEOStar spacecraft bus and uses nitrogen tetroxide and hydrazine for propellant; It is intended to precisely place payloads into their final orbits.^[2] The Star 48-based stage uses a Star 48BV solid rocket motor and is planned to be used for higher energy orbits.^[2]

Launches

The initial launch of Antares occurred on 21 April 2013 and the Orbital COTS Demonstration mission is now scheduled for June 2013.^[19]

List only includes relatively near missions; more missions are planned than are listed below. The first digit of the version number refers to the single core first-stage, which will always be one. The second digit refers to the second-stage: 1 used for the Castor 30A, 2 for Castor 30B, and 3 for Castor 30XL. The third digit refers to the third-stage. 0 represents that no third-stage is being used, 1 represents BTS and 2 represents the Star 48-based stage.^[17]

#	Mission name	Version	Payload	Date	Outcome	Remarks
1	Antares A-ONE^[20]	110	Cygnus Mass Simulator Dove 1 PhoneSat x3	21 April 2013^[21]	Successful	Antares test flight
2	CRS Orb-D1	110	Cygnus 1		June 2013^[19]	First Cygnus mission
3	CRS Orb-1	120	Cygnus 2	2013^[22]		First Cygnus Cargo Resupply Mission (CRS), first Antares launch to use the Castor 30B upperstage^[17]
4	CRS Orb-2	120	Cygnus 3	2013^[17]
5	CRS Orb-3	130	Cygnus 4	2013^[17]		First Antares launch to use Castor 30XL upperstage^[17]
6	CRS Orb-4	130	Cygnus 5	Early 2014^[17]		First Enhanced Cygnus mission^[17]

References

^ ^a ^b Kyle, Ed (2011-05-14). "Taurus 2". Space Launch Report.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Antares Fact Sheet" (PDF). FS007_06L. Orbital Sciences Corporation. 2011-12. Retrieved 20111219. ((cite web)): Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
^ ^a ^b "Orbital Reschedules Antares A-ONE Mission for April 20". http://www.orbital.com/. Retrieved 2013-04-19. ((cite web)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
^ [1]
^ Aviation Week and Space Technology, Feb. 25, 2008, p. 22
^ [2]
^ ^a ^b ^c B. Bergen, Space News, February 25, 2008, p. 12
^ "Orbital Sciences development costs increase". flightglobal.com. April 30, 2012.
^ "Governor Kaine announces 125 new jobs for Virginia" (Press release). Commonwealth of Virginia. June 9, 2008.
^ Kennedy, Jack, Taurus-2 Launch Pad to be Ready in 18-Months at Wallops Island Spaceport, Spaceports
^ Glass, Jon W. (February 20, 2008). "Wallops up for big role with firm's NASA contract". The Virginian-Pilot.
^ ^a ^b "Hot fire success for Orbital's Antares". NASASpaceFlight (not affliated with NASA). 22 February 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
^ "Orbital Sciences Successfully Tests Second Stage Rocket Motor" (Press release). Orbital. December 10, 2009.
^ Clark, Stephen (March 15, 2010). "Aerojet confirms Russian engine is ready for duty". Spaceflight Now. Archived from the original on 22 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-18. ((cite news)): Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "Antares User's Guide, Rev. 1.2" (PDF). Orbital. December 2009.
^ ^a ^b "Antares Medium-class Launch Vehicle – brochure" (PDF). G006_08j. Orbital Sciences Corporation. 2011-12. Retrieved 2012-12-19. ((cite web)): Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Bergin, Chris (2012-02-22). "Space industry giants Orbital upbeat ahead of Antares debut". NasaSpaceflight (not affiliated with NASA). Retrieved 29 March 2012.
^ Bergin, Chris (2013-03-05). "CASTOR 30XL prepares for static fire ahead of providing Antares boost". NASAspaceflight.com. Retrieved 2013-03-07.
^ ^a ^b "Spaceflight Now - Tracking Station - Worldwide launch schedule". 2012-11-02. Retrieved 20130315. ((cite web)): Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
^ "Antares Cold Flow Testing Begins and Antares A-ONE Gets All Dressed Up". Orbital.com. December 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
^ http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/cargo/orbitalsciences-index.html
^ "Orbital Antares/Cygnus Updates". Orbital Sciences Corporation. Retrieved 19 April 2013.

v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H-IIA H3 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 7 7A 8 11 11H LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased RS1^† Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega original C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Epsilon S Eris Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 12 Miura 5 MLV Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able^† Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I^† II^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan^† Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Rocket 3 Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II^† X-2^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1^†
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This Template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)

v t e Orbital launch systems developed in the United States
Active	Atlas V**^†† Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Minotaur I IV V C Pegasus XL RS1^† SLS Block 1 Vulcan Centaur
In development	Antares 330 Daytona I MLV New Glenn Neutron Nova Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Starship Terran R
Retired	Antares 110/120/130/230/230+^††† Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able Agena Centaur Conestoga Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" H-I* Juno I Juno II LauncherOne N-I* N-II* Pilot Rocket 3 Saturn I IB V Scout Space Shuttle SPARK Sparta Terran 1 Thor Able Ablestar Agena Burner Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Vanguard
* - Japanese projects using US rockets or stages ** - uses Russian engines ^† - never succeeded ^†† - no new orders accepted ^††† - used Ukrainian first stage

Development

Design

Launches

See also

References