The NASA Administrator Charles Bolden (third from left) in front of the Cygnus spacecraft in May 2012.
With Rocketplane Kistler unable to meet funding obligations for its K-1 launch vehicle under the terms of the COTS agreement, NASA decided on 18 October 2007 to terminate its contract with Rocketplane Kistler and re-award its contract after a competition.[3] On 19 February 2008, NASA announced that it had chosen Orbital Sciences as the new winner.[4] On 23 December 2008, NASA awarded Orbital Sciences a $1.9 billion contract under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program. Under this contract, Orbital Sciences agreed to deliver up to 20 tons of cargo to the ISS through 2016 in eight Cygnus spacecraft flights.[2]
By April 2010, Orbital had displayed a full-scale model of the Cygnus cargo delivery spacecraft at the National Space Symposium (NSS) in Colorado Springs, CO.[5]
Launched on an Antares (renamed from Taurus II) medium-class launch vehicle or Atlas V, the first Cygnus flight was originally planned to occur in December 2010.[6]·[7] The Cygnus demonstration mission was successfully launched on 18 September 2013.[8] On 12 January 2014, the first scheduled Cygnus resupply mission arrived at the space station; the capsule carried Christmas presents and fresh fruit for the astronauts. Its arrival was delayed, first by the need to repair the station, and then by frigid weather at the launch site and solar flares that forced postponements.[8]·[9]
With the December 2015 launch of Orb CRS-4 on Atlas V, the enhanced version of Cygnus made its debut. While it was planned from the beginning to fly on the fifth mission, the Orb CRS-3 failure and subsequent move to Atlas V meant a delay. However, lessons learned on packing and the extra capabilities of the Atlas allowed payload to be increased to 3,500 kg (7,700 lb).[10]
Design
A scale drawing of the Standard (left) and Enhanced (right) Cygnus.
The Cygnus spacecraft consists of two basic components: the Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) and the Service Module (SM). The PCM is manufactured by Thales Alenia Space in Turin, (Italy). The first PCMs had an empty mass of 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) [11] and a volume of 18 m3 (640 cu ft).[12] The service module is built by Orbital ATK and is based on their GEOStar and LEOStarspacecraft buses as well as components from the development of the Dawn spacecraft. It has a gross mass of 1,800 kg (4,000 lb) with propulsion provided by 32 monopropellant thrusters for attitude control. The SM also carries one BT-4 main engine [13] burning hypergolic propellants hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide (the propellant mass is 800 kg (1,800 lb) [14][15]). The service module is capable of producing up to 4 kW of electrical power via two gallium arsenide solar arrays.[12] On 12 November 2009, Dutch Space announced it would provide the solar arrays for the first Cygnus spacecraft.[16]
The Standard Cygnus being unberthed from the Harmony module.
The fourth and all subsequent Cygnus spacecraft are the "Enhanced" variant, as the standard version has been retired.[17] These have a stretched 1,800 kg (4,000 lb) empty weight PCM with interior volume increased by 50% to 27 m3 (950 cu ft) and the service module uses Orbital ATK Ultraflex solar arrays providing the same power as the previous arrays at a lower mass.[12]·[17] A new upper stage built by Orbital ATK, the Castor 30XL, is used together with the enhanced Cygnus. With a more powerful upper stage and lighter solar arrays, the Cygnus payload delivered to the ISS can be increased by 700 kg (1,500 lb).[18]
During nominal CRS missions, Cygnus maneuvers close to the International Space Station, where the Canadarm2 robotic arm grapples the spacecraft and berths it to a Common Berthing Mechanism on the Harmony module in a similar fashion to the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle and the retired SpaceX Dragon,[12] but not the other active American CRS Dragon 2 vehicle, which docks autonomously. For typical missions, Cygnus remains berthed for about 30 days.[19]·[20] Unlike Dragon 2 and the earlier Dragon, Cygnus does not provide cargo return capability. However, it can be loaded with obsolete equipment and trash for destructive reentry like the Russian Progress vehicles.[21]
An earlier proposed version of Cygnus would have replaced the PCM with the Unpressurized Cargo Module (UCM), based on NASA's ExPRESS Logistics Carrier, and would have been used to transport unpressurized cargo, such as ISS Orbital Replacement Units.[6]·[22] Another proposed variant would have replaced the PCM with the Return Cargo Module (RCM), which would have allowed Cygnus to return cargo to Earth.[6]·
In August 2023, Northrop Grumman announced a further enlarged Mission B version of Cygnus, with a 1.5 m (4.9 ft) stretch to the payload module and payload mass increased to 5,000 kg (11,000 lb). This version is expected to enter service with the NG-23 mission in 2025 (the first to use the new Antares 330 launch vehicle).[23]
Lunar Gateway module variant
In August 2019, NASA decided to sole source its design for the Minimal Habitation Module (Habitation and Logistics Outpost, or HALO) of the Lunar Gateway to Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, which offered a minimalist 6.1 m (20 ft) by 3 m (9.8 ft) design based directly on the Enhanced Cygnus, as well as a larger 7 m (23 ft) by 4.4 m (14 ft) design[24][25] having radial docking ports, body-mounted radiators (BMRs), batteries and communications antennas added on the outside. Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems opted to build the minimalist design, which offered the advantage of component compatibility and expedited testing of life support systems on existing Cygnus spacecraft.[26][27] On 5 June 2020, NASA awarded Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems a $187 million contract to complete the preliminary design of HALO. NASA will sign a separate contract with Northrop for the fabrication of the HALO, and for integration with the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), being built by Maxar.[26][27]
Missions
List includes only missions that have flown and six planned missions. As of January 2024[update] two missions are currently planned to be launched on the Falcon 9 rocket from SLC-40, and three from Wallops on an Antares 330. Cygnus is the only cargo freighter to launch on four different orbital launchers, that is, Antares 100 series, Atlas V, Antares 200 series and Falcon 9 Block 5 rockets.[28]
Each mission is named for a notable member of the Human spaceflight community, often but not exclusively former NASA astronauts.
First Cygnus mission, first mission to rendezvous with ISS, first mission to berth with ISS, second launch of Antares. Mission Directors: Mike Orlowski (lead) and Ken Peek. The rendezvous between the new Cygnus cargo freighter and the International Space Station was delayed due to a computer data link problem,[35] but the issue was resolved and berthing followed shortly thereafter.[36]
First Antares launch to use Castor 30XL upperstage, delayed due to boat in launch safe zone. Second takeoff attempt suffered a catastrophic anomaly resulting in an explosion shortly after launch. Contents of the cargo included food and care packages for the crew, parts, experiments, and the Arkyd-3 Flight Test (Non-optical) Satellite from Planetary Resources.
Second mission to fly on an Atlas V. Orbital Sciences had an option with United Launch Alliance to conduct a third Cygnus launch on an Atlas V rocket if necessary.
The Antares 230 rocket carrying Cygnus lifted off at 23:45:36 UTC, 17 October 2016. Successful rendezvous was achieved on 23 October 2016 at 14:53 UTC.
It became the first time a commercial vehicle performed ISS reboosting when, at 20:25 UTC on July 10, 2018 , Cygnus’s main engine was fired for about 50 seconds. Although it was just a reboost test, it raised the altitude by about 295 feet, according to NASA.[52]
Performed the first operational limited reboost of ISS by a commercial vehicle on 25 June 2022 after it was aborted after few seconds on 20 June 2022.[62][63]
^"Antares A-ONE Pre-flight Briefing". NASA. 16 April 2013. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 22 April 2013. Typical mission will be about 30 days, including the rendezvous, the time aboard station, the time to de-orbit. We could extend that to 60 or 90 at NASA's request, however once we separate from the space station, the spacecraft itself, depending on its fuel load could probably fly easily for another year, in terms of what the components are certified for.
