The final phase of the mission – a reverse of the berthing procedures – is called the Descent & Reentry Operations Phase (DROPS), as Cygnus ends its life in a disposal corridor during entry, hopefully with a smile on its face, following a successful demonstration that paved the way for its siblings to each take a turn in providing full CRS operations, starting early in 2013.
While the mission may be similar, the test schedule is slightly accelerated, with Orbital first tasked with a debut flight of its new launch vehicle, the Antares – formerly known as Taurus II, to be then followed by a one-off full COTS level demonstration mission, not unlike SpaceX’s C2+ mission, tasking Cygnus with a single flight to prove its ability, prior to starting CRS operations proper.
QuoteWhile the mission may be similar, the test schedule is slightly accelerated, with Orbital first tasked with a debut flight of its new launch vehicle, the Antares – formerly known as Taurus II, to be then followed by a one-off full COTS level demonstration mission, not unlike SpaceX’s C2+ mission, tasking Cygnus with a single flight to prove its ability, prior to starting CRS operations proper.That's two flights... which is exactly what SpaceX ended up doing under COTS. How is that accelerated? Especially considering that they're coming second...
Easy if you read the article.SpaceX: C1, C2, C3, CRS-1. Was shortened to C1, C2+, CRS-1Orbital: ORB-D, CRS-1.The Antares test flight isn't one extra on that, as Falcon 9 flew without Dragon on its test flight.
Quote from: Davinator on 06/05/2012 03:43 amEasy if you read the article.SpaceX: C1, C2, C3, CRS-1. Was shortened to C1, C2+, CRS-1Orbital: ORB-D, CRS-1.The Antares test flight isn't one extra on that, as Falcon 9 flew without Dragon on its test flight.Nonsense. They're being paid for 2 flights under COTS, just like SpaceX.If anything, their accelerated schedule has been slowed with the addition of a test flight to match SpaceX's accelerated schedule.
That's two flights... which is exactly what SpaceX ended up doing under COTS. How is that accelerated? Especially considering that they're coming second...
The time scale for development has been much shorter, SpaceX was awarded a COTS development plan in 2006 and finished their COTS flights this year (2012, or about 6 years in between) Orbital was awarded the recompete after Kistler was kicked out in 2008, which was two years later. And yet OSC is projecting that they will fly their COTS mission only half a year after SpaceX, seems pretty accelerated to me....
Also, more than a year elapsed between COTS 1 and 2/3 for SpaceX, while OSC is slated to launch both demonstrations flights within months.
Full of info, thanks! Good to see they will be catching up a lot of ground with only the one demo flight for Cygnus, compared to the two for Dragon, before CRS-1.
I wonder if Antonio will turn up in a T-shirt on NASA TV saying he's "super, super hyped" about the mission, before being bear hugged by tearful Alan Lindenmoyer!
Surrounded by 100s of Orbital workers chanting his name!
Quote from: Chris Bergin on 06/05/2012 11:56 amSurrounded by 100s of Orbital workers chanting his name! Not to mention the hordes of rapturous acolytes here on NSF... Noel
Great article. Will be interesting to see how Orbital/Tridar deals with the laser reflector on the JEM that Dragon reacted to, probably wont be too hard as SpaceX did it on the fly (literally)