As a person who holds the relatively unpopular opinion that working with ULA has helped Blue Origin's maturation process and not just set them back, I am open to the argument that supplying boosters to Northrop could make Firefly a more capable aerospace company in the future.
Quote from: Solarsail on 08/11/2022 06:18 amFantasy space flight mode:Northrup does have some impressive capabilities for rendezvous and docking between Cygnus and the MEV series. Perhaps they could use that to build an ACES like upper stage, rather than a cheap expendable?ACES doesn't use capabilities for rendezvous and docking. Its technology is how the vehicle uses the main propellants for power, pressurization and attitude control.
Fantasy space flight mode:Northrup does have some impressive capabilities for rendezvous and docking between Cygnus and the MEV series. Perhaps they could use that to build an ACES like upper stage, rather than a cheap expendable?
Quote from: Jim on 08/11/2022 02:56 pmQuote from: Solarsail on 08/11/2022 06:18 amFantasy space flight mode:Northrup does have some impressive capabilities for rendezvous and docking between Cygnus and the MEV series. Perhaps they could use that to build an ACES like upper stage, rather than a cheap expendable?ACES doesn't use capabilities for rendezvous and docking. Its technology is how the vehicle uses the main propellants for power, pressurization and attitude control. Wasn't ACES capable of that specifically to support distributed launch? And distributed launch involves rendezvous and docking? Also somewhat close to NG's unflown work on the transfer vehicle for Artemis. And could make for an upper stage that is not just commodity launch but a distinct service.
Northrop and Firefly's Antares330 is a very interesting and fun project.One question is, why did Northrop decide not to use their SRB (the legacy of the now-deceased Omega) and buy Firefly's first stage?Was a two-stage solid rocket combining Castor-30XL and Castor300(or 600) not good enough?Sounds like a good time to salvage Omega components from the grave.
Beta, or whatever the collaboration rocket ends up being called (this is confusing), will absolutely have a recoverable first stage. Markusic has said it in the past, there's been presentations that have said it and included a reusable Beta render (it's in that Scott Manley video), and a seven-engine first stage feels like a telltale that it'll be reusable.My guess is that Antares 330 will be fully expended though. It seems like Antares is flying considerably faster at stage separation than Falcon 9 (from quick research, 3700 m/s vs. 2200 m/s or so?), and the beefier first stage probably wouldn't help. If they could recover that, it would need to be a downrange landing, which Wallops seems poorly fit to support, and the extra infrastructure might be difficult for Northrop to justify with the low flight rate. Also, Northrop probably just wants it flying without many frills, so that first stage may be stripped back compared to whatever ends up on "Beta". Maybe they'll use Antares flights for early testing though. "Beta" should have a more Falcon-like flight profile.
Do/did/would these solid Castor stages have thrust termination capability included?
Without reusability to lower costs, Antares will only ever launch Cygnus.
Quote from: jstrotha0975 on 08/12/2022 09:26 pmWithout reusability to lower costs, Antares will only ever launch Cygnus.The question ultimately becomes "does Northrop Grumman want Antares to launch things other than Cygnus (and maybe occasional high-energy government launches)?" Because if Northrop buys Firefly (as many believe is on the agenda), they'll have MLV (née Firefly Beta) for the commercial market.
Quote from: trimeta on 08/12/2022 10:36 pmQuote from: jstrotha0975 on 08/12/2022 09:26 pmWithout reusability to lower costs, Antares will only ever launch Cygnus.The question ultimately becomes "does Northrop Grumman want Antares to launch things other than Cygnus (and maybe occasional high-energy government launches)?" Because if Northrop buys Firefly (as many believe is on the agenda), they'll have MLV (née Firefly Beta) for the commercial market.Antares isn’t very high energy, at least not the old version - why would it do a high energy launch?