Author Topic: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION  (Read 92489 times)

Offline russianhalo117

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #120 on: 03/09/2018 12:54 am »
LINK: https://www.orbitalatk.com/news-room/feature-stories/VR-Rocket-Development/default.aspx
Designing the Future: Virtual Reality and Rocket Development
 

During a recent design review for Orbital ATK’s Next Generation Launch (NGL) system—a new low-risk, low-cost rocket capable of launching intermediate and heavy payloads into space—the team responded to questions from the customer by walking through the design element using virtual reality (VR).

One of the design questions was whether a technician could safely remove the thermal batteries from the rocket through a small access door. The batteries and their attachment system weigh around 25 pounds and if a launch were to be aborted right before liftoff, they would have to be removed and replaced to support a second attempt.

With the customer watching closely, the Orbital ATK engineer put on his VR headset, walked up to the virtual first stage of the rocket, opened the access door and reached for the thermal batteries. To simulate the mass of the batteries, the engineer tried to maneuver a 25 pound weight thru the virtual access door.

“We quickly learned that the batteries were just too heavy to lift out the access door, and the heavy weight could become a potential safety issue for the operator,” said Todd Warne, Orbital ATK's lead electrical engineer on NGL. “Using VR enables us to verify the design is safe and functional, and to develop rapid solutions if needed—all before building actual hardware.”

Having identified an area for improvement, the design team developed a tool that enables the technicians to safely and easily extract thermal batteries. VR helped the team ensure all safety parameters are met to protect personnel and flight hardware early in the design process.

“The saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ can now be changed to ‘a 3-D VR image can save hundreds of thousands in time and money,’” said Warne. “Being able to engage with the customer in real-time and physically walk them through the design provides a new avenue to validate our designs.”

Orbital ATK began developing next-generation VR technologies in 2015 and now has an advanced Immersive Visualization Lab at the company’s Promontory, Utah, facility that is being used for design, process and customer reviews. VR is proving to be a significant benefit in designing and developing new products, tools and processes.

Orbital ATK has already made significant progress on NGL, including upgrading facilities, building first stage hardware, conducting structure testing and working the full system design. The NGL system leverages mature, flight-proven technology from the company’s lineup of small- to medium-class rockets including Pegasus, Minotaur, and Antares.

NGL is one of Orbital ATK’s top growth initiatives, and the company has committed to investing in the development of the rocket. To date, Orbital ATK and the U.S. Air Force have invested more than $200 million. Currently, there are 200 employees working on the program, with an additional 600 planned to start in the next 24 months. The program is led out of Orbital ATK’s Chandler, Arizona, facility, with additional work being completed in company facilities across the country. Today, Orbital ATK remains on track for a ground test of NGL’s first stage propulsion in 2019, and the first certification launch scheduled for 2021.

Offline russianhalo117

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #121 on: 03/09/2018 01:03 am »

Offline Zed_Noir

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #122 on: 03/09/2018 08:25 am »
Anyone have a guess to where they can launch the NGL on the West Coast?

Offline ZachS09

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #123 on: 03/09/2018 02:01 pm »
Anyone have a guess to where they can launch the NGL on the West Coast?

NGL’s West Coast site is SLC-2W, which is where the Delta II launches from during its own West Coast flights.
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Offline russianhalo117

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #124 on: 03/09/2018 03:36 pm »
Anyone have a guess to where they can launch the NGL on the West Coast?

NGL’s West Coast site is SLC-2W, which is where the Delta II launches from during its own West Coast flights.
Actually AFAIU both SLC-2W and SLC-2E would be ripped out and be rebuilt as a single SLC-2 Launch pad.

Offline Zed_Noir

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #125 on: 03/10/2018 09:29 pm »
Anyone have a guess to where they can launch the NGL on the West Coast?

NGL’s West Coast site is SLC-2W, which is where the Delta II launches from during its own West Coast flights.
Actually AFAIU both SLC-2W and SLC-2E would be ripped out and be rebuilt as a single SLC-2 Launch pad.
It that new SLC-2 pad notional or there is actual budget for the transformation?

Offline russianhalo117

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #126 on: 03/11/2018 12:34 am »
Anyone have a guess to where they can launch the NGL on the West Coast?

NGL’s West Coast site is SLC-2W, which is where the Delta II launches from during its own West Coast flights.
Actually AFAIU both SLC-2W and SLC-2E would be ripped out and be rebuilt as a single SLC-2 Launch pad.
It that new SLC-2 pad notional or there is actual budget for the transformation?
nothing beyond talk and paper at this point.

Offline russianhalo117

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #127 on: 03/13/2018 12:28 am »
View inside OATK Chandler:

Cory's Corner: Orbital ATK
FOX 10 Phoenix
Published on 12 Mar 2018

FOX 10's Cory McCloskey checks out Orbital ATK! More info: www.orbitalatk.com

« Last Edit: 03/13/2018 12:34 am by russianhalo117 »

Online Chris Bergin

Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #128 on: 03/30/2018 09:35 pm »
FEATURE ARTICLE: Orbital ATK preparing for next phase of NGL rocket development -

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/03/orbital-atk-next-phase-ngl-rocket-development/

- By Chris Gebhardt
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Offline TrevorMonty

Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #129 on: 03/31/2018 02:20 am »
Hydrolox engine selected for US will be made public 16April.

Offline rayleighscatter

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #130 on: 03/31/2018 12:43 pm »
Updated 2018 OATK NGL Factsheet: https://www.orbitalatk.com/flight-systems/space-launch-vehicles/NGL/docs/NGL_Factsheet.pdf

This does incidentally change the capabilities from the original fact sheet.
Original to GTO: 5,500kg - 8,500kg
Current to GTO: 4,900kg - 10,100kg

Original to GEO: 5,250kg - 7,000kg
Current to GEO: 5,250kg - 7,800kg

Online rockets4life97

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #131 on: 03/31/2018 12:45 pm »
Hydrolox engine selected for US will be made public 16April.

What engines are the contenders?

Offline rayleighscatter

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #132 on: 03/31/2018 01:06 pm »
Hydrolox engine selected for US will be made public 16April.

What engines are the contenders?
I'd assume they've probably looked at every cryogenic upper stage engine that can be bought (RL-10, Vinci, BE-3, LE-5, etc.)
« Last Edit: 03/31/2018 01:06 pm by rayleighscatter »

Offline ZachS09

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #133 on: 03/31/2018 01:47 pm »
In my humble opinion, I'm guessing that on the day of the announcement, Orbital ATK will say that the third stage will consist of a cluster of RL-10C-1 engines (two or three).
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Offline Tomness

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #134 on: 03/31/2018 01:58 pm »
Hydrolox engine selected for US will be made public 16April.

What engines are the contenders?

BE-3U
Vinci
RL-10

Throwing it out there Raptor, but with Blue indicating they are going for BE-3U, than that might be strong contender for NGL

Offline ZachS09

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #135 on: 03/31/2018 02:15 pm »
Orbital ATK said that the BE-3U is not one of the third stage engine candidates.
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Offline TrevorMonty

Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #136 on: 03/31/2018 02:28 pm »
Orbital ATK said that the BE-3U is not one of the third stage engine candidates.
I remember reading that somewhere as well.

RL10 is the only other domestic option unless there is one from startup we've not heard of.
« Last Edit: 03/31/2018 02:28 pm by TrevorMonty »

Offline brickmack

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #137 on: 03/31/2018 04:08 pm »
Domestic is not a requirement. The same announcement which dropped BE-3U also confirmed that Vinci is in the running

Offline russianhalo117

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #138 on: 03/31/2018 04:58 pm »
Hydrolox engine selected for US will be made public 16April.

What engines are the contenders?

BE-3U
Vinci
RL-10

Throwing it out there Raptor, but with Blue indicating they are going for BE-3U, than that might be strong contender for NGL
Just the following: RL-10C-1/RL-10C-2, Vinci (JAXA/MHI: did provide data for the MB-60, but is not in the primary running).
« Last Edit: 03/31/2018 07:00 pm by russianhalo117 »

Offline Lars-J

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Re: Orbital ATK NGL Rocket UPDATES/DISCUSSION
« Reply #139 on: 03/31/2018 07:21 pm »
Domestic is not a requirement. The same announcement which dropped BE-3U also confirmed that Vinci is in the running

It is if they expect to get much EELV contract action. Otherwise ULA would rightfully cry foul over the Atlas V.

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