Very cool, congratulations to Orbital! What, roughly, is the mass of these spacecraft expected to be?I hate to be the one to ask, but what will this launch on?I suppose that may not be knowable for the later birds, but the first one is in 2020, just 5 years. Likely still a little too far out to definitively select a launch vehicle.
Orbital is responsible for securing a launch, right?
This is the last updated user Guide for NASA Missions on the Athena Missile Launch System.Some please find the latest one and reply with the file or link.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 03/24/2015 11:18 pmVery cool, congratulations to Orbital! What, roughly, is the mass of these spacecraft expected to be?I hate to be the one to ask, but what will this launch on?I suppose that may not be knowable for the later birds, but the first one is in 2020, just 5 years. Likely still a little too far out to definitively select a launch vehicle.The Ball Aerospace JPSS' were ~2500kg. OrbATK is probably similar. Orbit is 830km SSO.LV will probably be F9.Delta II will be gone.A proposed Athena variant could fly it (2cS-6 with DM OAM)Antares 231 (maybe even 221) has the performance, but I doubt they can win. Flying polar out of WFF is iffy.Atlas V could do it easily, but $$$.
Quote from: arachnitect on 03/24/2015 11:54 pmQuote from: Robotbeat on 03/24/2015 11:18 pmVery cool, congratulations to Orbital! What, roughly, is the mass of these spacecraft expected to be?I hate to be the one to ask, but what will this launch on?I suppose that may not be knowable for the later birds, but the first one is in 2020, just 5 years. Likely still a little too far out to definitively select a launch vehicle.The Ball Aerospace JPSS' were ~2500kg. OrbATK is probably similar. Orbit is 830km SSO.LV will probably be F9.Delta II will be gone.A proposed Athena variant could fly it (2cS-6 with DM OAM)Antares 231 (maybe even 221) has the performance, but I doubt they can win. Flying polar out of WFF is iffy.Atlas V could do it easily, but $$$.This is where a "Falcon 2" would come in handy. - Ed Kyle
Quote from: edkyle99 on 03/27/2015 04:22 pmThis is where a "Falcon 2" would come in handy. - Ed KyleNot sure I understand exactly, "Falcon 2?"
This is where a "Falcon 2" would come in handy. - Ed Kyle
Quote from: arachnitect on 03/27/2015 04:35 pmQuote from: edkyle99 on 03/27/2015 04:22 pmThis is where a "Falcon 2" would come in handy. - Ed KyleNot sure I understand exactly, "Falcon 2?"A hypothetical smaller, hopefully cheaper, rocket that could do today's version of what Atlas E and Titan 23G once did. One idea would be a two x Merlin 1D first stage and a 2 x Kestrel second stage - a rocket that would weigh about the same as an old Atlas E at liftoff. I figure up to 2.5 tonnes to sun synchronous orbit could be possible. - Ed Kyle
Quote from: edkyle99 on 03/27/2015 04:22 pmQuote from: arachnitect on 03/24/2015 11:54 pmQuote from: Robotbeat on 03/24/2015 11:18 pmVery cool, congratulations to Orbital! What, roughly, is the mass of these spacecraft expected to be?I hate to be the one to ask, but what will this launch on?I suppose that may not be knowable for the later birds, but the first one is in 2020, just 5 years. Likely still a little too far out to definitively select a launch vehicle.The Ball Aerospace JPSS' were ~2500kg. OrbATK is probably similar. Orbit is 830km SSO.LV will probably be F9.Delta II will be gone.A proposed Athena variant could fly it (2cS-6 with DM OAM)Antares 231 (maybe even 221) has the performance, but I doubt they can win. Flying polar out of WFF is iffy.Atlas V could do it easily, but $$$.This is where a "Falcon 2" would come in handy. - Ed KyleSpaceX has a rocket for this size class, F9R, it's just not quite ready yet.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 03/24/2015 11:18 pmThe Ball Aerospace JPSS' were ~2500kg. OrbATK is probably similar. Orbit is 830km SSO.LV will probably be F9.Delta II will be gone.A proposed Athena variant could fly it (2cS-6 with DM OAM)Antares 231 (maybe even 221) has the performance, but I doubt they can win. Flying polar out of WFF is iffy.Atlas V could do it easily, but $$$.This is where a "Falcon 2" would come in handy. - Ed Kyle
The Ball Aerospace JPSS' were ~2500kg. OrbATK is probably similar. Orbit is 830km SSO.LV will probably be F9.Delta II will be gone.A proposed Athena variant could fly it (2cS-6 with DM OAM)Antares 231 (maybe even 221) has the performance, but I doubt they can win. Flying polar out of WFF is iffy.Atlas V could do it easily, but $$$.
Quote from: arachnitect on 03/24/2015 11:54 pmQuote from: Robotbeat on 03/24/2015 11:18 pmThe Ball Aerospace JPSS' were ~2500kg. OrbATK is probably similar. Orbit is 830km SSO.LV will probably be F9.Delta II will be gone.A proposed Athena variant could fly it (2cS-6 with DM OAM)Antares 231 (maybe even 221) has the performance, but I doubt they can win. Flying polar out of WFF is iffy.Atlas V could do it easily, but $$$.This is where a "Falcon 2" would come in handy. - Ed KyleI wonder if Orbital ATK could pay SpaceX for launch infrastructure & logistics & fly Antares from Vandenberg AFB, SLC - 4 ?
Could the last Delta II for sale launch JPSS-2?
Quote from: longdrivechampion102 on 04/09/2015 07:10 pmCould the last Delta II for sale launch JPSS-2? Theoretically yes, just don't have full specs for the Orbital ATK JPSS-2 build design to know. The current Ball design is a complete yes as its already flown once on the the DII 7920-10C series.Current launcher targets:July 2020 - JPSS-2 - Atlas V 401/Falcon 9 v1.1/Minotaur-6 - Vandenberg SLC-2W/3E/4E/8 (or December 31)
Quote from: russianhalo117 on 04/09/2015 07:27 pmQuote from: longdrivechampion102 on 04/09/2015 07:10 pmCould the last Delta II for sale launch JPSS-2? Theoretically yes, just don't have full specs for the Orbital ATK JPSS-2 build design to know. The current Ball design is a complete yes as its already flown once on the the DII 7920-10C series.Current launcher targets:July 2020 - JPSS-2 - Atlas V 401/Falcon 9 v1.1/Minotaur-6 - Vandenberg SLC-2W/3E/4E/8 (or December 31)I'm guessing that the Ball design first flew in October 2011 when Suomi NPP was launched...
Award has been formally protested...http://spacenews.com/ball-protests-jpss-award-to-orbital-atk/
Protest denied. OrbATK keeps the contract.http://spacenews.com/orbital-atk-keeps-jpss-work-after-gao-strikes-down-protest/I think the protest should have been upheld. OrbATK's bid is super sketchy.
Quote from: arachnitect on 07/16/2015 10:17 pmProtest denied. OrbATK keeps the contract.http://spacenews.com/orbital-atk-keeps-jpss-work-after-gao-strikes-down-protest/I think the protest should have been upheld. OrbATK's bid is super sketchy.Why do you think it's sketchy? Because OrbATK isn't charging the full price of designing a satellite for every additional copy of it they build? They seem to be betting they can get their production cost down pretty low by the time they build the third one, and they're probably right. Remember these prices don't include the weather instruments.
Is this going to be a more substantial spacecraft than the first otherwise the 401 looks a bit overkill performance wise?
Quote from: Star One on 03/04/2017 10:44 amIs this going to be a more substantial spacecraft than the first otherwise the 401 looks a bit overkill performance wise?There wasn't much choice: Atlas-5(401) or Falcon-9 are overkill performance wise. Antares has no launchsite for SSO and Minotaur has not enough peformance.
Does this win tell us that 401 is now cheaper than Falcon 9?
Does the payload requires vertical integration? Or is it a Cat A payload?