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#260
by
pippin
on 09 Jul, 2012 15:51
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And you'll do everything to get that 12/12/12 date on the record, right?
Some people plan their weddings, some their launches....
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#261
by
kevin-rf
on 09 Jul, 2012 16:19
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I noticed he Antonioe only mentioned ORB D-1, and not the Antares Test flight, does that mean the test flight has slipped until after ORB D-1
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#262
by
antonioe
on 09 Jul, 2012 16:40
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I noticed he Antonioe only mentioned ORB D-1, and not the Antares Test flight, does that mean the test flight has slipped until after ORB D-1
And you'll do everything to get that 12/12/12 date on the record, right?
Some people plan their weddings, some their launches....
O.K., O.K.... 12 Dec 2012 assuming a) MARS finally gets the $%^&# pad finished b) The static fire (so-called "5K/7K test") works and c) The Cygnusless test flight (currently shcduled for mid-September) does not have any major anomalies.
Other than that, the Play should be fine...
P.S. We now have TWO Cygnuses (Cygni?) in storage...
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#263
by
Jose
on 09 Jul, 2012 16:42
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It does look like the hardware is beginning to pile up at Wallops from the pictures I've seen.
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#264
by
antonioe
on 09 Jul, 2012 16:54
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There's more of a pile-up at Dulles: Cygnus 3 and 4 (ORB-2 and ORB-3) are in quite advanced stages of integration...
It's a lot harder to store Service Modules than either Cargo Modules or Antares stages...
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#265
by
strangequark
on 09 Jul, 2012 17:25
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There's more of a pile-up at Dulles: Cygnus 3 and 4 (ORB-2 and ORB-3) are in quite advanced stages of integration...
It's a lot harder to store Service Modules than either Cargo Modules or Antares stages...
Is that just because of the storage environment, or is there more to it? I'm assuming they aren't loaded with hypergols until the pad...
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#266
by
Silmfeanor
on 09 Jul, 2012 17:25
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There's more of a pile-up at Dulles: Cygnus 3 and 4 (ORB-2 and ORB-3) are in quite advanced stages of integration...
It's a lot harder to store Service Modules than either Cargo Modules or Antares stages...
Thanks for the info! I am looking forward to all of the milestones coming up - and especially for the first Cygnus module being caught by a robotic arm
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#267
by
kevin-rf
on 09 Jul, 2012 19:14
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Will the Cygnusless test flight include a fairing test?
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#268
by
Robotbeat
on 09 Jul, 2012 19:38
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Will the Cygnusless test flight include a fairing test?
Yes.
But it's not like Orbital has ignored the issue. They've identified the root cause (more than one, actually), and they've studied it to death. They've done over 50 launches with fairings, so it's not like they're new to this whole thing. The solution is a certainly belt-and-suspenders type so they'll never have this sort of issue again. Or at least they'll be no more likely to have an issue than any other launch provider.
This is one of those circumstances where a little knowledge of history (but not having up-to-date and complete information) can be more misleading than having none.
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#269
by
antonioe
on 09 Jul, 2012 20:01
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There's more of a pile-up at Dulles: Cygnus 3 and 4 (ORB-2 and ORB-3) are in quite advanced stages of integration...
It's a lot harder to store Service Modules than either Cargo Modules or Antares stages...
Is that just because of the storage environment, or is there more to it? I'm assuming they aren't loaded with hypergols until the pad...
Yes, the storage environment and the "babysitting" (batteries, etc.)
To quote Dave Steffy "the safest place to store an assembled satellite is on-orbit" (neglecting radiation, solar cell aging and the like, of course; but seeing what happens to stored spacecraft - cranes bumping into them, fire suppression deluges systems misfiring, etc. etc. - he's not far from the truth...)
P.S. I have personally experienced both crane bumping (twice) and deluge misfiring (also twice!) - none of them caused by Orbital, I may add...
P.P.S. The satellite that was "deluged" (the other deluge incident involved Pegasus motors) was carefully rinsed with distilled water - you can't imagine how dirty fire sprinkler water can be - and dried with hair dryers by the customer in whose facilities the incident occurred and not only worked perfectly after launch, but EXCEEDED ITS DESIGN LIFETIME BY A FACTOR OF 2.5!!! Hmmm...
In BOTH cases - one in the U.S., the other one overseas - the deluge was triggered by improper servicing of the fire suppression system during an inspection. In both cases, the deluge happened some 12 hours after the mistake was made!
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#270
by
Lurker Steve
on 10 Jul, 2012 01:25
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I noticed he Antonioe only mentioned ORB D-1, and not the Antares Test flight, does that mean the test flight has slipped until after ORB D-1
And you'll do everything to get that 12/12/12 date on the record, right?
Some people plan their weddings, some their launches....
O.K., O.K.... 12 Dec 2012 assuming a) MARS finally gets the $%^&# pad finished b) The static fire (so-called "5K/7K test") works and c) The Cygnusless test flight (currently shcduled for mid-September) does not have any major anomalies.
Other than that, the Play should be fine...
P.S. We now have TWO Cygnuses (Cygni?) in storage...
And I assume MARS now has a new guy in charge because of fracking pad isn't certified yet.
Are there any non-Cygnus flights for Antares booked yet (other than the initial demo flight ) ?
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#271
by
Skyrocket
on 10 Jul, 2012 05:53
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Are there any non-Cygnus flights for Antares booked yet (other than the initial demo flight ) ?
No
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#272
by
antonioe
on 11 Jul, 2012 20:41
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(*SIGH*)
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#273
by
Salo Ukr
on 19 Jul, 2012 22:29
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Updated COTS and CRS Schedules
July 2012
Orbital updated its COTS and CRS operational schedules, with plans to achieve four major operational milestones within the next year. They are as listed below:
Late August/Early September 2012 - Antares First-Stage Static Fire Test at Wallops
October 2012 - Antares Test Flight for COTS
December 2012 - COTS Demonstration Mission to ISS*
First quarter 2013 - CRS Mission #1 to ISS*
*Dates are subject to coordination with NASA's ISS cargo delivery schedule.
http://www.orbital.com/CargoResupplyServices/
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#274
by
yg1968
on 08 Aug, 2012 00:00
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I imagine that this has been discussed elsewhere but what happens to Cygnus after the ATV is retired?
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#275
by
manboy
on 08 Aug, 2012 00:25
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I imagine that this has been discussed elsewhere but what happens to Cygnus after the ATV is retired?
What does the ATV have to do with Cygnus?
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#276
by
yg1968
on 08 Aug, 2012 00:57
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#277
by
Jim
on 08 Aug, 2012 01:07
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I imagine that this has been discussed elsewhere but what happens to Cygnus after the ATV is retired?
What does the ATV have to do with Cygnus?
They are very similar spacecrafts.
http://www.thalesaleniaspace-issmodules.com/cygnus
Just the pressure vessel is made by the same company, but that doesn't mean that they are codependent. Alenia has made many pressure vessels, all contractually independent.
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#278
by
yg1968
on 08 Aug, 2012 01:20
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I imagine that this has been discussed elsewhere but what happens to Cygnus after the ATV is retired?
What does the ATV have to do with Cygnus?
They are very similar spacecrafts.
http://www.thalesaleniaspace-issmodules.com/cygnus
Just the pressure vessel is made by the same company, but that doesn't mean that they are codependent. Alenia has made many pressure vessels, all contractually independent.
Thanks. That answers my question.
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#279
by
Prober
on 16 Aug, 2012 18:05
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