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Orbital's Cygnus debut mission to the ISS outlined
by
Chris Bergin
on 05 Jun, 2012 02:01
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#1
by
Harold KSC
on 05 Jun, 2012 02:16
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Very good article Chris! A few of my work colleges are hoping to move to Wallops to work on this vehicle, although they are finding it hard to find out who to apply to.
They'll enjoy this article too.
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#2
by
Paul Howard
on 05 Jun, 2012 02:16
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That's a GREAT read. This site's really transitioned so well into the other vehicles, as much as I liked the hat tip to Atlantis!
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#3
by
RobbieCape
on 05 Jun, 2012 02:19
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I liked this line....
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.
I like how you give spacecraft human characteristics. Awesome article. Should be a lot of fun to follow.
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#4
by
tigerade
on 05 Jun, 2012 02:26
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Looking forward to this mission.
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#5
by
Chris Bergin
on 05 Jun, 2012 02:27
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Thanks guys!
Harold: Tell them Orbital have been tweeting job positions, dozens a day. @OrbitalSciences - I think they are pretty new to twitter so don't have a lot of followers yet.
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#6
by
Ronsmytheiii
on 05 Jun, 2012 02:34
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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)
I would love to have a look in the MCC-Dulles
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#7
by
QuantumG
on 05 Jun, 2012 03:34
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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.
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...
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#8
by
Go4TLI
on 05 Jun, 2012 03:39
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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.
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...
An accelerated schedule from one flight to the next, as it clearly describes in the article and culminates in a hoped for docking to ISS this year.
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#9
by
Davinator
on 05 Jun, 2012 03:43
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Easy if you read the article.
SpaceX: C1, C2, C3, CRS-1. Was shortened to C1, C2+, CRS-1
Orbital: ORB-D, CRS-1.
The Antares test flight isn't one extra on that, as Falcon 9 flew without Dragon on its test flight.
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#10
by
QuantumG
on 05 Jun, 2012 03:55
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Easy if you read the article.
SpaceX: C1, C2, C3, CRS-1. Was shortened to C1, C2+, CRS-1
Orbital: ORB-D, CRS-1.
The Antares test flight isn't one extra on that, as Falcon 9 flew without Dragon on its test flight.
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.
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#11
by
Go4TLI
on 05 Jun, 2012 03:56
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Easy if you read the article.
SpaceX: C1, C2, C3, CRS-1. Was shortened to C1, C2+, CRS-1
Orbital: 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.
This has nothing to do with SpaceX. Please do not muddy and attempt to derail what was a very good article on Orbital's status.
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#12
by
Ronsmytheiii
on 05 Jun, 2012 03:58
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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.
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#13
by
QuantumG
on 05 Jun, 2012 04:01
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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....
Yep, that's a reasonable explanation. Wish it had appeared in the article.
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.
Here's hoping they pull that off.
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#14
by
SpacexULA
on 05 Jun, 2012 04:21
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I am super excited about the Cygnus mission.
I still think getting the STAR spacecraft bus up to a point where it is authorized to berth at the ISS is a huge deal.
I wish Orbital would make a bigger about the Star bus not ONLY being able to carry modified MPLMs. Seems like one of the most fun legos you could ever ask for to do modifications to the ISS, or any spacecraft with berthing ability.
Star really is an amazing Bus
http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/Publications/GEO_Brochure.pdf
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#15
by
Seattle Dave
on 05 Jun, 2012 04:38
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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!
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#16
by
Chris Bergin
on 05 Jun, 2012 11:56
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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.
Oh wow, yeah - one Cygnus demo. That's less than two! I see what you did there!
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!
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#17
by
jnc
on 05 Jun, 2012 12:48
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Surrounded by 100s of Orbital workers chanting his name!
Not to mention the hordes of rapturous acolytes here on NSF...
Noel
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#18
by
Jason1701
on 05 Jun, 2012 13:19
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Surrounded by 100s of Orbital workers chanting his name!
Not to mention the hordes of rapturous acolytes here on NSF...
Noel
And then he'd have to ban alcohol from Dulles.
Or maybe it already is.
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#19
by
Space Pete
on 05 Jun, 2012 13:30
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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)
I think that Cygnus will actually use the reflector on the JEM, since it uses the JAXA PROX system for ISS rendezvous. I'll check...
Great article, BTW!
