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Orbital's success in space reflected in the balance sheets
by
Chris Bergin
on 13 Feb, 2014 17:43
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#1
by
robertross
on 13 Feb, 2014 20:04
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Nice plug Chris.
I always believe it's in the best interest of all of us that these companies do well. Each has something to offer, and there should be room enough for each to do well (not merely survive).
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#2
by
arachnitect
on 13 Feb, 2014 22:22
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Nice article Chris. I'm happy Orbital is keeping busy.
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#3
by
Robotbeat
on 14 Feb, 2014 02:06
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Nice plug Chris.
I always believe it's in the best interest of all of us that these companies do well. Each has something to offer, and there should be room enough for each to do well (not merely survive).
Orbital is especially well-suited to the new industry environment. They can reap big rewards if domestic launch costs fall dramatically, but if they don't fall, they can still be very successful with Antares and Stratolaunch, and their horizontal integration strategy in general leaves them much less exposed to risk.
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#4
by
Avron
on 14 Feb, 2014 02:31
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Hindsight and exact science..
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#5
by
Galactic Penguin SST
on 14 Feb, 2014 02:35
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Remember that they sell more spacecrafts than rockets - they sold at least 3 Star bus geostationary comsats last year, not to mention they also have LEO and interplanetary spacecraft experience. We already saw one OSC-built comsat launching last month (Thaicom 6) and another will be launched next month (Amazonas 4A on Ariane 5). And I haven't count their missile & defense contracts yet....
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#6
by
baldusi
on 14 Feb, 2014 11:54
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I remember Dr. Antonio Elías stating that he wished the Falcon 9 was successful and ridiculously cheap, because then they would sell an awful lot of satellites.
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#7
by
Chris Bergin
on 22 Mar, 2014 17:41
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http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/03/ariane-5-eca-astra-5b-amazonas-4a-mission/Another Orbital baby heading uphill tonight.
Orbital’s newest satellite delivery represents the 150th spacecraft Orbital has completed for customers in the past 32 years, spanning the global commercial, civil government and military and intelligence space systems markets.
Of these, 78 have carried out commercial communications and imaging missions and 72 have supported government scientific, national security and space exploration missions.
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#8
by
Space Pete
on 27 Mar, 2014 23:32
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Can't think of anywhere else to put this, so I'll stick it here.
An interesting fact relating to Orbital:
On 25 March 2014, the British Royal Air Force retired the last of their L-1011 TriStar aircraft. Apparently the only L-1011 confirmed as being operational anywhere in the world is now the Stargazer.
Does anyone know whether OSC fly the Stargazer on a regular basis in order to maintain pilot proficiency? Or does it only fly in relation to a specific launch (it which case, will it ever fly again)?
Just thought I'd share that for those interested.
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#9
by
rayleighscatter
on 29 Mar, 2014 23:57
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It's last flight was December 3rd so it doesn't appear to be that active outside of launches. But so long as someone wants to buy a Pegasus I assume it will keep flying (until an alternate like the Stratolaunch comes online).
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#10
by
kevin-rf
on 31 Mar, 2014 15:58
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#11
by
Lurker Steve
on 31 Mar, 2014 16:15
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It's last flight was December 3rd so it doesn't appear to be that active outside of launches. But so long as someone wants to buy a Pegasus I assume it will keep flying (until an alternate like the Stratolaunch comes online).
I assume there are plenty of L-1011's sitting in the desert, available for spare parts. How much maintenance is necessary for a plane that doesn't need to fly that often ?
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#12
by
rayleighscatter
on 31 Mar, 2014 22:21
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Oh yeah, piles of L1011s they can get parts from in the desert, in fact I think some of them are even at Mojave. Considering the cost of launch most maintenance on it is probably negligible. The big one, the D check, though will cost probably in the region of 10 million and take about 30,000 man hours. I wonder how many years away from that they are.
In their unusual position with the plane there's a lot of options they have to deal with many issues. Northrop Grumman for instance flies a BAC-111 even though its airworthiness certificate was withdrawn, they just reclassified the plane as experimental. I wouldn't be surprised if Orbital did the same if they start to run into regulatory issues with the L1011.
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#13
by
kevin-rf
on 01 Apr, 2014 12:07
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Geeze, Now I feel old, I remember flying on BAC-111's as a kid.
