Orbital Sr. VP Frank Culbertson Featured on This Week in Space with Miles O’Brien

March 2010

Frank Culbertson, Senior Vice President for Human Space Systems was a featured guest on This Week in Space with Miles O’Brien on the Spaceflight Now web site. In the eighth edition of the popular podcast of the space-related news program, Culbertson discussed the challenges associated with human rating a commercial spacecraft, the potential for the commercialization of U.S. human spaceflight, and the Obama administration’s new space policy.  To view the podcast, click on either of the links below.  For those who wish to skip directly to the interview, advance the podcast to the 13:42 mark.

Click here to view the podcast on iTunes

Click here to view the video on YouTube

Fabrication of Cargo Module for COTS Demonstration Mission Progressing

February 2010

Fabrication of the pressurized cargo module (PCM) for the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) mission is progressing at the Thales Alenia Space - Italia production facility in Torino, Italy. The Cygnus PCM is based on the Thales Alenia Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) design which has proven track record of ferrying supplies to the International Space Station via the Space Shuttle.  Delivery of the first flight PCM is scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2010.  Members of the Orbital COTS/CRS program recently traveled to Italy for an update on the PCM manufacturing process.

Taurus II and COTS/CRS Development & Flight Milestones

January 2010

Progress on Taurus II and Cygnus continues at a rapid pace with both programs transitioning from design, development and procurement activities to the manufacturing, integration and testing phase. Below is an overview of the major development and flight milestones scheduled for 2010 and 2011 leading to the first launch, which will be the COTS demonstration mission. Note that the time line is intended to offer general insight into the programs' major milestones and is subject to change.

Systems Testing for Taurus II Begins – First Test of 2nd Stage Motor Successful

December 2009

The Taurus II program officially moved from the engineering design and supplier procurement phase to the testing phase with the successful testing of the Taurus II second stage motor. The solid-fuel Castor 30 motor, which is supplied to Orbital by ATK Space Systems, was test fired at the U.S. Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) in Tennessee. The test lasted a little over 150 seconds and the motor produced about 72,000 lbs. of maximum thrust.  The Castor 30 motor is designed to ignite at altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet, and to accurately test the motor performance, the static fire test was conducted at AEDC using a vacuum chamber specially designed to simulate upper atmospheric conditions.   In addition to the second stage testing, we will soon begin the testing process of the liquid fuel propulsion system for the rocket’s first stage at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

Cygnus Solar Array Contract Signed

November 2009

Continuing the international flavor of the COTS/CRS program, we signed a contract with Dutch Aerospace to supply the solar arrays that will help power the Cygnus spacecraft during its mission to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. This is the second Orbital program that Dutch Aerospace has provided solar arrays for. The first was the Dawn interplanetary probe which is currently approximately 93 million miles from Earth and recently entered the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter en-route to its 2011 rendezvous with the asteroid Vesta. 

Back here on Earth, Orbital Vice Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer J.R. Thompson, and Bart Reijnen, Chief Executive Officer of Dutch Space officially signed the Cygnus solar array contract at Orbital’s, Dulles, Virginia headquarters as representatives of Dutch Space, the Netherlands Space Office and Orbital looked on. Mr. Reijnen also presented a commemorative delft plate depicting Cygnus approaching the International Space Station to Orbital Chairman and CEO, David Thompson.  How cool is that?

Progress Continues in the Development of Cygnus and the COTS System

October 2009

The past few months have seen a flurry of preliminary and critical design reviews (PDRs and CDRs) as we begin the transition from the design phase to initial manufacturing.  Several key reviews remain while machining and tooling for the first pressurized cargo modules has begun (see photos below). 

As the year comes to a close, a number of key activities are scheduled to occur including:

• Avionics CDR
• Cygnus CDR
• TAS-I Hatch Review
• Proximity Link System (PLS) CDR and JAXA TIM

We awarded a contract to the Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (MELCO) to supply Proximity Link System (PLS) components to guide Orbital's Cygnus Spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on nine re-supply missions for NASA.

The PLS components were originally developed for the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) program by Mitsubishi Electric under contract with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). See the September entry below to read more about Japan’s recent HTV mission to the ISS.

The PLS components, composed of transponders, diplexers, and data handling processors, are essential for rendezvous control between re-supply spacecraft and the ISS. When the re-supply spacecraft approaches the ISS, the on-board PLS initiates a signaling exchange with the PROX (Proximity Communication System), which is built into the ISS as a part of the Japanese Kibo Experimental Module, and guides the spacecraft in rendezvous and berthing with the ISS.

The development and manufacture of the PLS components will be carried out at Mitsubishi Electric's factory in Kamakura, Japan. Mitsubishi Electric will deliver the PLS components to Orbital between 2010 and 2014.

Japanese HTV Successfully Demonstrates Technologies to be Employed by Cygnus, Phase II Safety Review Nears Completion

September 2009

We watched attentively as JAXA’s HII Transfer Vehicle (HTV) successfully performed a rendezvous and berthing with the ISS on September 17, 2009.  The HTV is designed to provide internal and external cargo to the ISS.  The HTV and Cygnus share several systems in common including the Space Integrated GPS/INS (SIGI), Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system, and the Proximity Link System (PLS).  These systems provided vital guidance and navigation information to the spacecraft.   They worked well during the HTV Flight and their performance reduces program risk for Cygnus.  We congratulate Japan for its success in its first HTV flight!

Also this month we presented our Phase II documentation to Johnson Space Center’s Safety Review Panel (SRP) during a weeklong meeting.  The SRP ensures that all appropriate safety requirements are met by spacecraft that carry astronauts (such as the Space Shuttle) or come in close contact with spacecraft that do carry astronauts (such as the International Space Station).  The Safety Review process for human spaceflight is a 3 step process, which involves an extensive review of almost all design elements of the proposed spacecraft.  Orbital passed the first part (Phase I) of the Safety Review process earlier in 2009.  Orbital will close out its Phase II presentation on November 5, 2009.

Pressurized Cargo Module CDR Successfully Completed

August 2009

Last month it was Paris, this time it was on to Torino Italy for the Critical Design Review of the Cygnus Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) that, mated to our new Cygnus spacecraft, will deliver supplies to the International Space Station. The CDR was a joint effort between Orbital and Thales Alenia Space Italia, which is providing the PCM.  The pressurized cargo module is based on the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) developed by Thales Alenia Space for NASA to ferry cargo to the ISS using the Space Shuttle.
The CDR included two Cygnus PCM configurations. A standard configuration will carry up to 2,000 kg of cargo for the ISS, and will be used in the COTS demonstration mission in 2011 and the first two missions under the Cargo Resupply Services (CRS) contract between 2011 and 2012. An enhanced configuration will carry up to 2,700 kg of cargo for CRS missions between 2013 and 2015.
The CDR demonstrated that the PCM design is ready to proceed with full-scale fabrication, assembly, integration and test of the modules. The CDR also confirmed that the program is on track to complete the development of the Cygnus flight and ground system and mission operations to meet the program’s mission performance requirements. The Pressurized Cargo Module is now moving forward into the production phase to support the COTS demonstration mission slated for March 2011.

Contracts Signed for Cygnus Structure
and Pressurized Cargo Modules

July, 2009

We went to the Paris air show to announce the award of a contract to Thales/Alenia Space of Turin, Italy to build nine pressurized cargo modules that will deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) beginning in 2011.  Also, last month we signed a contract with Applied Aerospace Structures of Stockton, California to provide the composite structures for the Cygnus service module.  In addition to these major contracts, we placed orders for all of major subsystems as we move forward toward actual integration of Cygnus at our Satellite Manufacturing Facility here at Dulles, Virginia.

      Milestones

• Stage 1 Core Flight Systems CDR
• Pressurized Cargo Module CDR
• Avionics Test Milestone
• Stage 1 Tank Pathfinder
• SIGI CDR
• Propellant Tank PDR
• Wallops Flight Facility Ground Breaking
• Program Plan Review
• Demo Mission SRR
• COTS Integration/Operations Wallops Flight Facility Review
• Pressurized Cargo Module PDR
• Instrumentation Program and Command List
• ISS Phase 1 Safety Review
• COTS System PDR

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