Tag: Northrop Grumman
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Ten years on, Northrop Grumman reflects on changes to Solid Rocket Motors from Shuttle to SLS era
Ten years ago, on 8 July 2011, two, four-segment Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) came to life on LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center, propelling the orbiter Atlantis and her four person crew upwards toward space on the 135th and final Space Shuttle mission. It marked the 269th and 270th flight firings of an SRB for…
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Pegasus XL rocket successfully launches Tactically Responsive Launch demo for Space Force
Northrop Grumman’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket made a low-profile launch for the US Space Force Sunday, in a mission designed to demonstrate the ability to call up and conduct a launch at short notice. The launch occurred off the coast of California during a six-minute window that opened at 01:09 PDT (08:09 UTC). The mission…
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Mars Ascent Vehicle from Northrop Grumman takes shape for Mars Sample Return mission
Since Mariner 9 entered orbit around Mars on November 14, 1971, NASA has been continuously studying the Red Planet. The Viking landers reached the surface of Mars five years later and began sampling the soil. Since then, numerous landers and rovers with instruments from institutions across Earth have studied and traveled the red terrain in…
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Mission Extension Vehicles succeed as Northrop Grumman works on future servicing/debris clean-up craft
With the successful docking of Mission Extension Vehicle 2, or MEV-2, to the Intelsat 10-02 satellite last month, Northrop Grumman not only repeated the task of successfully attaching one of their MEV spacecraft to a functioning satellite but also successfully proved the ability to grab a still-transmitting telecommunications satellite without disrupting service. The success of…
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Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus rocket selected for responsive launch demo
A Pegasus rocket underneath its L-1011 carrier jet takes off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, before a 2013 launch. Credit: NASA The U.S. Space Force is planning for an airborne launch of a solid-fueled Pegasus rocket over the Pacific Ocean by early summer after quietly awarding Northrop Grumman a contract for the mission last…
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Northrop Grumman’s S.S. Katherine Johnson arrives at the ISS
Northrop Grumman kicked off their 2021 launch manifest with the flight of an Antares rocket delivering the Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia at 12:36:50 EST (17:36:50 UTC) Saturday, 20 February 2021. The spacecraft then conducted a rendezvous with the Station…
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NG-14 Cygnus departs ISS, kicks off busy year for Station crew
After a period of over three months in which the spacecraft was berthed to the nadir (Earth-facing) port of the International Space Station’s Unity module, the 14th Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft vacated the vicinity of the orbital outpost on Wednesday after being unberthed and released from the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSMRS), also known…
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Blue Origin’s team turns in its moon landing proposal — and provides a sneak peek
An artist’s conception shows the three main elements of the human landing system being proposed by a team led by Blue Origin. Northrop Grumman’s transfer element is at left, Blue Origin’s descent element is in the middle, and Lockheed Martin’s ascent element is at right. (Blue Origin Illustration) Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin venture…
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Solid rocket stages and how they perform mission-precise orbit insertions
Most rocket launches culminate with liquid-fueled upper stage engines turning off at exactly the precise millisecond a host of parameters — such as flight path angle, orbital inclination, apogee, and perigee — are all met simultaneously. So then how do solid propellant upper stages like those used on the Antares, Pegasus, and Minotaur fleets from…
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Photos: Atlas 5’s stunning climb to space at sunset
This photo gallery includes a series of spectacular pictures of the launch of an Atlas 5 rocket Nov. 13 from Cape Canaveral with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. The 206-foot-tall (63-meter) United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket fired off pad 41 at Cape Canaveral at 5:32 p.m. EST (2232 GMT) on Nov.…