Tag: Orbital ATK
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Blue Origin, ULA and Northrop Grumman weigh in on multibillion-dollar SpaceX rocket lawsuit
Blue Origin’s BE-4 rocket engine, shown here during a test firing in Texas, is being developed for use on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket as well as United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket. (Blue Origin Photo) Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture and subsidiaries of United Launch Alliance and Northrop Grumman are intervening in…
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NGIS fires up GEM-63 motor destined for future ULA launches
A new milestone for the future of United Launch Alliance’s rockets was conducted by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) on Thursday, when the first GEM-63 motor was test-fired for 110 seconds during the QM-1 firing at the NGIS testing facility in Promontory, Utah – sending 373,000 lbs of thrust along with bright fire, loud noise and…
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TESS’s planet hunt begins
Artist’s concept of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Credit: NASA NASA’s newest observatory in space has started its search for planets around other stars, officials said Friday, as astronomers zero in on worlds that are ripe for research by follow-up missions like the James Webb Space Telescope. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite officially began a…
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Scientists thrilled with closer views of Ceres’ famous salty crater
This mosaic of a prominent mound located on the western side of Cerealia Facula was obtained by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on June 22, 2018, from an altitude of about 21 miles (34 kilometers). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA Fresh pictures from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft have provided the sharpest glimpse yet of the bright salt deposits discovered inside a…
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Northrop Grumman completes Orbital ATK acquisition
File photo of an Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus spacecraft, developed by Orbital ATK to haul cargo to the International Space Station. Photo credit: Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman concluded its purchase of Orbital ATK on Wednesday, with the absorption of launch vehicle developer, satellite manufacturer, and munitions supplier as a new business unit named Northrop…
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Pegasus rocket, NASA satellite head for launch base in Pacific
The Pegasus XL rocket, fastened underneath an L-1011 carrier plane, took off Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, en route to Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News Slung under the belly of a specially-equipped carrier airplane, a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket took off Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base…
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Orbital ATK looks ahead to CRS2 Cygnus flights, Antares on the commercial market
As Orbital ATK’s OA-9E Cygnus mission continues its to-date flawless mission at the ISS, the company is looking ahead toward the commencement of the CRS2 contract flights of Cygnus beginning in 2019 as well as the first flights of an enhanced version of its Antares rocket. Orbital ATK also plans to offer Antares on the…
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Orbital ATK sends Cygnus cargo ship to space station with science and a sextant
Orbital ATK’s Antares rocked rises from its Virginia launch pad, sending a robotic Cygnus cargo ship into space. (NASA Photo / Audrey Gemignani) Update for 10 p.m. PT May 24: Astronauts used the International Space Station’s robotic arm to snag Orbital ATK’s robotic Cygnus cargo ship and attach it to the station after a three-day…
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NASA’s new planet-hunting satellite begins climb into science orbit
Artist’s illustration of TESS in space. Credit: NASA/Goddard Looping back near Earth for the first time since its launch one week ago, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite fired its thrusters early Wednesday to begin boosting its orbit toward the moon for a May 17 gravity assist maneuver that will help catapult the probe into its…
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After “terrific” launch, TESS nears first major orbit-raising burn
Artist’s concept of NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite in orbit. Credit: Orbital ATK NASA’s new planet-hunting TESS observatory completed its first post-launch thruster firing Saturday, setting up for a big boost Wednesday that will send the spacecraft toward the moon for a flyby next month, the next maneuvers in a two-month process to reach the…