Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (Orbital ATK) thread

[Nivee~]

18 hours ago, magnemoe said:

you can make an larger plane by adding more engines

Like this?

(An actual project the Russian space agency was considering...)

 

[XB-70A]

3 hours ago, Nivee~ said:

 

How happy Lotarev Ivchenko would be with such a project!

[tater]

3 hours ago, Nivee~ said:

(An actual project the Russian space agency was considering...)

That's pretty...

Kerbal.

[Nivee~]

1 minute ago, tater said:

That's pretty...

Kerbal.

Russians were being kerbal before it was cool

[tater]

 

[tater]

This made me think of Pegasus:

 

[tater]

 

[ThatGuyWithALongUsername]

On 2/8/2019 at 12:52 AM, tater said:

 

Aww yeah, a daylight launch. If it wasn't on a Wednesday, I'd probably go to Wallops to see it- it wouldn't be entirely unheard of if it got delayed to Saturday, would it?

Even if it still launches on a weekday, I *might* be able to see SOMEthing...

Edited April 15, 2019 by ThatGuyWithALongUsername

[tater]

 

[tater]

 

[insert_name]

Looks like ICON is NET q2, almost a 2 year delay from original launch date

https://spacenews.com/pegasus-woes-continue-to-delay-nasa-mission/

[ThatGuyWithALongUsername]

8 hours ago, insert_name said:

Looks like ICON is NET q2, almost a 2 year delay from original launch date

https://spacenews.com/pegasus-woes-continue-to-delay-nasa-mission/

Wanna bet it gets delayed even more?

 

This thing just can't seem to get off the ground... literally.

[insert_name]

Apparently a Minotaur IV will be launching later this year

https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/03/21/two-minotaur-launches-planned-this-year-from-virginia/

[MaverickSawyer]

Stargazer has departed from Mojave Airport. Maybe they're finally ready to launch that Pegasus?

 

EDIT: pic courtesy of https://www.instagram.com/ohwiss/

 

Edited April 10, 2019 by MaverickSawyer

[ThatGuyWithALongUsername]

7 hours ago, MaverickSawyer said:

Stargazer has departed from Mojave Airport. Maybe they're finally ready to launch that Pegasus?

 

EDIT: pic courtesy of https://www.instagram.com/ohwiss/

Well, I've heard something about them doing captive carry tests before they're ready to launch... this might just be for those.

[insert_name]

I dont see a rocket on that plane though

[ThatGuyWithALongUsername]

9 minutes ago, insert_name said:

I dont see a rocket on that plane though

Might be heading to pick one up, who knows.

[MaverickSawyer]

Rocket stayed at the sortie base, iirc. Why risk damage by flying it somewhere it's not needed?

[tater]

Antares • NG-11

Launch time: 2046 GMT (4:46 p.m. EDT)
Launch site: Pad 0A, Wallops Island, Virginia

 

[tater]

 

[MinimumSky5]

Something I've been wondering about concerning the Antares, is are they trying to sell it as a commercial launcher? Wikipedia lists several varients, but I can only see launches of Cygnus vehicles. 

Are they not selling it to others, or is it just not popular? 

[ThatGuyWithALongUsername]

22 minutes ago, MinimumSky5 said:

Something I've been wondering about concerning the Antares, is are they trying to sell it as a commercial launcher? Wikipedia lists several varients, but I can only see launches of Cygnus vehicles. 

Are they not selling it to others, or is it just not popular? 

I think they did offer it as a commercial launcher, but it isn't popular. At $85M, there are more capable options that cost less- most notably the Falcon 9.

Launching from Wallops limits the inclination, too, which doesn't help.

From what I've heard, NG will take any chance they can get to completely discontinue the rocket and launch Cygnus on the Atlas V. I kinda hope this thing lasts another few launches, though, because I live within a day's round-trip drive of Wallops and I haven't been able to see it launch yet. This is why I kinda hope Wednesday's launch is delayed...

[tater]

 

[tater]

NASA Live is supposed to cover it:

 

[tater]

This is an object lesson on how not to do rocket launch coverage.