Antares (rocket)

This article covers the Antares missile (formerly Taurus II). For the locomotive with the ÖBB brand name Taurus II see Siemens ES64U2 .

An Antares missile

The Antares rocket (formerly Taurus II ) is a medium-capacity launcher that was developed and manufactured by Orbital Sciences Corporation ( Orbital ATK since 2015 ) in collaboration with Yuzhnoye . As part of the COTS program, NASA awarded Orbital a contract to transport cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) . The Antares' primary payload is the Cygnus space shuttle . The first launch of the Antares took place on April 21, 2013. The first launch with Cygnus for the ISS took place on September 18, 2013.

development

The program started in 2007 under the name Taurus II . However, the rocket was renamed by the manufacturer Antares in December 2011 because the last two launches of the Taurus XL had failed and a bad image for the new rocket was to be avoided. Antares is the name of the brightest star in the constellation Scorpio . NASA invested $ 170 million and OSC invested another $ 150 million in the project. Of this, $ 130 million was used for the launch vehicle and $ 20 million for the Cygnus cargo spacecraft.

On June 10, 2008, it was announced that the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia will be the main launch site for the rocket. A new launch pad was built at the location of the demolished Conestoga launch pad LP-0A; the name of the ramp was retained.

stages

Parts of this article seem out of date as of 2016 .
Please help to research and insert the missing information .

The first stage with the two AJ26-62 engines on the transport trolley

First stage

The first was initially powered by two Russian Kuznetsov NK-33 engines. About 60 engines still existed; Half of these were at the Aerojet company , where they were given the designation AJ26-62. The other engines were in a factory in Samara . The diameter of the first stage of 3.90 m was chosen to be identical to the Zenit rocket in order to be able to manufacture the tanks and structures using the same manufacturing methods. The first stage, like the Zenit, is produced and developed by Yuzhnoye. OSC takes over the integration and the acceptance tests. The first stage uses kerosene and liquid oxygen as the fuel combination .

After the false start on October 28, 2014, Orbital announced that it had signed a contract with Energomasch for up to 60 Russian RD-181 engines. The RD-181 has nothing to do with the RD-180 of the Atlas V , although they have a similar designation. The RD-181 consists of two RD-193s, which in turn are derived from the RD-191, which powers the Russian Angara rocket . With 1824 kN of thrust at sea level, it has significantly more thrust than the NK-33 and thus allows an increase in payload. The higher thrust alone reduces gravitational losses and the payload increases by up to 1000 kg.

Second step

The second stage is a Castor -30 engine. It uses solid fuel. Three variants of the Castor 30 engine are used:

• Castor-30A at the Antares-110 (2 test flights)
• Castor-30B in the versions Antares-120, -121 and -122
• Castor-30XL in the versions Antares-130, -131 and -132

Another second stage was investigated by Orbital Sciences as a replacement for the Castor 30 booster to be able to transport heavier payloads. This stage was to be powered by a Pratt & Whitney PWR35M engine that uses a liquid methane and liquid oxygen fuel mixture . It would allow payloads of up to 7,600 kg to be launched into low earth orbit , but the plans appear to have been abandoned.

The third stages

There are two optional third levels available. The first is called "Bi-Propellant Third Stage" (BTS), it uses a hypergolic mixture of hydrazine and the oxidizer nitrogen tetroxide ; these are pressurized by helium . It is developed by Orbital. It is a derivative of previous developments. The hardware is derived from the OSC Star 2 bus , other elements come from the DART mission . The second is a Star 48BV solid matter rocket motor with vector thrust control to bring payloads to higher speeds. The Antares 110, -120 and -130 do not have a third stage. While Antares-121 and -131 use BTS as the third stage, the Antares-122 and -132 use the Star-48BV solid-state motor as the third stage.

Payload fairing

First flight of the Antares 110 rocket

Play media file

Video of the launch and explosion of the Antares 130 rocket on October 28, 2014

A payload fairing is available for the Antares for launches with satellites and space probes. The payload fairing is 9.9 m long and, like the entire rocket, 3.9 m in diameter. Its tip is a rounded double cone, but the 2nd step protrudes into it, so that from this to the tip of the payload fairing the length is only 7.52 m, of which it is 3.9 m long and has the full inner diameter of 3.45 m offers. Above this, the diameter of the payload fairing decreases as a double cone.

Versions

The Antares missile can be put together in a modular fashion from different components depending on the application. The three-digit version number results from the respective configuration:

• The first digit: indicates the first level.
  • 1 = 2 × NK-33
  • 2 = 2 × RD-181
• The second digit: indicates the type of the second stage:
  • 1 = Castor-30A
  • 2 = Castor-30B
  • 3 = Castor-30XL
• The third digit: indicates the type of the third stage:
  • 0 = no third level
  • 1 = BTS (Bi-Propellant Third Stage)
  • 2 = Star-48BV

Time schedule

The first launch of the Antares was originally planned for March 2011, but after several postponements it did not take place until April 21, 2013. After this demonstration launch, the Antares launched into space on September 18, 2013 with Cygnus 1. The test variant Antares-110 was used on the first two flights. The Antares-120 was used for the next two Cygnus missions, which was then replaced by the more powerful Antares-130.

Following the failure of Orb-3 in October 2014, two flights by the Cygnus spacecraft on the Atlas V rocket were booked by the United Launch Alliance . With the improved version Antares-230 equipped with new engines, the own flights were then continued again.

Start list

Performed starts

This is a complete launch list for the Antares rocket as of February 16, 2020

All launches were from Launch Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island , Virginia .

Serial No.	Date ( UTC )	Type	payload	Type of payload	Payload mass 1	Orbit 2	Remarks
01	Apr. 21, 2013 9:00 p.m.	Antares-110	Cygnus dummy Dove-1 3 × PhoneSat	Mass Simulator Technology Verification Technology Verification		LEO	success
02	Sep 18 2013 14:58	Antares-110	Cygnus Orb-D1	Space freighter		LEO	success
03	Jan. 9, 2014 6:07 pm	Antares-120	Cygnus Orb-1	CRS space freighter		LEO	success
04th	July 13, 2014 4:52 pm	Antares-120	Cygnus Orb-2	CRS space freighter		LEO	success
05	Oct 28, 2014 10:22 PM	Antares-130	Cygnus Orb-3	CRS space freighter		LEO	Failure to self-destruct after an engine failed 15 seconds after take-off.
06th	Oct 17, 2016 11:45 PM	Antares-230	Cygnus OA-5 4 × Lemur-2	CRS space freighter AIS / weather satellites	6163 kg	LEO	success
07th	Nov 12, 2017 12:19 PM	Antares-230	Cygnus OA-8 8 × Lemur-2 6 cubesats	CRS space freighter AIS / weather satellites technology testing		LEO	success
08th	May 21, 2018 8:44 am	Antares-230	Cygnus OA-9 4 × Lemur-2 2 × AeroCube	CRS space freighter AIS / weather satellites technology testing		LEO	success
09	Nov 17, 2018 09:01	Antares-230	Cygnus NG-10 KickSat 2   Chefsat 2	CRS space freighter host satellite with 100 femto satellites technology testing	6173 kg	LEO	success
10	Apr 17, 2019 8:46 PM	Antares-230	Cygnus  NG-11 2 × AeroCube Thinsat-1	CRS space freighter technology testing 60 picosatellites		LEO	success
11	Nov 2, 2019 1:59 pm	Antares-230 +	Cygnus  NG-12	CRS space freighter		LEO	success
12	Feb 15, 2020 8:21 PM	Antares-230 +	Cygnus NG-13 Red-Eye DeMi TechEdSat 10	CRS space freighter Technology testing Technology testing Technology testing		LEO	success

Planned launches

List updated on August 11, 2020

All launches are to be from Ramp 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.

Serial No.	Date ( UTC )	Type	payload	Type of payload	Payload mass 1	Orbit 2	Remarks
13	Sep 30 2020 02:26	Antares-230 +	Cygnus NG-14	CRS space freighter		LEO
14th	February 2021	Antares-230 +	Cygnus NG-15	CRS space freighter		LEO

¹Mass of the payload transported by the rocket (e.g. a Cygnus spaceship and its cargo) including the fuel carried ( wet mass ).

²The runway on which the payload was or is to be released from the upper stage; not necessarily the target orbit of the payload.

Web links

Commons : Antares  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Antares page at Northrop Grumman, the manufacturer of the rocket (English)
• Bernd Leitenberger: The Antares (Taurus II) launcher
• Gunter's Space Page: Antares (English)
• Norbert Bruges: Antares (formerly Taurus II) (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ed Kyle: Taurus 2. In: Space Launch Report. Retrieved December 14, 2011 . 
2. ↑ Orbital: Orbital Selects "Antares" as Permanent Name for New Rocket Created by the Taurus II R&D Program - Company Brands Medium-Class Launch Vehicle in Preparation for First Flight in 2012
3. ^ Justin Ray: Commercial rocket gets new name as debut launch nears. Spaceflight Now, December 12, 2011, accessed December 17, 2011 . 
4. ^ Orbital Sciences signs contract for new Antares engines. spaceflightnow.com, January 22, 2015, accessed February 2, 2015 . 
5. ^ ^{A b} Antares Medium-Class Launch Vehicle. (PDF; 4.0 MB) Orbital, 2013, accessed on April 23, 2013 (English). 
6. ↑ Bernd Leitenberger: The Antares (Taurus II) carrier rocket. Retrieved December 17, 2011 . 
7. ↑ Antares Fact Sheet. (PDF; 1.8 MB) Orbital, accessed on December 18, 2011 (English). 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Gunter Krebs: Antares (Taurus-2). In: Gunter's Space Page. April 22, 2013, accessed April 22, 2013 . 
9. ↑ Antares Home Page. Orbital Sciences Corporation, July 1, 2009, accessed on August 21, 2012 : "The first demonstration flight of the Taurus II launch vehicle from Wallops under the COTS program is expected to occur in early 2011" 
10. ^ ISS Commercial Resupply Services Mission (Orb-3) ( Memento from December 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). orbital.com, accessed October 31, 2014
11. ↑ engine turbopump eyed in Antares launch failure. In: Spaceflight Now. November 5, 2014, accessed July 27, 2019 . 
12. ↑ ^{a b c} Stephen Clark: Antares rocket lifts off from Virginia on space station cargo mission . Spaceflight Now, February 15, 2020.
13. ^ Northrop Grumman Information
14. ↑ ^{a b} Microgravity Research Flights . Glenn Research Center , accessed April 25, 2020.
15. ^ Launch Schedule. Spaceflight Now, accessed August 11, 2020 .