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Northrop Grumman’s first Pegasus launch delayed indefinitely

The first launch of a Pegasus rocket following the completion of the sale of Orbital ATK to Northrop Grumman has been delayed indefinitely because of “off-nominal data” detected in the rocket.

The payload is a NASA climate research satellite dubbed ICON. The rocket and launch crew were on board the L1011 carrier plane on they way to the Pacific launch area for next week’s launch when they detected the issue and decided to return to California.

This is not the first problem with this particular Pegasus launch.

ICON’s launch has been delayed a year by a pair of concerns with its Pegasus launcher. Engineers wanted more time to inspect the Pegasus rocket motors after they were mishandled during shipment to Vandenberg, officials said. That pushed the launch back from June to December 2017, the next availability in the military-run range at Kwajalein.

Then managers decided to ground the mission to assess the reliability of bolt-cutters used to jettison the Pegasus rocket’s payload fairing and separate the satellite in orbit. Workers installed smaller bolts in the fairing and satellite separation mechanisms, a measure officials said will ensure the cutters do their jobs.

For Northrop Grumman this isn’t the best way to start its new rocket business, but better a delay than a failed launch.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
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4 comments

  • Ron

    Maybe they scrubbed because they detected the same problem from the SpaceX – Zuma launch? That was a fairing separation issue also with Northrop Grumman right?

  • Ron: Different rocket, different company, different payload. Can’t be the same problem.

    Northrop Grumman built Zuma, but it had nothing to do with building ICON or Pegasus. It bought Orbital ATK, and only closed the deal the day before.

  • Ron

    Ok, I thought maybe the “bolt cutters” had something to do with the detachment of both Zuma and this. Thanks.

  • BobRas

    Maybe a vendor part a common vendor that was the conclusion I came to also

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