The Antares rocket has been cleared for its first test launch tomorrow at 5 pm (Eastern).
The Antares rocket has been cleared for its first test launch tomorrow at 5 pm (Eastern).
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
The Antares rocket has been cleared for its first test launch tomorrow at 5 pm (Eastern).
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I wish Orbital Science success, but I’m having a tough time seeing how they can compete with SpaceX. Their orbital vehicle isn’t recoverable, the payload capability is much smaller, and they’re giving up roughly 10% of the angular velocity of Cape Canaveral by launching from Wallops Island. I can’t find any published data for Antares cost-to-orbit, but the current $5300/kg for Falcon 9 and the projected $4100/kg for Falcon 9 v1.1 is going to be hard to beat. Perhaps the fact that most of Antares is built in Ukraine and Russia gives Orbital Science a favorable cost structure.
The Antares is built with the specific purpose to send supplies to the ISS. It isn’t intended to serve the diversity of customers a Falcon 9 can.
Be that as it may, I’d think given the current state of the art, a recoverable orbital vehicle would be a minimum requirement for customers.
I don’t necessarily disagree with you but in the case of Antares it is only intended to have one customer.
“Once Orbital’s Antares rocket was selected by NASA to supply the International Space Station, the company purchased 20 of the engines from Aerojet to power 10 launches – two test flights and eight operational missions, ”
http://spaceflightnow.com/antares/demo/130416aj26/#.UXBoAqLErE0
Wikipedia says there were only 150 total engines. So it looks a small project just to serve NASA for a few years.
It will be interesting to see if NASA will still purchases launches from them after the ten flights, if Orbital makes any more engine purchases, or even if Orbital starts manufacturing their own engines. Maybe they can even scale up their launchers with additional engines and put other companies vehicles on them.
Who knows if they have any plans for re-usability but it is a good example of what can be done with current tech.