The ultimate flight of the Antares 230+ launch vehicle, marking the top of the profession of Northrop Grumman’s Antares 200 series of rockets, is scheduled for liftoff Tuesday with the NG-19 mission under the Business Resupply Services cargo contract to produce the International Space Station.
The Business Resupply Services (CRS) NG-19 flight is scheduled to launch from LP-0A on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia, at 8:31 PM EDT (00:31 UTC on Wednesday). Following a southeasterly trajectory, Antares will carry a Cygnus cargo ship into orbit. Continuing the tradition of naming Cygnus spacecraft, the vehicle that may fly the NG-19 mission is known as the after one among the astronauts lost aboard Space Shuttle when it disintegrated during re-entry in February 2003.
The L-72 forecast, issued three days ahead of the planned liftoff, predicted an 80 percent likelihood of acceptable weather on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport for Tuesday’s launch. If it takes place on time, Antares will lift off 21 minutes after the local sunset and might be visible for a lot of parts of the eastern United States depending on cloud cover. A five-minute launch window is on the market for the mission.
will likely be loaded with over 3,700 kilograms of cargo destined for the International Space Station. Antares will place it into an initial 165-by-309 kilometer low-Earth orbit, inclined 51.64 degrees to the Equator. From there, the Cygnus spacecraft will maneuver itself to establish rendezvous with ISS, arriving just over two days after liftoff. On arrival, it’ll be captured using the Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm and berthed to the module’s Earth-facing port.
Capture of the is currently scheduled for 09:55 UTC on Friday, assuming an on-time launch. Berthing to the Unity module could be expected to occur around two hours after the capture. Astronaut Woody Hoburg will likely be operating Canadarm2, with Frank Rubio as his backup.
Cygnus is carrying plenty of science experiments to the Station. Amongst them are a gene therapy experiment often known as Neuronix that may form 3D neuron cell cultures in microgravity. Neuron-specific therapies that may treat diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s may grow to be possible resulting from the research performed.
The Multi-Needle Langmuir Probe is designed to review the ionosphere. The ISS orbits near the height plasma density region of the ionosphere and this experiment can measure small plasma structures. These structures can affect the accuracy of systems reminiscent of satellite navigation.
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3D neuronal cells cultured in microgravity. (Credit: Axonis Therapeutics, Inc.)
There may be also a brand new water system aboard the Cygnus that will likely be tested on board the Station. The Exploration PWD system uses advanced water sanitization and microbial growth reduction methods, and may also produce hot water. It may be commanded from the bottom and may collect data, telemetry, and self-diagnostics.
also carries a memory card commissioned by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) containing art and poetry from greater than 13,000 students in 74 schools. This project is often known as the I-Space Essay.
Once berthed to the Station, Cygnus can stay attached for as much as 100 days. , like its predecessors, may also fly autonomously in free flight for as much as 30 days. After leaving the Station will conduct the last of a series of fireside safety in space experiments and deploy several CubeSats before it re-enters the atmosphere.
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The SAFFIRE-V experiment shown during operation. (Credit: NASA Glenn Research Center)
The SAFFIRE VI experiment is the last in a series that has already modified our understanding of the flammability of materials in low-gravity environments. These experiments have evaluated the flammability of materials at different oxygen levels, fire detection and monitoring systems, and post-fire cleanup. The SAFFIRE series has demonstrated that smoke inhalation is probably the most immediate hazard to the crew, just like fires on Earth.
The DUPLEX (Dual Propulsion Experiment) 6U CubeSat will likely be deployed from Cygnus after unberthing from ISS, into an roughly 470-kilometer circular orbit. This CubeSat will test two polymer fiber propulsion systems and a brand new sensor system during its flight. CU Aerospace of Champaign, Illinois was granted a NASA Tipping Point partnership award for developing this spacecraft.
Also listed as flying on this mission are two Virginia Space CubeSat Program (VSCP) satellites – VSCP-1A and VSCP-1B – that are 3U CubeSats. These satellites, developed by Old Dominion University and Virginia Tech, respectively, will likely be deployed right into a 170-by-260-kilometer low-Earth orbit.
Between them, these satellites will likely be flying an impedance probe, a multispectral sensor, a deployable composite structure, and a memory exposure experiment. The Old Dominion satellite, developed with the US Coast Guard Academy as a partner, can be often known as SeaLion, while the Virginia Tech satellite can be often known as the Ut ProSat-1.
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Cygnus re-enters the atmosphere at the top of a previous mission (Credit: NASA)
Once the is completed with its deployments and experiments, it’ll end its mission with a destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. This can happen over a corridor within the Pacific Ocean away from shipping lanes. Before unberthing, trash from the ISS could have been loaded into the spacecraft for disposal because it re-enters.
Throughout its profession, the Cygnus spacecraft has disposed of around 41,276 kilograms (91,000 kilos) of trash during destructive reentries. Cygnus has also carried around 58,967 kilograms (130,000 kilos) of cargo to the Station during nearly a decade of flights.
The Antares launch vehicle has been through several iterations. All of those variants, starting with the Antares 110, have been powered by a Ukrainian-built first stage with Russian-made engines and a second stage using a solid-fueled Castor 30 series motor made by what’s now the Northrop Grumman propulsion systems division.
The Antares 110 and 120 accomplished two successful flights each, starting in April 2013, powered by NK-33 engines imported from Russia and reworked by Aerojet Rocketdyne because the AJ-26. Two of those engines were fitted on a primary stage built by Yuzhmash – now often known as Pivdenmash – based in Dnipro, Ukraine, which also manufactured the Zenit rocket.
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Antares 130 failed during its only flight, the Orb-3 mission in October 2014. (Credit: NASA)
The fifth Antares launch, with the CRS Orb-3 mission, marked the primary flight of the Antares 130 rocket. These early missions had designations starting with “Orb” for the unique developer of Antares and Cygnus, Orbital Sciences Corporation. This was modified to OA after the corporate became Orbital ATK following a 2015 merger, and NG after it was bought by Northrop Grumman in 2018.
Antares 130’s second stage was an upgraded version of the Castor 30 upper stage often known as the Castor 30XL. This configuration was only used for the Orb-3 mission.
The Orb-3 Cygnus spacecraft, , was imagined to carry 2,215 kilograms of cargo as much as the ISS, but one among the Antares rocket’s AJ-26 first-stage engines suffered a severe turbopump failure 15 seconds after liftoff. The resulting damage caused the engines to shut down and Antares to fall back toward the launch pad before exploding after the flight termination system was activated.
The AJ-26 engine was retired after the failure, and RD-181 engines, also using kerosene and liquid oxygen, were ordered from Russia’s NPO Energomash for the Antares 230 series that began flying in October 2016. The Antares 230 made five successful flights before the present Antares 230+ made its debut in November 2019 on the NG-12 mission.
The Antares 230+, which has made seven successful flights to this point, was developed to satisfy Northrop Grumman’s commitments under the CRS-2 contract, which began with the NG-12 mission. This version of the rocket features structural upgrades to the intertank and forward bays, allowing it to hold as much as 8,000 kilograms of payload to low-Earth orbit.
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Crews test late-load operations on the Antares pathfinder vehicle – note the grey tank structure of the vehicle. (Credit: Northrop Grumman)
A late-load capability can be available to the Cygnus spacecraft through a “pop top” nose cone and mobile payload processing facility. This was first demonstrated on the last original CRS and Antares 230 flight, NG-11, within the spring of 2019, and is a key capability for the CRS-2 missions.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, placed the provision chain for the Antares 230+ in jeopardy. Sanctions have prevented the acquisition of recent engines from Russia, and the Pivdenmash factory in Dnipro has been attacked by Russian forces. Subsequently, Northrop Grumman has decided to retire the present Antares vehicle after constructing out the ultimate rockets with supplies available.
Northrop Grumman has entered an agreement with Firefly Aerospace to supply the primary stage of the Antares 330 series. The Antares 330, whose first flight is now expected sometime in mid-2025, will use seven of Firefly’s Miranda engines, which, just like the AJ-26 and RD-181, use kerosene and liquid oxygen as propellants.
The Antares 330, designed to make use of the identical launch facilities at Wallops as the unique Antares versions, will lift off with 7,200 kilonewtons of thrust — a considerable increase over the Antares 230+’s 3,844 kilonewtons. Consequently, the Antares 330 will likely be able to flying heavier payloads than previous Antares vehicles. Just like the Antares 230 series, it’ll retain the Castor 30XL upper stage.
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A Cygnus spacecraft on a previous mission being captured with the Canadarm2 robotic arm. (Credit: NASA)
The Cygnus spacecraft itself has also experienced an evolution in capability. The spacecraft, consisting of a Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM) built by Thales Alenia Space of Italy, and a Service Module (SM) built by Northrop Grumman, can currently carry as much as 3,750 kilograms of cargo to the ISS. Since its introduction, Cygnus has also gained the power to reboost the Station’s orbit. This capability was first demonstrated by the throughout the NG-17 mission in June 2022.
The PCM was first flown as a “standard” version on the primary 4 flights of Cygnus, including the failed Orb-3 mission. The Standard Cygnus PCM had an internal volume of 18 cubic meters and was able to carrying as much as 2,000 kilograms to ISS. The Enhanced Cygnus PCM – introduced on the fifth mission, OA-4 – has an internal volume of 27 cubic meters and may carry over 3,200 kilograms to ISS when launching aboard Antares.
The Enhanced Cygnus SM uses lighter circular solar panels, which unfold like a fan, instead of the Standard Cygnus SM’s rectangular panels. These can produce just as much power – as much as 3.5 kilowatts – as the unique solar panels at a lower mass. Through the NG-18 mission last 12 months, Cygnus demonstrated the power to operate on only one solar array after its second panel didn’t deploy.
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The Cygnus NG-18 spacecraft berthed to ISS. Note the undeployed solar panel. (Credit: NASA)
NG-18, the , launched on Nov. 7, 2022. During a staging event, acoustic blanket material from contained in the fairing jammed one among the solar array deployment mechanisms. The Cygnus spacecraft was capable of complete its rendezvous and berthing to ISS on just the remaining array, and changes have been made to forestall a reoccurrence on NG-19.
Cygnus can be able to flying on launch vehicles besides the Antares, which got here in handy when Antares was grounded after the October 2014 Orb-3 failure. Orbital Sciences contracted with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to fly two Cygnus spacecraft aboard its Atlas V rocket in 2015 and 2016. These missions were the primary to fly the Enhanced Cygnus, which has flown all Cygnus missions since, because the Standard Cygnus is retired.
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Artist’s impression of the HALO module attached to the Lunar Gateway. (Credit: Northrop Grumman)
After NG-19, Northrop Grumman has contracted with SpaceX for 3 Cygnus flights on its Falcon 9 rocket while the Antares 330 is under development. The Enhanced Cygnus also forms the premise of the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module for the Lunar Gateway, which is scheduled to start out assembly in lunar orbit later this decade.