Developing Aerospace Company to Fly Cargo to the ISS
Recently an aerospace company has been selected to develop a commercial spaceship to fly cargo to the International Space Station on the highly developing Eastern Shore, once the shuttle fleet has been retired in the near future. The Dulles-based Orbital Sciences Corporation has become partnered again with NASA, “lightly” known as a company that makes satellites and rockets for government and private sectors.
The Orbital company officials say they are joining up with NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and the state’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, demonstrating a new launch rocket in the late 2010. With this in mind, it appears as if the Eastern Shore could actually become a key outpost for commercial space operations. This will bring needed jobs and investments to the region. So far, this spaceport has successfully launched two launches into low-Earth orbit for a Pentagon customer since December of 2006.
Already expanding in the last year with four new buildings and hiring an additional 500 to 600 employees over the next three to four year span, this Dulles-based aerospace and defense company has plan to develop a safety system for the NASA human space flight program, with an increasing commercial, military, civil government, and defense demand. Primarily, the company’s products are satellites and launch vehicles, including low-orbit, geosynchronous-orbit and planetary spacecraft for communications, remote sensing, scientific and defense missions; ground and air launched rockets that will deliver satellites into orbit; and missile defense systems that are used as target vehicles and interceptors. Space-related technical services are provided to government agencies, while developing and building satellite-based transportation management systems for public transit agencies and private vehicle fleet operators. The company has doubled its revenues from $500 million to $1 billion in five or six years.
Orbital has many areas of space technology: satellites and space systems; space launch vehicles; missile defense systems; advanced space systems; space technical services; and transportation management systems. Known as the world’s leading manufacturer of smaller-sized geosynchronous communications satellites, they successfully launched the THOR 5 satellite into orbit on February 11, 2008 at 6:34 a.m.. It was aboard an International Launch Services Proton M/Breeze M launch system from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The THOR 5 satellite is based on Orbital’s highly successful STARTM platform, maintains 24 transponders, and will generate 3.6 kilowatts of payload power–three times more payload power than the THOR II satellites it is replacing, in order to improve Telenor’s service coverage in Europe and the Nordic countries. In addition to the THOR 5, Orbital has eight other commercial GEO satellites, along with five science and defense spacecraft in various stages–design, production, and testing–all located at Dulles, Virginia, satellite manufacturing.
This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 6:50 am and is filed under Public Relations, Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
