Fri, May 26, 2006
Deal Worth $23 Million, First Rocket To Launch In Six
Months
Representatives with
Orbital Sciences Corporation told Aero-News Friday that it was
awarded a $23 million contract for two Minotaur I space launch
vehicles by the United States Air Force (USAF) Rocket System Launch
Program (RSLP). The two new missions will launch the TacSat-2 and
TacSat-3 satellites in 2006 and 2007, respectively.
The TacSat-2 launch will come within the next six months, with
the second launch scheduled to take place within a year of the
first launch, currently scheduled for September 2007.
"We are very excited about meeting the challenging six month
contract-to-launch goal that the Air Force has set for us on the
TacSat-2 mission," said Ron Grabe, Orbital's Executive Vice
President and General Manager of its Launch Systems Group. "... We
have already assembled our launch team for the TacSat-2 mission and
are looking forward to conducting the second Minotaur I launch of
2006."
As Aero-News reported, in
April six Orbital-designed FORMOSAT satellites were launched into
low-Earth orbit aboard a Minotaur I rocket in a flawless mission
that originated at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The
TacSat-2 mission will be the sixth space launch of a Minotaur I
rocket. All of the previous five missions have been fully
successful.
The TacSat-2 and -3 satellites are two in a series of
experimental spacecraft designed to demonstrate new technologies
and capabilities for providing responsive space-based support of
military operations. The TacSat series of satellites, plus the
quick-reaction Minotaur I launches, are key parts of the U.S.
government's effort to develop Operationally Responsive Space (ORS)
systems. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Kirtland AFB,
NM is leading the TacSat-2 and -3 joint development teams in
partnerships that include space organizations from the Air Force,
Navy and Army.
The rockets that will launch TacSat-2 and -3 satellites are the
seventh and eighth Minotaur I space launch vehicles to be ordered
by the USAF, and are the 18th and 19th orders placed for the
complete Minotaur family of launch vehicles.
First launched in 2000, the Minotaur I space launch vehicle
design is the original member of Orbital's Minotaur family of
launch vehicles, which includes both space launch vehicle designs
and long-range suborbital vehicles for missile defense and other
specialized launch missions.
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