U.S. Air Force signs rocket development deal for national-security space missions
NewsJanuary 05, 2018
DULLES, Va. The U.S. Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Orbital ATK to provide the framework and plan for data exchanges needed to certify Orbital ATK?s Next Generation Launch (NGL) system to carry national security space missions.
According to Orbital ATK materials, the NGL family of vehicles will be capable of launching science and commercial satellites that are too large to be launched by Orbital ATK’s currently offered Pegasus, Minotaur, and Antares space launch vehicles. The NGL vehicles will share common propulsion, structures, and avionics systems with other Orbital ATK programs, including smaller space-launch vehicles, missile-defense interceptors, target vehicles, and strategic missile systems.
Orbital ATK officials state that the next phase of the NGL program is expected to begin when the Air Force awards Launch Services Agreements in mid-2018, which will cover full vehicle and launch site development, with work taking place at company facilities in Promontory and Magna, Utah; Iuka, Mississippi; Chandler, Arizona; Kennedy Space Center, Florida; and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
