Orbital ATK

Video: Pegasus and CYGNSS pre-launch news conference

December 11, 2016 Justin Ray

This is the pre-launch news conference for NASA’s CYGNSS hurricane research mission featuring a constellation of eight microsats launching Dec. 12 aboard an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket off the Florida coast.

Photos: Hurricane research satellites readied for launch

December 10, 2016 Stephen Clark

Eight miniature weather observatories, each the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, were installed on a specially-designed deployer module and mounted on the front end of an air-launched Pegasus XL rocket to prepare for Monday’s flight into orbit.

NASA-funded satellite fleet could give hurricane forecasting a boost

December 10, 2016 Stephen Clark

Eight mini-satellites packed snug inside a Pegasus rocket slung under a modified jumbo jet will fire into orbit Monday off Florida’s East Coast, launching on a $157 million NASA mission that could help forecasters better predict how strong hurricanes will be when they strike land.

SpaceX return-to-flight slips to early January

December 7, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s first mission since a rocket explosion on a Florida launch pad is now scheduled for early January, when a Falcon 9 booster is set to begin a 70-satellite deployment for Iridium’s next-generation voice and data relay network, the company announced Wednesday.

SpaceX sets Dec. 16 for first flight since launch pad explosion

December 2, 2016 Stephen Clark

The first 10 satellites in Iridium’s next-generation mobile voice and data network could head into orbit from California as soon as Dec. 16 on SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 flight since a booster exploded on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral in September, grounding the commercial launcher more than three months.

Cargo ship-turned-research lab ends mission with re-entry

November 28, 2016 Stephen Clark

In the week since it departed the International Space Station to wrap up a successful cargo delivery mission, Orbital ATK’s Cygnus supply ship hosted a combustion research experiment, deployed four small satellites for a San Francisco-based startup, then descended into Earth’s atmosphere Sunday for a destructive re-entry.

Cygnus cargo freighter leaves station, but its mission is not over

November 21, 2016 Stephen Clark

A commercial Cygnus supply ship left the International Space Station on Monday after delivering more than 5,000 pounds of cargo and experiments, ready to start a week of standalone operations to include a groundbreaking microgravity fire experiment and deployment of four commercial weather-monitoring CubeSats in orbit.