Orbital Taurus II

Taurus II
Taurus II is a two-stage launch vehicle designed to provide responsive, low-cost, and reliable access to space for medium-class payloads weighing up to 5750 kg. Currently under development to demonstrate commercial re-supply of the International Space Station under a NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract, the Taurus II launch system utilizes identical management approaches, engineering standards, production and test processes common to Orbital’s family of highly successful small-class Pegasus®, Taurus®, and Minotaur launch vehicles. These proven launch technologies, along with hardware from one of the world’s leading launch vehicle integrators, combine to provide cost-effective access to a variety of orbits for civil, commercial and military Delta II-class payloads.

System Features Include:

• Large 3.9 meter fairing, capable of accommodating a variety of single and multiple payloads
  
• Substantial payload performance into a variety low inclination low-Earth orbits (LEO), sun-synchronous, geo-transfer or interplanetary orbits
  
• Streamlined vehicle/payload integration and testing via simplified avionics interfaces and offline payload encapsulation
  
• Designed for easy transportability and rapid set-up from a variety of launch sites
  
• Compatible with the Western Range at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Wallops Flight Facility (WFF).)
  
• Initial launch capability for first mission in 2010
  
• Proven technology to meet mission requirements
  
  

NASA’s private-sector launch champions move closer to lift-off

Successful rocket engine ground-test firings have taken Space Exploration Technologies and Orbital Sciences a step closer to filling their roles as key private-sector launch contractors to NASA.
SpaceX achieved a 3.5s firing of its Falcon 9 rocket's nine Merlin first-stage engines in preparation for an April maiden flight. Orbital is looking forward to verification and acceptance testing of its Taurus II rocket's AJ26 engines at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi beginning in April, paving the way to a first flight in 2011.
Falcon 9 and Taurus II are both crucial elements in NASA's plan to sustain service to the ISS following its retirement later this year of the Space Shuttle fleet.

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The 13 March test at SpaceX's Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 site followed an aborted attempt four days earlier in which a ground-based helium feed valve for the engines' start-up routine did not activate, leading to a shutdown at T-2s.
For the 13 March test, the pad water deluge system was activated just before engine ignition to provide acoustic suppression to keep vibration levels within acceptable limits. The test validated the launch pad propellant and pneumatic systems as well as the ground and flight-control software.
SpaceX founder and chief technology officer Elon Musk said of the aborted test: "What we are going through is the equivalent of beta testing. Problems are expected to occur, as they have throughout the development phase. The beta phase only ends when a rocket has done at least one, but arguably two or three, consecutive flights to orbit."
Orbital's milestone came in Samarra, Russia, where testing of the Energomash NK-33 engine - which was the engine design for Russia's N-1 Moon rocket and on which Taurus II's AJ26 first-stage engine is based - demonstrated a "hot-fire" duration equal to two times a normal Taurus II acceptance testing and launch profile duty cycle.
The engines are being supplied to Orbital by Aerojet and its Russian partner, United Engine/SNTK, which achieved more than 600s cumulative burn duration in three tests.
The first Falcon 9 flight will orbit a qualification example of the Dragon capsule designed by SpaceX to carry cargo and crew under a $1.6 billion NASA contract. SpaceX plans three ISS cargo transport-related demonstration flights this year.