Orbital Sciences Corporation [NYSE: ORB] has been selected by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to design, manufacture, integrate and test the Nuclear Spectroscopic Array (NuSTAR) scientific satellite. The NuSTAR satellite is part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Small Explorer series of smaller-sized spacecraft. They are designed to carry out highly productive Earth and space science investigations. The astrophysics mission of the NuSTAR observatory is to use high-energy X-rays to detect black holes and other energetic phenomena in the universe. The launch is scheduled for 2011. This operation is designed to bridge the gap in astrophysics missions between the 2009 launch of the Wide-field Infrared Surveyor Explorer and the 2013 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. NuSTAR should expand our understanding of the origins and destinies of stars and galaxies.
Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Orbital Boost Vehicle (OBV), which is the booster rocket for the Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), was successfully launched as part of a test of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program. Orbital provides the OBV as part of an industry team led by The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). The OBV was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA on Friday, September 28th. This action was part of the test designated as Flight Test Ground-based Midcourse Defense-03a (FTG-03a). Following its launch from a silo, the OBV flew downrange over the Pacific Ocean and successfully supported the intercept of a target vehicle launched earlier from Alaska. Following a preliminary post-flight analysis of the data collected from the mission, MDA and the GMD team confirmed all primary OBV objectives for FTG-03a were achieved. These included pre-launch built-in test functionality, launch and flyout of the OBV, accurate delivery of the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) payload, and acquisition of telemetry data for further characterization of the OBV’s flight characteristics. The OBV and the EKV make up the GBI, assembled by Boeing—Dulles, Virginia
