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Orbital ATK to launch ISS resupply mission with upgraded rocket

Xinhua, October 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. aerospace firm Orbital ATK is expected to launch its sixth resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday evening, using an upgraded version of its Antares rocket that exploded on liftoff two years ago.

If everything goes well, the two-stage booster, powered by new RD-181 engines from Russia and carrying a Cygnus cargo ship, will blast off from Virginia's Wallops Flight Facility at 8:03 p.m. EDT (0003 GMT Monday).

Under the U.S. space agency NASA's commercial resupply services contract, Cygnus will carry to the ISS more than 5,100 pounds (2,313 kilograms) of science and research in support of dozens of research investigations, as well as crew supplies and hardware.

The new experiments will include an investigation that looks at fuels that "burn very hot at first, and then appear to go out, but actually continue to burn at a much lower temperature with no visible flames," NASA said.

"Data from this investigation could help scientists develop more efficient advanced engines and new fuels for use in space and on Earth," it said in a statement.

Cygnus is also carrying a new station research facility that will enable a new class of research experiments by allowing precise control of motion in the microgravity environment aboard the ISS.

Particularly, an experiment that interests many is the Spacecraft Fire Experiment II (Saffire II), which studies how flames grow in space, but it will occur after Cygnus leaves the space station and before it re-enters Earth's atmosphere.

NASA said nine experimental samples of varying materials will burn for Saffire II inside an empty Cygnus resupply vehicle.

The space agency has planned three such experiments, and the first took place in June at the end of Cygnus's fifth ISS resupply mission.

Also onboard were a lighting system studying the effect of lighting on sleep and daily rhythms, a tablet app collecting health-related data, and a new way to measure neutrons, part of the radiation exposure experienced by crews during spaceflight.

The upcoming flight will be the first resupply mission to launch on the upgraded Antares 230 vehicle, and the first launch from Wallops since an Antares rocket and its Cygnus resupply vehicle were lost seconds after liftoff in October 2014.

An investigation into the accident found a failure in one of the two Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ26 engines, leading to a decision by Orbital ATK to replace them with RD-181, which was developed specifically for Antares by Russians.

The AJ26 engine is a refurbished version of the Soviet-era NK-33, which was originally designed to launch the massive Soviet N-1 rocket to the Moon.

Since the accident, two Cygnus resupply missions were launched on United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets to the station from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The Virginia-based Orbital ATK is one of two U.S. companies that provide ISS cargo services for NASA. The other company is California-based SpaceX. Endit