Northrop Grumman OmegA

[MartG]

Northrop-Grumman have announced the name of their new launcher - OmegA

It is one of three systems which were recently announced to have received a USAF contract for launch vehicles. It consists of two solid stages ( with optional solid boosters ) and a cryogenic 3rd stage similar in concept to the SLS's ICPS stage



No attempt has been made to include recovery of any part of the booster, which many are viewing as a backward step.

[Simpo Two]

MartG said:

No attempt has been made to include recovery of any part of the booster, which many are viewing as a backward step.

I guess it's all down to maths. If it costs more to recover and refurbish than to make a new one...

[Eric Mc]

Northrop-Grumman recently bough Orbital ATK (what used to be Morton Thiokol) - so I assume these rockets will be based on technology developed for the Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters and the Solid Rocket Boosters for SLS.

[Einion Yrth]

Looks like something you might knock together in the early stages of a game of KSP.

[MartG]

Einion Yrth said:

Looks like something you might knock together in the early stages of a game of KSP.

[anonymous-user]

Have we got to the point where we have run out of decent names for spacecraft now?

i mean, the OmegA sounds like some sort of naff sci-fi movie evil organisation doesn't it???

[Eric Mc]

It sounds like something you get from fish oils.

[Einion Yrth]

Max_Torque said:

Have we got to the point where we have run out of decent names for spacecraft now?

i mean, the OmegA sounds like some sort of naff sci-fi movie evil organisation doesn't it???

Only so many times you can call something "Orion".

[Kccv23highliftcam]

Einion Yrth said:

Only so many times you can call something "Orion".

How about onion?

[Talksteer]

Simpo Two said:

MartG said:

No attempt has been made to include recovery of any part of the booster, which many are viewing as a backward step.

I guess it's all down to maths. If it costs more to recover and refurbish than to make a new one...

The launcher is for military purposes, they have many more priorities than just cost.

Availability and response time, are big concerns for the airforce/NRO. Plenty of their contracts are basically, can we have a rocket anytime in the next year and we don't yet know what we will be flying. They also don't do "nearly solutions

The Air Force may actually pay for this rocket and then never use it, that is why it is being developed relatively cheaply from lots of already developed hardware.

1: This rocket is a bit of a beast it can get heavier and larger payload to GTO than a Falcon 9 even if the Falcon 9 operates expendably. The Falcon Heavy can match those numbers to GTO but I suspect that there is concerns over SpaceX's commitment to the Falcon Heavy, its fairing is also pretty small.
2: The airforce wants two boosters for all its missions so it is not affected by issues at a single supplier.
3: This is about replacing Delta IV not competing head to head with Falcon 9
4: As a solid rocket it may be able to be stored for 15-20 years (the Centaur upper stage slight lets this factor down) ready for an emergency.
5: This retains capabilities with can be used on ICBM's and other military products.

In the end it is possible that this rocket flies a few times and Blue and SpaceX end up having reusable rockets which can be launched in a moments notice which take care of all the USAF's needs.

However this rocket lets them hedge their bets in the event Jeff Bezos dies and BO get their funding cut and SpaceX spend all their time on Starlink and Commercial Crew and have no time or inclination to fly military missions.

[MartG]

NASA have signed over use of one of the Apollo/Shuttle era MLPs for the use of OmegA

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-081619a-nort...

[MartG]

Northrop Grumman are halting development of OmegA

https://spacenews.com/northrop-grumman-to-terminat...

[Beati Dogu]

They lost out on the recent military contract award, which was given to ULA & SpaceX.

They'll be making the solid rocket boosters for ULA and NASA's SLS rockets though, so they won't go without.