Tim Furniss/LONDON
ORBITAL SCIENCE'S (OSC) Pegasus XL satellite launcher had its first successful flight on 8 March. It carried the US Air Force's $5 million, 110kg, REX 2 science satellite into a 720 x 700km polar orbit after an air-launch from the company's Lockheed L-1011 mother craft, 39,000ft (11,900m) over the Pacific Ocean. Two previous launches of the OSC primary booster in June 1994 and June 1995 had failed.
The launch "...puts the Pegasus XL back in business", says OSC president David Thompson. The company plans to launch seven more standard Pegasus and Pegasus XL vehicles this year, carrying four NASA satellites, one for the US Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, and craft for Argentina and Spain.
Seven more launches will follow (Flight International, 27 September-3 October 1995).
OSC will be involved in NASA's Med-Lite launcher programme as a subcontractor to McDonnell Douglas (MDC). NASA has awarded MDC a contract potentially worth $500 million to develop a fleet of Med-Lite launch vehicles to carry payloads weighing up to 1,995kg into low-Earth orbit.
The contract includes five firm and nine optional launches, starting with NASA's Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopy Explorer, the Mars Surveyor Orbiter 2 and Mars Surveyor Lander 1 in 1988 (Flight International, 20 December, 1995-2 January).
MDC will use a Delta 2 variant called the Delta 7300, with three, rather than nine, strap-on boosters, and a possible half-size Delta-Lite booster for the launches (Flight International, 27 September-3 October 1995).
If required, OSC will also provide Taurus launches.
Source: Flight International
