Antares A-ONE mission was the maiden flight of Orbital Sciences Corporation' Antares launch vehicle including the ascent to space and accurate delivery of a simulated payload, the Cygnus Mass Simulator (CMS), which was launched 21 April 2013.[5] It was launched from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.[5] The simulated payload simulates the mass of the Cygnus cargo spacecraft.[5] This dummy payload was sent into an orbit of 240 km × 260 km (150 mi × 160 mi) with an orbital inclination of 51.6°, the same launch profile it will use for Orbital's upcoming cargo supply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA.[5]

Antares A-ONE

The Antares 110 lifts off at the start of the mission
Names	Simulated Cygnus Payload [1]
Mission type	Test flight
Operator	Orbital Sciences Corporation
COSPAR ID	2013-016D
SATCAT no.	39145
Website	https://news.northropgrumman.com/
Mission duration	19 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Cygnus mass simulator
Manufacturer	Orbital Sciences Corporation
Launch mass	3,800 kg (8,400 lb)
Dimensions	5.061 m × 2.896 m (16.60 ft × 9.50 ft)
Start of mission
Launch date	21 April 2013, 21:00:00 UTC[2][3]
Rocket	Antares 110[4]
Launch site	Wallops Pad 0A
Contractor	Orbital Sciences Corporation
End of mission
Disposal	Deorbited
Decay date	10 May 2013
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit[5]
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	240 km (150 mi)
Apogee altitude	260 km (160 mi)
Inclination	51.6°
Orbital Sciences insignia Cygnus flights Cygnus Orb-D1 →

This launch along with several other activities leading up to it, are paid milestones under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.[6]

Primary payload

The primary payload was the Cygnus Mass Simulator. It had a height of 5.061 m (16.60 ft), a diameter of 2.896 m (9 ft 6.0 in) and a mass of 3,800 kg (8,400 lb).[7] It was equipped with 22 accelerometers, 2 microphones, 12 digital thermometers, 24 thermocouples and 12 strain gages.[7]

Secondary payloads

Four Spaceflight Industries Inc. CubeSat nanosatellites were deployed from the dummy payload.[8]

The secondary payloads were four CubeSats that were deployed from the CMS.[7] Three of them were PhoneSats, 1U CubeSats built by NASA's Ames Research Center.[7] These were named Alexander, Graham and Bell, after the Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone.[7] The purpose of these three satellites was to demonstrate the use of smartphones as avionics in CubeSats.[7] They each had a mass of 1,124 kg (2,478 lb) and were powered by lithium batteries.[7] The fourth nanosat was a 3U CubeSat, called Dove-1, built by Cosmogia Inc. It carried a "technology development Earth imagery experiment" using the Earth's magnetic field for attitude control.[7][9]

Mission timeline

• Lift off of the Antares launch vehicle occurs two seconds after the first stage engines are ignited
• The first stage engines shut off 228 seconds after lift-off
• At 233 seconds, the first stage separates from the second
• At 317 seconds, the payload fairing is jettisoned
• At 326 seconds, the second stage's engine is ignited
• At 481 seconds, the second stage is shut off
• At 601 seconds, the Cygnus Mass Simulator separates [5]

Gallery

• 
  The Cygnus Mass Simulator
• 
  The assembled Antares 110 launch vehicle A-One mission inside the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) at Wallops Flight Facility
• 
  Antares launch vehicle vertical at launch pad on 19 April 2013
• 
  Launch of the Antares launch vehicle on 21 April 2013

See also

• Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Antares A-ONE.

• Antares Pre-Launch "A-ONE Mission" Briefing
• Antares A-One Mission Overview
• NASA WFF mission page
• Video of Pre-Flight Press Conference - Part 1 - YouTube (NASA TV)
• Video of Pre-Flight Press Conference - Part 2 - YouTube (NASA TV)
• Video of Antares A-One being rolled out to launch pad - YouTube (NASA TV)
• Video of the launch of the Antares A-One Mission - YouTube (NASA TV)

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