[SatNews] ATK (NYSE: ATK) has received a contract from Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) to provide first and second stage propulsion for the Air Launch Vehicle (ALV) that Orbital is designing and building for Stratolaunch Systems Corporation as part of a revolutionary air-launched space transportation system.
The contract from Orbital includes the design, development and flight hardware for initial Stratolaunch missions. This new work expands ATK's already strong partnership with Orbital, dating back to the development of Orbital's original air-launched vehicle, Pegasus®, which also uses ATK solid rocket motors for stage propulsion.
ATK has manufactured more than 1600 commercial solid rocket motors to date for a wide variety of launch vehicles including Delta II and Delta IV, as well as Orbital's Pegasus®, Taurus®, Minotaur® and Antares®tm space launch vehicles. ATK first entered the commercial launch vehicle market back in 1987 when it developed its first commercial composite motor, the GEM-40, which is still being used today as part of the Delta II launch vehicle. ATK's commercial product line includes GEM, CASTOR®, and Orion solid rocket motors.