NASA has selected Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) of Madison, Wisc., for four Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I awards.
Two of the awards, worth up to $125,000 apiece, focus on technologies designed to improve in-space propulsion. The other two awards, worth up to $200,000 apiece, will help develop technologies for use aboard the International Space Station.
The four proposals selected include:
Integrated Composite Nozzle Extension — In-Space Propulsion Systems
Acoustic Resonance Reaction Control Thruster (ARCTIC) — In-Space Propulsion Systems
Rapid Multiplex Microbial Detector — International Space Station Utilization
Zero G Mass Measurement Device (ZGMMD) — International Space Station Utilization.
MADISON, Wisconsin (ORBITEC PR) – Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) has successfully flight-tested its new rocket engine and technologies in Mojave, CA. ORBITEC integrated its Vortex Liquid Rocket Engine into a launch vehicle airframe designed and built by Garvey Spacecraft Corporation (GSC) of Long Beach, California and California State University at Long Beach.
Madison, Wisc. (ORBITEC PR) – Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC™) recently conducted several key rocket engine technology demonstrations at its large engine test facility in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Under observation by representatives from both NASA and the US Air Force, ORBITEC successfully completed a series of tests on its Vision flight rocket engine that enhances the maturation of ORBITEC’s advanced technology acoustic igniter , vortex/cold wall combustion chamber, and carbon-carbon lightweight nozzle extension technologies. The Vision engine will be flight-demonstrated later this year launched out of Mojave, CA.
ORBITEC PR – Orbital Technologies Corporation, “ORBITEC,” has been awarded two new NASA contracts for engineering support and flight hardware production related to life science activities on the International Space Station. The programs awarded were for ORBITEC to support the development and flight of the “VEGGIE” system and the Advanced Plant Habitat at the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the space station.
Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser shuttle in orbit. (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation)
Madison, WI (ORBITEC PR) – Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) is the prime contractor for Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) and Thermal Control System (TCS) for the Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Dream Chaser® Space System. ORBITEC has, along with its partner Hamilton Sundstrand, successfully completed two major tests for SNC under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Program. The tests include the first integrated system testing and first integrated human testing of ECLSS and TCS components developed for the Dream Chaser®, SNC’s reusable orbital crew vehicle, intended to carry astronauts to and from low Earth orbit.
An interesting item from the Wisconsin State Journal on a new rocket engine design:
Orbital Technologies Corp. received the first of two rockets that could someday send the Madison company’s fortunes sky high — or at least fulfill the dreams of its rocket scientists. The rockets — built by Garvey Spacecraft Corp., of Long Beach, Calif., and California State University at Long Beach — will incorporate a vortex rocket engine designed by Orbitec.
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is pleased to announce that Barrios Technology, BWSC Inc., J&P Technologies, ORBITEC, and Triumph Aerospace Systems-Newport News have joined the Federation as Associate Members. With the addition of these five new Associate Members – in locations ranging from Huntsville, Alabama and Houston, Texas to Madison, Wisconsin and San Diego, California – the Commercial Spaceflight Federation now includes over 35 leading aerospace companies.
SUMMARY: ORBITEC’s Human Support Systems and Instrumentation Division continues its relationship with Bigelow Aerospace to develop and integrate ORBITEC’S cost-effective environmental control and life support systems, subsystems, and components for Bigelow’s Sundancer and other applications in commercial space travel and habitation.
Aerospace hardware, whether for jet engines, space station payloads or lunar surface components, has some of the most demanding requirements of any design application. To ensure proper verification and validation during operations, Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) is now offering commercial in-house testing capabilities for systems, subsystems, and components.
Led by ORBITEC’s Human Support Systems and Instrumentation Division, the test capabilities include vibration, vacuum, thermal and humidity cycling, shock, lunar dust exposure, acoustic load, altitude, vacuum, and lifetime testing. Other capabilities supporting testing include precision gas mixing capabilities and gas chromatography mass spectrometry.
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