Antares A-ONE

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.^[6] It was launched from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.^[6] The simulated payload simulates the mass of the Cygnus cargo spacecraft.^[6] This dummy payload was sent into an orbit of 223 km × 237 km (139 mi × 147 mi) with an orbital inclination of 51.63°, the same launch profile it will use for Orbital's Cygnus cargo supply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA.

Antares A-ONE

The Antares 110 lifts off at the start of the mission
Names	Simulated Cygnus Payload[1]
Mission type	Flight test
Operator	Orbital Sciences Corporation
COSPAR ID	2013-016A
SATCAT no.	39142
Mission duration	18 days, 3 hours, 57 minutes
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 (2013-04-21UTC21Z) UTC (5:00 pm EDT)[2][3]
Rocket	Antares 110[4]
Launch site	MARS, Pad 0A
End of mission
Disposal	Deorbited
Decay date	10 May 2013, 00:57 (2013-05-10UTC00:58Z) UTC[5]
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric orbit[6]
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	223 km (139 mi)[5]
Apogee altitude	237 km (147 mi)[5]
Inclination	51.63°[5]
Orbital Sciences insignia Commercial Orbital Transportation Services ← SpaceX COTS Demo 2 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.^[7]

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).^[8] It was equipped with 22 accelerometers, 2 microphones, 12 digital thermometers, 24 thermocouples and 12 strain gages.^[8]

Secondary payloads

Four Spaceflight Industries Inc. CubeSat nanosatellites were deployed from the dummy payload.^[9]

The secondary payloads were four CubeSats that were deployed from the CMS.^[8] Three of them were PhoneSats, 1U CubeSats built by NASA's Ames Research Center.^[8] These were named Alexander, Graham and Bell, after the Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone.^[8] The purpose of these three satellites was to demonstrate the use of smartphones as avionics in CubeSats.^[8] They each had a mass of 1,124 kg (2,478 lb) and were powered by lithium batteries.^[8] 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.^[8][10]

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 ^[6]

Launch attempt summary

Note: Times are local to the launch site (Eastern Daylight Time).

Attempt	Planned	Result	Turnaround	Reason	Decision point	Weather go (%)	Notes
1	17 Apr 2013, 5:00:00 pm	Scrubbed	—	Technical	17 Apr 2013, 4:44 pm ​(T−12:00)	60[11]	Premature disconnect of upper stage umbilical cable during T−12:00 hold.[12]
2	20 Apr 2013, 6:10:00 pm	Scrubbed	3 days 1 hour 10 minutes	Weather	20 Apr 2013, 4:30 pm	90	[13]
3	21 Apr 2013, 5:00:00 pm	Success	0 days 22 hours 50 minutes			80	First flight of Antares.[14]

Gallery

Antares A-ONE

• 
  Cygnus mass simulator
• 
  Integrated Antares rocket
• 
  Launch of A-ONE
• 
  Antares in flight

See also

• Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit