Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC) has selected Lockheed Martin’s Athena rocket as its launch vehicle for small and medium lift missions fro...
Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC) has selected Lockheed Martin’s Athena rocket as its launch vehicle for small and medium lift missions from the Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC), Alaska.
The Lockheed Martin proposal was based on making modifications to the existing small-lift launch facilities at Kodiak to provide medium-lift capability using an upgraded version of the Athena rocket family, the Athena IIS.
Lockheed Martin and AAC will work together to define and implement rocket and launch pad upgrades. The announcement marks the beginning of a planning phase, during which LM and AAC will finalize the scope of upgrades. A contract award from AAC to Lockheed Martin is expected once plans are completed.
The Athena and Alaska are ideal for sun-synchronous orbit missions like Earth imaging and remote sensing, and also well-suited for launching multiple small satellites on a single rocket.
The upgraded Athena IIS will support payloads from 1,900 to 3,000 kilograms, or about 4,200 to 6,600 lbs.
AAC owns and operates the Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC). KLC is the first commercial spaceport in the United States not collocated on a federal range and is the nation’s only high-latitude, full-service spaceport. AAC provides mobile Range Safety and Telemetry support utilizing expert technicians and mobile equipment.
On 25 August 2014, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT), conducted a flight test of the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon from the KLC. Due to an anomaly, the test was terminated near the launch pad shortly after lift-off resulting in the destruction of the launch vehicle (booster system and payload). The mission payload was a hypersonic glide body that contained an instrumentation package.
The mission also damaged the KLC.
The KLC reconstruction is slated to be completed by October of 2015.
The Lockheed Martin proposal was based on making modifications to the existing small-lift launch facilities at Kodiak to provide medium-lift capability using an upgraded version of the Athena rocket family, the Athena IIS.
Lockheed Martin and AAC will work together to define and implement rocket and launch pad upgrades. The announcement marks the beginning of a planning phase, during which LM and AAC will finalize the scope of upgrades. A contract award from AAC to Lockheed Martin is expected once plans are completed.
The Athena and Alaska are ideal for sun-synchronous orbit missions like Earth imaging and remote sensing, and also well-suited for launching multiple small satellites on a single rocket.
The upgraded Athena IIS will support payloads from 1,900 to 3,000 kilograms, or about 4,200 to 6,600 lbs.
AAC owns and operates the Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC). KLC is the first commercial spaceport in the United States not collocated on a federal range and is the nation’s only high-latitude, full-service spaceport. AAC provides mobile Range Safety and Telemetry support utilizing expert technicians and mobile equipment.
On 25 August 2014, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT), conducted a flight test of the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon from the KLC. Due to an anomaly, the test was terminated near the launch pad shortly after lift-off resulting in the destruction of the launch vehicle (booster system and payload). The mission payload was a hypersonic glide body that contained an instrumentation package.
The mission also damaged the KLC.
The KLC reconstruction is slated to be completed by October of 2015.
