ORBITAL SET TO LAUNCH PEGASUS ROCKET TOMORROW
Company's Air-Launched Rocket Ready to Boost 71st Satellite into Orbit on 30th Mission
Kwajalein Missile Range in Central Pacific Ocean Represents Sixth Pegasus Launch Site
(Dulles, VA 6 October 2000) - Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) announced today that it is preparing to launch the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) High Energy Transient Explorer (HETE-2) satellite aboard a standard Pegasus(r) rocket on Saturday, October 7, 2000. Pegasus is the world's leading launch system for the deployment of small satellites into low-Earth orbit. Its patented air-launch system, in which the rocket is launched from beneath an L-1011 carrier aircraft over the ocean, reduces cost and provides customers with unparalleled flexibility to operate from virtually anywhere on Earth with minimal ground support requirements.
The launch of the HETE-2 spacecraft will represent several important milestones for the Pegasus launch vehicle program.
* First, the HETE-2 mission will be the 30th launch in the rocket program's history, a depth of commercial operational experience no other small launch vehicle in the world can match.
* Second, the HETE-2 mission will represent the first launch of a commercial rocket from Kwajalein Missile Range (KMR), a U.S. Army installation in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, about 4,000 kilometers southwest of Hawaii. KMR's central Pacific Ocean location provides an optimum geographic site for a mission that requires an equatorial orbit.
* Third, the HETE-2 launch from KMR will be the first time that a small-class commercial space launch vehicle will have carried out an equatorial mission. In fact, among all the world's small launch vehicles, only Pegasus is readily available to conduct equatorial missions because of its ability to be ferried to the appropriate range facilities.
* Fourth, with the addition of KMR, Pegasus will be the only commercial space launch vehicle launched from six separate sites worldwide. Previous Pegasus missions have been conducted from four ranges in the U.S., including Edwards Air Force Base, CA; Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA; Cape Canaveral Air Station, FL; and NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, VA. Orbital also launched a Pegasus rocket from Gran Canaria in the Spanish Canary Islands.
The logistics of the HETE-2 mission highlight the unparalleled mobility of the Pegasus air-launch system. The Pegasus rocket was integrated and tested at the company's facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. It was then ferried over 6,000 kilometers across the Pacific aboard Orbital's L-1011 carrier aircraft to KMR on September 29 and 30. Although the launch will be conducted from KMR, the mission's control center will be located at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, halfway around the Earth, where it is more accessible to NASA and Orbital HETE-2 team members.
On launch day, the available window for the HETE-2 mission extends from 1:35 a.m. to 10:35 a.m. EDT, with a targeted launch time of 1:45 a.m. This schedule is subject to the completion of final pre-launch activities, as well as acceptable weather conditions at KMR. The powered flight sequence for the mission is expected to take approximately 11 minutes, from the time the Pegasus rocket is released from its L-1011 carrier aircraft to the time that the satellite is deployed in orbit. Orbital plans to launch the HETE-2 satellite into a 600 x 650-kilometer orbit inclined 2? to the Earth's equator. Following the launch, Orbital expects that it could take several hours before reliable data, gathered by ground tracking stations as the satellite passes overhead, can be assembled and reported on the basic status and health of the spacecraft.
The 275-pound HETE-2 satellite was built by a team of engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as part of an international collaboration sponsored by NASA that involved the U.S., France and Japan. The small satellite carries three scientific instruments that will examine deep space for powerful explosions known as gamma ray bursts (GRBs). The study of the mysterious GRBs could help scientists discover the structure and formation of the early universe.
Orbital is one of the largest space technology and satellite services companies in the world, with 1999 total enterprise revenues (including revenues from unconsolidated affiliates) of approximately $915 million. The company, headquartered in Dulles, VA, employs about 5,000 people at major facilities in the U.S., Canada and several overseas locations.
Orbital is the world's leading manufacturer of low-cost space systems, including satellites and space robotics, launch vehicles, electronics and sensors, satellite ground systems and related digital infrastructure. Its Magellan subsidiary is a pioneer in satellite-based navigation and communications products for consumer and industrial markets. Through its ORBCOMM and ORBIMAGE affiliates and ORBNAV subsidiary, Orbital is also a major operator of satellite-based networks that provide data communications, high-resolution imagery and automotive information services to customers around the world.
Contact: Barron Beneski, 7034065000, beneski.barron@orbital.com
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