As Cygnus Launched Tuesday Closes Approaches ISS Docking

As Northrup Grumman's final Antares-launched Cygnus cargo resupply mission approaches rendezvous with the ISS, the company talked about planned improvements and upgrades to the Cygnus platform for the coming generation of private space stations being planned or actively developed.  

In presentations at the International Space Station Research and Development Conference Aug. 2, company representatives outlined efforts to enhance the capabilities of the decade-old spacecraft to enable it to serve NASA and others in the coming decade.

“We’re looking at what we have to do with the Cygnus spacecraft, what we have to do with the services that it provides,” said Rick Mastracchio, director of strategy and business development at Northrop Grumman Space Systems. “We’re trying to prepare and think way ahead on how do we start updating the vehicle, making sure we have a spacecraft that will be flying 10 years from now, 20 years from now.”

It almost goes without saying that the first thing they're mentioning is increasing the payload capacity.  That would almost certainly be in the list no matter what vehicle you're talking about - with the possible exception being if it was the size of the flying aircraft carriers in the Marvel movies (which DARPA apparently considered building). 

The current Cygnus has a payload of 3750 kg and they're talking about increasing that to 5000 kg.  This will be done by stretching the cargo container by 1.5 meters, which might even be hard to notice in an image scale like the one above.  Called the Mission B version, it's currently penciled in for its first launch in mid '25 on the NG-23 cargo mission.  That mission is also the first launch of the new Antares 330; the vehicle that's the result of collaboration of Northrup Grumman and Firefly.

Apparent in this photo is another big topic of interest, the robotic arm hanging down on the right.  The current Cygnus has to be grabbed by the station's robotic arm and pulled into place to dock, in contrast with SpaceX's crew dragon that autonomously docks with the station.  Northrup Grumman officials say, “Particularly for commercial space stations, a big focus right now is on docking,” because they might not have the arm, or they may not have the arm in place when the first visits to their station are needed.

Northrup is understandably emphasizing their advantage over Cargo Dragon: the ability to raise the orbit of the ISS.  They intend to demonstrate that capability again with the NG-19 mission launched this Tuesday (Aug. 1) to the station, and scheduled to arrive early on 8/3.  

“We like to be able to do a couple of these per mission,” Migliorini said of reboost maneuvers. Those reboosts are done using propellant not needed for the spacecraft’s arrival at the station.

Northrup is talking with companies around the world that are interested in space stations or actively developing them.  Part of that is sales, for sure, but another important part is market research, trying to find out just what the customers want.