[Satellite TODAY 04-01-13] ATK has successfully tested its newly developed CASTOR 30XL upper stage solid rocket motor at the U.S. Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) in Tennessee on Mar. 28. The test was the final qualification for the commercial motor, which was jointly developed by ATK and Orbital Sciences Corporation in 20 months from concept to completion.

    Since the CASTOR 30XL is designed to ignite at more than 100,000 feet of altitude, the static fire was conducted at AEDC using a vacuum chamber specially designed to simulate upper atmospheric conditions. Initial data indicate the motor performed as designed, and ATK is now analyziing the results against its performance models.

    The CASTOR 30XL motor is intended for use by Orbital as an enhanced second stage of the Antares launch vehicle, which is slated to perform commercial cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA.

    A basic version of the CASTOR 30 motor was tested at AEDC in December 2009 and will fly the initial Antares missions. The CASTOR 30XL is an upgraded version that will fly later operational missions requiring greater payload capacity.

    A key partner through development and production of the new motor is Moog in East Aurora, N.Y., which produced the Thrust Vector Control (VTC) System. This system was developed by the C30 program to have common hardware for future use on other ATK motors.

    "I am very pleased with our successful CASTOR 30XL test," said Scott Lehr, ATK vice president and general manager of Defense and Commercial Systems. "We look forward to seeing this stage become part of the Antares launch vehicle, supporting ISS cargo resupply missions for NASA."