Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

August 10 (Xinhua)-- US aerospace company Northrop Grumman announced on Monday local time that it will work with Firefly Aerospace to build a new first-stage booster for its Antar rocket to replace the Russian engine currently used on the rocket.

The two companies also announced that they would work together to develop a new medium-sized rocket.

At present, Northrop Grumman's Antar rocket launches the Cygnus cargo ship for NASA, using a Russian RD-181 engine. After switching to the first-stage booster developed by Firefly Aerospace, the Antar 330 rocket can carry a heavier payload.

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"through our cooperation, we will first develop a completely American-made Antar 330 rocket for the commercial resupply service from Cygnus to the International Space Station, and then a brand new medium carrier rocket," Scott Lyle, vice president and general manager of launch systems at Northrop Grumman, said in a statement.

At present, the first-stage booster of the Antar rocket is built by Ukraine's Southern Design Bureau and the southern Makarov machinery factory, with a Russian RD-181 rocket engine inside.

It is reported that Northrop Grumman initially used a refurbished Russian rocket engine on the Antar rocket, which was developed by Russia for the N-1moon rocket in the 1960s, but switched to the RD-181 engine after a launch explosion in 2014.

Earlier this year, Northrop Grumman said it had enough rocket engines and first-stage boosters to meet the launch needs of two Antar rockets. The first rocket is scheduled to launch in October this year, and the second mission is expected to be carried out in 2023. It is reported that Northrop Grumman will also purchase three SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches to transport Cygnus cargo ships to make up for the demand gap before the Antar 330 rockets are ready.

Firefly Aerospace's first-stage booster for the Antar 330 rocket will carry seven home-made Miranda engines. It is reported that the upgraded rocket may be ready by 2024 to put a payload of up to 10500 kilograms into orbit, compared with the current carrying capacity of 8100 kilograms of Antar rockets.

Neither Northrop Grumman nor Firefly Aerospace released details of the agreement to develop the Antar 330 rocket, nor did they provide details on the new medium-sized rocket to be developed. Firefly Aerospace is developing a medium rocket called beta after testing the alpha rocket.

Northrop Grumman is one of several commercial aerospace companies designated by NASA to transport cargo to the International Space Station. The other two are SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Space Systems. Northrop Grumman's Cygnus cargo ship has been delivering supplies to the International Space Station since 2013.

Meanwhile, Firefly Aerospace is developing rockets, space multi-function equipment (Space Utility Vehicle) for use in orbit, and a lunar lander called Blue Ghost.

"Firefly Aerospace prides itself on being a disrupter in the space industry, and working with time-tested space industry pioneers such as Northrop Grumman will help us move forward," Peter Schumacher, interim chief executive of Firefly Aerospace, said in a statement.

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