Orion (rocket)
Template:Short description Template:About Template:Infobox rocket
Orion is the designation of a small American sounding rocket. The Orion has a length of 5.60 meters, a diameter of 0.35 m, a launch weight of 400 kg, a launch thrust of 7 kN and a ceiling of 85 kilometers. The Orion, built by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility, is also used as an upper stage of sounding rockets, usually paired with a Terrier missile as the first stage,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> although Nike, Taurus and VS-30 rockets are also used.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Two Orion versions exist:<ref name=":1" />
- Orion, using a Aerojet M22E8 dual-thrust motor (from the MIM-23A Hawk missile).
- Improved Orion using a Aerojet M112 dual-thrust motor (from the MIM-23B I-Hawk missile).
The sounding rocket is launched from Wallops Flight Facility, White Sands, Poker Flat Rocket Range, Andoya Rocket Range, Esrange and Barreira do Inferno.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1" />
IncidentsEdit
A lightning storm over the Wallops launch pad on 9 June 1987 ignited a NASA Orion rocket and 2 other sounding rockets. The Orion flew horizontally about 300 feet into the ocean. The sounding rockets rose to around 15,000 feet altitude, then fell about 2 miles from the launch pad. No persons were hurt in the incident.<ref>Patricia Tanner, Update, Air & Space/Smithsonian, Vol. 2 No. 3 (August/September 1987), p. 21</ref>
GalleryEdit
- Orion-Original.jpg
Orion carrying experiments developed by students (June 8, 2006)
- Improved Orion Sounding Rocket Scheme-01.jpg
Improved Orion scheme
- Improved Orion Sounding Rocket-02.jpg
Improved Orion just after launch.
- Orion Sounding Rocket-03.jpg
Improved Orion launch