Gallery: Northop Grumman tests OmegA first stage
Near the end of the OmegA first stage’s 122-second test, the aft exit cone of the nozzle broke apart, causing debris to fly toward the forward end of the booster. Photo Credit: Derek Richardson / SpaceFlight Insider
PROMONTORY, Utah — In the Blue Spring Hills north of Salt Lake City, Northrop Grumman test fired the first stage of its OmegA rocket.
The test of the Castor 600 solid rocket motor took place at 1:05 p.m. MDT (19:05 GMT) May 30, 2019, and lasted for about 122 seconds. While there was an apparent anomaly near the end of the hot fire, Northrop Grumman said the test was successful.
With over 700 channels of data to pore over, the company’s next steps will be to verify the booster performed as expected and to better understand what caused the aft exit cone of the nozzle to break apart as the motor was nearing the end of its burn time.
The OmegA rocket is a three stage rocket being designed to launch national security payloads for the U.S. military. It’s first stage is to be a Castor 600. The second stage will be a single booster segment Castor 300, and the third stage will be a liquid propellent engine powered by two RL10C engines.
The following photos were taken by SpaceFlight Insider’s visual team and are courtesy of Derek Richardson and Reuben Worthington. If you enjoy our coverage and are able, consider supporting us on Patreon to help in our efforts to to bring you fantastic content about the space industry!
