Orbital Pegasus - Manual (Page 12)

Release 7.0 Apr 2010 1
Pegasus User’s Guide
1. INTRODUCTION
On August 10, 1989, Orbital Sciences Corporation
(Orbital) rolled out the first commercially
developed space launch vehicle for providing
satellites to low earth orbit (see Figure 1-1). Over
the past 21 years, the “winged rocket” known as
Pegasus has proven to be the most successful in
its class, placing over 78 satellites in orbit with 40
launches as of April 2010.
Figure 1-1. Pegasus Rollout
This Pegasus User’s Guide is intended to
familiarize mission planners with the capabilities
and services provided with a Pegasus launch.
The Pegasus XL was developed as an increased
performance design evolution from the original
Pegasus vehicle to support NASA and the USAF
performance requirements, and is now the
baseline configuration for all commercial Pegasus
launches.
Pegasus is a mature and flight-proven launch
system that has demonstrated consistent accuracy
and dependable performance. The Pegasus
launch system has achieved a high degree of
reliability through its significant flight experience.
Pegasus offers a variety of capabilities that are
uniquely suited to small spacecraft. These
capabilities and features provide the small
spacecraft customer with greater mission utility in
the form of:
 A range of custom payload interfaces and
services to accommodate unique small
spacecraft missions;
 Payload support services at the Pegasus
Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at
Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB),
California;
 Horizontal payload integration;
 Shared payload launch accommodations for
more cost-effective access to space as
compared to Dual Launches;
 Portable air-launch capability from worldwide
locations to satisfy unique mission
requirements; and
 Fast, cost-effective, and reliable access to
space.
The mobile nature of Pegasus allows Orbital to
integrate the spacecraft to the Pegasus XL in our
integration facility, the VAB, and ferry the launch-
ready system to a variety of launch ranges.
Pegasus has launched from a number of launch
locations worldwide (see Figure 1-2).
The unique mobile capability of the Pegasus
launch system provides flexibility and versatility to
the payload customer. The Pegasus launch
vehicle can accommodate integration of the
spacecraft at a customer desired location, as well
as optimize desired orbit requirements based on
the initial launch location. In 1997, after final build
up of the rocket at the VAB, Pegasus was mated
to the Orbital Carrier Aircraft (OCA) and ferried to
Madrid, Spain, to integrate Spain’s MINISAT-01
satellite. Following integration of the satellite,
Pegasus was then ferried to the island of Gran
Canaria for launch. The successful launch of
Spain’s MINISAT-01 satellite demonstrated
Pegasus’ ability to accommodate the payload
provider’s processing and launch requirements at
locations better suited to the customer rather than
the launch vehicle. This unprecedented launch