Utah's ATK has teamed up on rocket proposal

ATK Launch Systems Group, a Utah company building the solid rocket boosters for the space shuttle, has joined with two other aerospace giants to propose a design for the upper stage of the shuttle's replacement rocket.

The rocket is the Ares I, which will take astronauts to the moon and eventually to Mars under President Bush's space initiative that was announced in 2004.

ATK said Wednesday that it is teaming with Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne on a project, designed to land the contract for Ares I's upper stage. ATK will be building the lower stage, which will have a five-segment reusable solid rocket booster and a new forward adapter.

On Aug. 31, NASA announced that Lockheed Martin Corp. would build the Orion space capsule, the segment of the project that will carry four to six astronauts. ATK's part is to construct Orion's launch-abort system, which would use a smaller rocket to take astronauts to safety in case of a launch failure.

The new effort focuses on the Ares I upper stage, which would be liquid-fueled. ATK is involved with the stage's hardware, including the interface between the two stages and their separation.

Nearly 18 feet in diameter, the upper stage would carry 280,000 pounds of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fuel.

Space vehicles using both solid and liquid fuel are not unusual. An example is the shuttle, with its solid-fuel boosters and its external liquid-fuel tank.

According to a press release from ATK, members of the three companies have participated in some way in every American human spaceflight program in NASA's history, giving them "unparalleled experience in system and subsystem design, development, manufacturing, integration, test and risk management" for human flight hardware.

"By combining our core competencies and working together in a seamless manner, along with our current roles on the Ares I program, we can significantly reduce integration issues and system complexity," said Ron Dittemore, president of ATK Launch Systems Group.

Each company in the team has an office in Huntsville, Ala., which is the location of Marshall Space Flight Center, the NASA customer for the project, said ATK spokesman George Torres. To prepare the information for the contract competition, the three will open a joint office.

According to Torres, NASA may issue a draft request in December for proposals to build the upper stage. The formal request may follow in February 2007. At that point the partners will make their formal proposal. The contract may be issued next summer.

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