On Tuesday, Alliant Techsystems Inc said it won a contract with Orbital Sciences Corp. ATK would provide the motor of solid rockets that would be used for the latest air-launched space transport system. The project would be a part of the new venture of Allen Paul, the co-founder of Microsoft.
The president of ATK Aerospace Group, Blake Larson, declined to disclose the details regarding the contract's size and scope. However, he told Reuters that the deal was "certainly substantial."
"It further enhances and expands other commercial elements of our propulsion business," Larson stated. ATK sought to gain more commercial projects that would diversify the company's portfolio as the US military budget was set to decrease.
ATK has successfully created over 1,600 commercial solid rocket engines for launch vehicles like Orbital Sciences' Pegasus, Taurus, Minotaur and Antares. The company would design and build flight hardware for the first Stratolaunch missions. The Stratolaunch System of Allen tapped Orbital Sciences last June 2013 to make new a transport system that could launch cargo and humans into the space. Stratolaunch would launch test flights in three years and would possibly fly its initial mission in 2017 or 2018.
Join the Conversation