Antares - friznit/Unofficial-BDB-Wiki GitHub Wiki
Background
Originally known as Taurus II, Antares combines elements of Orbital ATK's Pegasus, Taurus and Minotaur launchers and was developed to carry the Cygnus spacecraft for the Commercial Resupply Services contract to ISS. The 3.9m diameter core (2.5m KSP Scale) Block 1 is boosted by 2x AJ26 engines derived from the Russian NK-33 liquid fuel engine. These are replaced by RD-181's (a modified RD-191) for the Block 2 series. While both kerolox and methalox upper stages were considered, the current upper stage employs a Castor 30 nestled inside an interstage fairing.
Mods: BDB, Restock, Tweakscale
Variants
| Launch Vehicle | First Stage | Second Stage | Third Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antares 110 | 2x AJ26 (NK-33) | Castor 30A | |
| Antares 232+ | 2x RD-181 | Castor 30XL | Star-48BV |
Basic Build Guide
From top to bottom
The Castor 30 upper stage is from BDB. Use 3x white Restock FL-TX1800 liquid fuel tanks tweakscaled to 2.5m diameter for the core. An upside down Proc Fairing can be used as an engine fairing. Cygnus can be cobbled together from BDB parts.
Variants are designated by a three digit number denoting the first stage (Block 1 or 2), second stage SRB type and third stage OAM. A + signifies optimisations to the Block 2 and Castor XL upper stage.
Third Stage
- None
- Bi-Propellant Third Stage (BTS) Orbit Raising Kit (ORK)
- Star 48BV
- Orion 38 (as used on Minotaur & Pegasus)
Second Stage
- Castor 30A (only used on Block 1)
- Castor 30B
- Castor 30XL
First Stage
- 2x AJ26 Liquid Fuel Engines (NK-33 derived = Restock Mainsail)
- 2x RD-181 (RD-191 derived = Eisenhower Astronautics "Bessemer")
Antares 132