OmegA was a medium-lift to heavy-lift launch vehicle concept that spent several years in development by Northrop Grumman during 2016–2020, with that development substantially funded by the U.S. government. OmegA was intended for launching U.S. national security satellites, as part of the U.S. Department of the Air Force National Security Space Launch (NSSL) replacement program.
The OmegA design consisted of new composite solid rocket stages with a cryogenic upper stage provided by Aerojet Rocketdyne, replacing earlier plans to use an upper stage engine provided by Blue Origin. The OmegA design was similar to the defunct Ares I and Liberty projects, both of which consisted of a five segment Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) and a cryogenic second stage. It was intended to be launched from Kennedy Space Center LC-39B or Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-6.
OmegA was proposed as a vehicle to launch national security satellites for the United States Space Force and other government agencies, including to geostationary transfer orbit. The launch vehicle could theoretically launch commercial payloads as well, but was not designed at a price point to make private competitive launches likely. Orbital ATK claimed in 2016 that crewed spacecraft could also be launched, just as the predecessor Ares I and Liberty rockets, which were designed to be able to also launch the Orion space capsule.
By 2016, actual development was to get underway only once the Air Force reached a funding decision. In October 2018, the Air Force announced that Northrop Grumman was awarded $792 million for initial development of the OmegA launch vehicle.
Cancellation
In August 2020, the Department of the Air Force announced the results of the approximately US$3.5 billion National Security Space Launch Phase 2, Launch Service Procurement for launches in the 2022–2027 timeframe and OmegA was not selected. The USAF announced that it would wind down any remaining OmegA development contracts from phase 1, and may not pay out the entire maximum amount of the earlier 2019 contract to NGIS. On 9 September 2020, Northrop Grumman Space Systems released a statement announcing the cancellation of the OmegA launch vehicle program.
History
The company that was to propose the OmegA launch vehicle in 2016, Orbital ATK (which was subsequently acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2018), through its predecessor company Alliant Techsystems (ATK), had developed the solid rocket boosters for the Space Shuttle in the 1970s–1980s, and military Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) prior to that. With the 2004 announcement of the retirement of the Space Shuttle, the company was active in trying to find government purchasers of its, now, 30+ year old solid-propellant rocket technology to continue using the technology for orbital launch vehicles.
From 2004 through 2020, they continued to approach both the US government's civil space branch, NASA, and also the military branch, U.S. DoD, with proposals to develop continued government-funded opportunities to design, build and support the orbital space application of solid rocket technology. They were successful, as NASA selected ATK's technology for the Ares I crewed launch vehicle in 2005, with ATK supplying a five-segment solid rocket booster as the first stage while also being the primary contractor for the Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV), which was to have a more standard liquid-propellant powered upper stage. In January 2016 they were successful again when Orbital ATK was one of two companies awarded funds by the United States Air Force to develop technologies to eliminate dependency on the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine for U.S. national security payloads. The award was worth an initial US$46.9 million, with an option for up to US$180.2 million total. This was to be matched by US$31.1 million initially, and up to US$124.8 million in company funds if all options of the contract are exercised. The contract would fund the development of three technologies in support of the OmegA rocket, then called Next Generation Launcher: the GEM-63XL strap-on booster, a Common Booster Core and an extendable nozzle for the BE-3U upper stage engine. A previous effort, funded by NASA, demonstrated the technology for a composite motor case to replace the metal motor cases used for Space Shuttle SRBs.