OATK-Iuka aids with launch

Orbital ATK, an aerospace and defense technologies’ company, provided propulsion, composite and spacecraft technologies that enabled both the United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket and the eighth Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS-8) satellite launched Dec. 7 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Both the satellite and Delta IV rocket use cutting-edge technologies from multiple Orbital ATK facilities. For the rocket, Orbital ATK provided four 60-inch diameter Graphite Epoxy Motors (GEM-60) solid rocket boosters. OATK produced the solid rocket motors in Utah. In addition to the GEM-60, Orbital supplied a combined 13 Delta IV and GEM-60 key composite structures. The largest of the structures are four-to-five meters in diameter and produced using either advanced wet winding or hand layup, machining and inspection techniques at Orbital ATK’s manufacturing facilities in Iuka, Miss., and Utah. (Source: Business Wire 12/08/16)