Cygnus resupply ship [Brave search]The Cygnus resupply ship is an expendable American uncrewed cargo spacecraft developed by Northrop Grumman for resupply missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
It was originally built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, which was acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2018, and is manufactured in collaboration with Thales Alenia Space, which builds the pressurized cargo module based on the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module design...
The most recent mission, designated NG-23, marked the first flight of the upgraded Cygnus XL variant, which features a 5.2-foot (1.6-meter) longer cargo module, providing 33% more capacity than previous versions...
Due to geopolitical issues affecting the supply chain for its original Antares rocket, Northrop Grumman has contracted with SpaceX to launch its Cygnus missions using the Falcon 9 rocket for the foreseeable future.
This arrangement allows the Cygnus XL to leverage the Falcon 9's higher payload capacity, enabling it to deliver more cargo than SpaceX's own Cargo Dragon spacecraft, which is designed for return to Earth.
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The Cygnus spacecraft consists of two basic components: the Service Module (SM) and the Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM). [...] The SM is capable of producing up to 4 kW of electrical power via two solar arrays.Just so no one mistakenly gets the idea that this spacecraft's propulsion is solar-powered!
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Hey, it’s not rocket science.
Northrup Grumman’s Atlas rocket got the Cygnus almost to orbit, then there was a software glitch which caused a problem. But after a huge effort by NASA and Northrup Grumman, they got a reboot of the software and the record near 5 tons of very expensive cargo [ micro-gravity experiments etc ] where safely delivered to ISS. Cargo Dragon only has carried 2.5 tons to ISS