OmegA

OmegA was a medium 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.

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.