Barely a month after its successful launch of a robotic spacecraft from the rocket launch facility at Wallops Island — a tremendous P.R. coup for the Virginia-based space program — Orbital Sciences Corp. is suing the state of Virginia for $16.5 million to recover cost overruns incurred during construction of the launch pad. Space News has the story here.
Orbital struck a deal with Virginia to launch its missions from Pad-0A, which the state agreed to build. However, Virginia bungled the construction project, which led to delays and cost overruns beginning in 2010, Orbital said in the complaint. The company stepped in — “reluctantly,” according to the complaint — and started buying MARS assets to provide the state with cash to continue construction.
Orbital bought $42 million worth of hardware, with the understanding that Virginia would eventually buy these assets back, the complaint says. The state bought back about $25.5 million worth of hardware in 2012, but balked at repurchasing a horizontal rocket transporter and associated hardware. The state argued this hardware could only be used for Antares and therefore was not a reimbursable cost. Orbital disagreed.
The Aerospace Corp., a federally funded think tank specializing in military space, was brought in to mediate and ruled in Orbital’s favor in 2012, according to the complaint. Orbital subsequently sought payment but was told June 5 by Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton that the state would not pay.
Dulles-based Orbital Sciences is a key player at Wallops and a reason for the facility’s growing recognition as a serious player in the space-launch industry. While Florida’s Cape Canaveral remains the undisputed No. 1 in the field, writes Joe Pappalardo for Popular Mechanics, “The spaceport at Wallops Island, Va., is emerging as a hub of the launch industry. Wallops is larger and much better established than the newbie spaceports rising in places like New Mexico, Michigan, and Indiana.”
Let’s hope Orbital and the McDonnell administration can get this matter settled and move on to bigger and better things.
— JAB
