Northrop Grumman Investigates Anomaly from 1st OmegA Rocket Motor Test

A powerful new rocket will get a serious workout today (May 30), and you can watch the action live.

Aerospace company Northrop Grumman will fire the first stage of its OmegA launcher during a pivotal ground test in Promontory, Utah, at 3:05 p.m. EDT (1905 GMT; 1:05 p.m. local Utah time). Watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of Northrop Grumman, or directly via the company. Coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT).

“More than 12 feet in diameter and 80 feet long, the OmegA first stage will fire for 122 seconds and produce more than two million pounds of thrust,” Northrop Grumman representatives wrote in a media advisory.

The Virginia-based company is developing OmegA to fly national-security and commercial missions. If all goes according to plan, the rocket will perform its first test flight in 2021 and begin operational launches the next year.

The three-stage OmegA will come in both an intermediate and a heavy-lift version. The heavy variant will be capable of lofting 17,200 lbs. (7,800 kilograms) to geostationary equatorial orbit, according to the OmegA fact sheet.

OmegA began as a project of aerospace company Orbital ATK, which was acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2018.

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