[Satellite TODAY Insider 10-21-11] Orbital Sciences saw its overall third quarter 2011 revenues increase 9 percent to $342.2 million compared with the same period last year due to strong growth in all of its business segments, Orbital Chairman and CEO David Thompson confirmed Oct. 20 in the company’s latest financial results.

   Orbital’s third quarter operating income increased 27 percent from $19.4 million in the third quarter of 2010 to $24.7 in 2011, with a $5.9 million, year-over-year surge in net income at $16.5 million. The company’s free cash flow at the end of the latest quarter was $16.3 million compared with $28.9 million in the third quarter of 2010.

   “Our operating income was boosted by substantial profit improvement in our satellites and space systems segment, with higher operating margins and lower tax rates,” Thompson said during a conference call. “In addition, we successfully completed a number of operational activities during the quarter, including seven major rocket launches and space system deployments and four additional system deliveries.”

   Orbital enjoyed a busy 2011 third quarter. The company successfully conducted four launch vehicle missions and three satellite and space system deployments. The company also deployed two Minotaur 4 rockets – one for a suborbital hypersonic-flight research payload for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the other for the U.S. Navy TacSat-4 satellite launch in September.

   Orbital also built the SES-2 and SES-3 commercial communications satellites, which were deployed during the quarter. The SES-2 spacecraft carried the Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload (CHIRP) experimental sensor for the U.S. Air Force that Orbital procured, tested and integrated with the spacecraft. In early October, the Intelsat 18 commercial communications satellite, built by Orbital for Intelsat, was successfully launched and deployed. 

   Thompson highlighted the company’s development milestones during the quarter. “Our Taurus 2 and Cygnus development programs have made progress in the last three months. We delivered the first pressurized cargo module for the Cygnus spacecraft to the Wallops Island launch site and resumed Taurus 2 main rocket engine testing with a successful hot-fire operation of an AJ26 engine at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in September,” he said. 

   But Thompson also said Orbital expects continued delays in NASA completing construction and certification of the Wallops Island launch complex, which could result in an approximately two-month schedule delay for the first Taurus 2 test flight, “from late December 2011 to late February or early March 2012,” said Thompson.

   Orbital will spend the rest of 2011 completing up to seven more space missions and product deliveries as well as several additional research and development milestones.

   The company also updated its financial guidance for 2011 to reflect narrower ranges for revenues, operating income margin and earnings per share. “The guidance for free cash flow has improved substantially, primarily due to the timing of cash receipts on certain satellite contracts. The updated guidance assumes a full-year effective income tax rate of approximately 23 percent,” Thompson said.