Vulcan - next-generation rocket family by United Launch Alliance (ULA)

[selvaarchi]

Meet the Vulcan, the next-generation rocket family brought to you by United Launch Alliance that comes with a bold reusability plan, multiple configurations for medium- to heavy-lift, all-American engines and serves as the eventual replacement for the historic Atlas and Delta rocket lines.

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/04/13...rocket-family/

Vulcan, slated for its maiden launch in 2019, will be powered by either a pair of exotic Blue Origin BE-4 liquefied natural gas main engines for 1.1 million pounds of thrust or two conventional Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-1 kerosene powerplants for a million pounds of thrust. A final decision of which engine to pursue will come next year.

The new rocket ditches the Atlas-used RD-180 main engine produced in Russia. The engine has brought controversy to the vehicle and its launchings of U.S. national security payloads using foreign-made propulsion.

Creating the new first stage with an American engine is the overarching priority for ULA. The development of a new upper stage will follow later to replace the venerable Centaur that will be flown on Vulcan initially.

“We are doing our whole new rocket in serial steps so that we can afford that development process,” Bruno said.

[NEOWatcher]

Interesting plan.
After all the stink about ULA building their own RD-180 and not being able to do it in the 2019 timeframe, it sounds like they are looking ahead to keep from spending all that effort just to get something cobbled together.

The recovery process is intriguing. SpaceX has the jump on the whole rocket recovery, but I wonder if just getting the engines will be easier.

[Trebuchet]

Vulcan, slated for its maiden launch in 2019, will be powered by either a pair of exotic Blue Origin BE-4 liquefied natural gas main engines for 1.1 million pounds of thrust...

So, Boeing and Lockheed are buying rocket engines from Amazon?

[NEOWatcher]

So, Boeing and Lockheed are buying rocket engines from Amazon?

At least it's a step up from Molotok.ru.

[cjameshuff]

Interesting plan.
After all the stink about ULA building their own RD-180 and not being able to do it in the 2019 timeframe, it sounds like they are looking ahead to keep from spending all that effort just to get something cobbled together.

The recovery process is intriguing. SpaceX has the jump on the whole rocket recovery, but I wonder if just getting the engines will be easier.

It may be easier, but they're stuck building a new stage with reused components, which will greatly reduce the achievable savings and require a much higher number of reuse cycles to achieve the same gain. Also, the tanks might not be the most complex part, but they're probably one of the more logistically difficult components to deal with due to their size.

[NEOWatcher]

It may be easier, but they're stuck building a new stage with reused components, which will greatly reduce the achievable savings and require a much higher number of reuse cycles to achieve the same gain.

I don't understand why that is a problem. Reused components is a savings over one-use components. Whether the whole thing (Falcon) is reusable, or just the most expensive part (BE4/AR1), you still are stuck with re-used components. What matters is the cost of the tank vs the overall refurbishing cost.

Also, the tanks might not be the most complex part, but they're probably one of the more logistically difficult components to deal with due to their size.

Why is that a problem if the cost is relatively low?

We are talking about re-using 25% by cost of a rocket. I don't know how much a tank costs, but I would confident in saying it's probably minor compared to the upper stages cost. Leaving only a small cost of the rocket being re-manufactured rather than re-furbished.

Perhaps this is only a short term plan to save money until they can develop a fully reusable stage? The key seems to be getting a new RD180 replacement up and running.

I found a bit more on this project, and so far it looks like a BE4 with an extended Atlas or Delta core. AR1 doesn't seem like it will be ready in time as an RD180 replacement which is forcing the new tank.
http://spacenews.com/ulas-vulcan-roc...out-in-stages/
http://aviationweek.com/defense/ula-...ine-ridiculous
.

[publiusr]

Return of the Atlas/SaturnV-B concept--just get the engines back.

[cjameshuff]

I don't understand why that is a problem. Reused components is a savings over one-use components. Whether the whole thing (Falcon) is reusable, or just the most expensive part (BE4/AR1), you still are stuck with re-used components. What matters is the cost of the tank vs the overall refurbishing cost.


Why is that a problem if the cost is relatively low?

The less you reuse and the greater the costs of reuse, the less you can reduce costs per launch. Their approach also has a much longer time between potential reuses, meaning more hardware floating around in various stages of salvage/refurbishment and more operational overhead.

It's still an improvement, but much less of one than SpaceX is trying for, which will make it harder to be competitive.

But as you said, it may be a short term plan. They need an Atlas V replacement as soon as possible. This is a relatively straightforward way to reduce some of the advantage SpaceX has in reuse without overly delaying development as a launch vehicle.

[selvaarchi]

ULA intends to lower its costs, and raise its cool, to compete with SpaceX.

http://spacenews.com/ula-intends-to-...e-with-spacex/

A senior United Launch Alliance official on March 15 gave a candid assessment of his company’s attempt to reinvent itself at a time when competitor SpaceX has almost single-handedly caused a rebirth of the cool in U.S. rocketry that has all but bypassed ULA.

In a presentation by turns admiring and resentful of SpaceX – not the first time a ULA official has expressed these sentiments — ULA Engineering Vice President Brett Tobey said his company accepts the fact that SpaceX has forced the U.S. government, and thus ULA, to change the way rockets are made and sold.

It still views SpaceX’s Falcon 9 reusability design – returning the full first stage – as “dumb” given the huge amount of fuel needed to bring the stage back. ULA’s plan for its future Vulcan rocket is to separate the Vulcan’s main-stage engines, cover them in a package that deploys a parachute and then scoop them up in midair with a helicopter.

[selvaarchi]

Work to create a new all-American rocket, the United Launch Alliance Vulcan-Centaur, has passed its first major hurdle for its first flight in three years, officials announced Thursday.

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/03/24...vulcan-rocket/

The Preliminary Design Review for the next-generation vehicle was recently completed and verified that the rocket will satisfy the criteria for the diverse military, civil and commercial missions it will launch.

“The completion of the Vulcan Centaur rocket’s PDR is the first of several major and very exciting milestones in the launch vehicle’s development,” said Tory Bruno, ULA president and chief executive officer. “We have a strong path to get to a 2019 flight test of this new, highly-capable American launch vehicle.”

The rocket as currently designed will be powered by a pair of BE-4 liquefied natural gas main engines, made by Blue Origin, for 1.1 million pounds of thrust.

[ravens_cry]

Probably named for the Roman god, but I find it a little funny that its also the name for a hypothetical planet that ended up not existing, explained away by Einstein's Relativity, not to mention the completely fictional planet and people of Star Trek fame.

[Noclevername]

Probably named for the Roman god, but I find it a little funny that its also the name for a hypothetical planet that ended up not existing, explained away by Einstein's Relativity, not to mention the completely fictional planet and people of Star Trek fame.

It is an illogical choice for a name.

[ravens_cry]

It is an illogical choice for a name.

Well Spock-en.

[selvaarchi]

Although the article is about "New vehicles and new entrants", 50% is devoted to the Vulcan.

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3460/1

The vehicle whose development has generated the most interest (outside of Blue Origin and SpaceX) is United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan. That vehicle is scheduled to make its first launch in a little more than two years: mid-2020, company officials have said recently.

“We feel very confident about our schedule,” company CEO and president Tory Bruno said in a roundtable with reporters March 13 during the Satellite 2018 conference in Washington.

That confidence comes even though ULA has yet to announce its choice for the engine for the rocket’s first stage: Blue Origin’s BE-4 or Aerojet Rocketdyne’s AR1. While BE-4 has long been considered the front-runner, ULA has not made a formal choice while BE-4 testing continues. Bruno has a one-word answer whenever someone asks when that selection will be made: “soon.”

[publiusr]

I wonder about Vulcan style recovery of something larger...
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...548#msg1802548

[cjameshuff]

I wonder about Vulcan style recovery of something larger...
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...548#msg1802548

The Vulcan engine recovery proposal is already close to the limit of what can practically be caught and carried by a helicopter. And frankly, it's already obsolete. Why would you use it for a completely new high engine count stage that should easily be adaptable to land itself?

[selvaarchi]

"ULA Preparing Proven Hardware and New Innovations for Vulcan"

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2019...ations-vulcan/

Building on a legacy of reliable launch vehicles and flight-proven hardware, United Launch Alliance is progressing towards initial launch capability for their next generation rocket, Vulcan. The latest milestones include tests, reviews, and the fabrication of flight hardware for the first mission, which is – as confirmed by ULA this week – on track to occur no earlier than April 2021.

The completion of the system-level Critical Design Review has set the stage for hardware qualification. This was the final review for the design of the Vulcan Centaur, the initial configuration in which Vulcan will fly. The United States Air Force was represented in this review as part of the certification process required for Vulcan to launch national security missions.

The first pieces of flight hardware are now taking shape at ULA’s rocket factory in Decatur, Alabama. This includes aluminum panels for the rocket’s first stage liquid oxygen tank.

[bknight]

"ULA Preparing Proven Hardware and New Innovations for Vulcan"

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2019...ations-vulcan/

The venerable Atlas first stage with SRB's added.

[selvaarchi]

"Vulcan on track as ULA eyes early-2021 test flight to the Moon"

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020...1-moon-flight/

United Launch Alliance has announced their Vulcan rocket is progressing towards its maiden launch as soon as early-2021. While an exact launch target isn’t known yet, the mission will use a newly-built Launch Umbilical Tower while sharing Atlas V’s Vertical Integration Facility and SLC-41 launch pad in Florida.

When first announced in 2014 as a “new booster,” ULA stated that Vulcan’s first flight was targeting 2019. Given an early-2021 target in mid-2020, that is the rocket-world equivalent of “remarkably on-time”.

[Nicolas]

Being much simpler than Atlas V, Vulcan can be assembled in less than 10 months as compared to 14.

So not exactly mass-production then. It seems to me that the main added value might be in their future cryogenic upper stage, while the rocket itself doesn't have much to offer in this new era. And who knows what the competition might look like by the time their upper stage flies...

[selvaarchi]

"ULA delivers Vulcan test article to Cape Canaveral for ‘pathfinder’ operations"

https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/02/1...er-operations/

United Launch Alliance’s first full-scale Vulcan booster with two Blue Origin BE-4 engines arrived at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday, the first time in more than a decade that a core stage from a new family of orbital-class rockets has rolled into the Florida launch facility.

The 110-foot-long (33.5-meter) rocket stage rolled off of ULA’s “RocketShip” transport vessel Saturday at Port Canaveral, towed by a truck into nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for a test campaign expected to last several months. ULA shipped the Pathfinder Tanking Test, or PTT, booster to Florida for fit checks and rehearsals with the Vulcan’s ground systems.

Built by ULA in Decatur, Alabama, the rocket is the company’s first flightworthy Vulcan booster. Two methane-fueled BE-4 development engines are attached to the rear end of the rocket, but they won’t be fired as part of the checkout campaign at Cape Canaveral.