Posted on 12/10/2024 5:53:55 AM PST by Fish Speaker
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — United Launch Alliance (ULA) expects to gain Space Force certification for national security payloads within a few months, company CEO Tory Bruno told Breaking Defense in a recent interview.
Speaking in California, Bruno said he expects certification “momentarily,” though he noted that “’momentarily,’ in our world, that means this month, next month, next few months.”
He added that no further testing of the Vulcan Centaur will be needed to meet certification, saying the company has met all the requirements from the Pentagon.
Two well-executed launches are requisite to achieve certification for carrying payloads under the Space Force’s National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program. A January launch was deemed a success, but there was an anomaly during the second flight in October with one of Vulcan’s solid rocket boosters that currently is under investigation.
Bruno also expressed confidence that ULA would meet two manifested launches scheduled for early next year for NSSL. Overall, he said, the company has 20 launches manifested for 2025, with 16 Vulcan rockets stored away for use, and no worries that production won’t be able to keep up with demand.
On the propulsion front, Bruno said the company has received 12 BE-4 engines, of which four have flown. Current production on those engines is one per week, with two needed to launch the Vulcan, the ULA boss said. While Bruno said he would love to one day have production at a higher rate, he stressed that the current pace is enough for ULA’s current needs. (The executive added that he has over 40 solid rocket boosters stored away.)
(Excerpt) Read more at breakingdefense.com ...
I haven’t followed this. Is ULA a rocket to launch the Boeing starliner? The article doesn’t say.
Behind schedule, questionable quality, cost overruns, but “qualified” to launch projects for the government.
Poster child of the Deep State military-industrial complex.
The bigger question is when did Nancy Pelosi purchase the stock and how much money will she make today after this announcement and she aells it?
DoD is looking for companies to provide rockets for satellite launches. They are concerned that SpaceX will become a monopoly, so they are funding companies like ULA to be an alternate source for rockets.
I hope so.
ULA is a Boeing + Lockheed consortium
It manufactures the Vulcan Centaur vehicle, which is a successor to the ancient Atlas and Delta rocket series.
These now (again) I think
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RL10
I actually worked on earlier versions of these (as a metrology consultant) in the 80’s, at Aerojet.
TY
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/company-news/2024/10/04/boeing-lockheed-venture-launches-new-rocket-in-key-test/
Boeing-Lockheed Venture Launches New Rocket in Key Test
By Loren Grush
October 04, 2024 at 7:46AM EDT
(Bloomberg) — United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket blasted off to space on Friday, a critical test of the Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. joint venture’s ability to loft spy satellites for the US government.
Vulcan thundered off the launchpad at 7:25 a.m. local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida, nine months after the vehicle made its debut launch. The flight lasted roughly 30 minutes.
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/rocket-firm-ceo-wants-protect-173541157.html
Rocket Firm CEO Wants to Protect Satellites With Space Weapons
PC Mag
Thu, December 5, 2024 at 9:35 AM PST2
The CEO of a rocket launch company is urging the US to develop a spaceship to defend against satellite-killing weapons from China.
Tory Bruno, the CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA), published a blog post warning that China has weaponized space by placing “satellite killers” in Earth’s orbit. These weapons could deliver a first strike by disrupting US communication networks in the event of a war.
“There was a time when we worried that a terrestrial conflict might extend into space. We now know that it will begin in space,” he warns.
Bruno is particularly concerned about China attacking low-Earth orbiting satellites, including the nearly 7,000 satellites spanning SpaceX’s Starlink network. Because of their low orbits, Bruno claims missiles from China can reach them in 10 to 15 minutes.
https://canadafreepress.com/article/how-china-will-punch-out-our-lights
EMP Weapons: How China Will Punch Out Our Lights
Canada Free Press ^ | 11/04/2023 | Chet Nagle
In 1962, Starfish Prime was a test of a 1.4 megaton H-bomb above the Johnston atoll in the Pacific. Detonated 250 miles above the surface it resulted in an unexpected High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) that reached Hawaii, 900 miles away. It knocked out streetlights, set off burglar alarms, and damaged a microwave link that shut down telephone calls from Kauai to other Hawaiian islands. There was no fallout or blast damage to cities and towns below by that detonation in the stratosphere. It was so far above the surface it could best be seen at night,
https://www.floppingaces.net/2023/02/03/china-rehearses-an-emp-attack-biden-approves-it/
China rehearses an EMP attack. Biden approves it
Flopping Aces ^ | 02-03-23 | DrJohn
A Chinese spy balloon has been loitering over the US for several days now. It first crossed Alaskan airspace, then Canadian airspace and then back again into US airspace. It became public when civilians sighted it over Montana. The Biden regime was not going to tell us.
…
What if this was a test bed for an EMP attack? If so equipped, this device could have taken out a major portion of the country’s electrical grid. Multiple devices could pretty wipe out the entire country. China now knows it can do this with impunity.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dry-run-balloons-called-top-delivery-platform-for-nuclear-emp-attack/ar-AA174OkJ
Dry Run: Balloons Called Top ‘Delivery Platform’ For Nuclear EMP Attack
https://youtu.be/1kErOyJ0u-8
Grid Down Power Up - Documentary Narrated by Dennis Quaid, Full Award-Winning Film, 4K (202
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/washington-secrets/russia-threatens-power-grids-if-biden-moves-in-ukraine
Russia threatens power grids if Biden moves in Ukraine
Washington Examiner ^
2/3/2022
In a new alert, Peter Vincent Pry, the executive director of the EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security, said concerns are growing that Russia, North Korea, and Iran are inching closer to testing an electromagnetic attack on the U.S. grid, or parts of it.
NO.
That was a largely political idea back in the early 1990s, that didn't work out the way it was intended to.
The Atlas-5, which uses those engines, is in retirement. There are a handful of them left, but no new Atlas-5 rockets will be built.
The Vulcan rocket is its replacement, and it uses the American BE-4 engines. In two launches, the BE-4 and the Vulcan have performed as designed (strap-on SRBs are a separate issue), and there's no legitimate reason to exclude the Vulcan/Centaur rocket from national security or other launches.
RL-10 is the Centaur (second stage) engine.
Apart from cost?
SpaceX has best costs and best reliability.
Avoiding a single point of failure trumps cost. Reliability was once an argument against Falcon-9. It’s an “argument” (and a poor one) against ANY new launch vehicle.
Also, Vulcan/Centaur puts a significantly heavier payload in LEO than Falcon-9
Go Vulcan. Go Centaur.
And if you think I’m crapping on SpaceX, you’re dead wrong.
How'd that work out with Boeing Starliner vs SpaceX Dragon??
” Reliability was once an argument against Falcon-9.”
Nope.
Falcon 9 has had an excellent reliability record from the get go.
VC is expendable and $110 million or more each with 27,000kg to LEO using 6 GEM boosters and 8,800kg using no boosters.
Falcon 9 is reusable with 17,700kg to LEO for $50 million or 22,800kg when expended for 69 million in 2024 dollars before inflation it was $62 for an expended.
To be fair you need to let falcon use boosters too. In this case two boosters which makes it a falcon heavy.
Falcon heavy does 63,800kg to LEO full eexpended.
Falcon heavy with two boosters recovered is 57,000kg to LEO
Falcon heavy with all three boosters recovered back at Kennedy is 30,000kg to LEO
Falcon heavy expended is $150 million and full recovery is $90 million expending the center core is between the two.
So apples to oranges.SpaceX is not only cheaper per kg to orbit they can and do reuse their boosters which can put more payload up reusable than VC can do expended.
VC only exists so DOD has two independent launchers for it’s critical need payloads Congress correctly mandated at least two launch providers so not all eggs one basket. Falcon is a superior rocket in every aspect same very high energy C3 escape orbits where the LH2 high ISP shines but via brute force Falcon heavy expendable will still yeet more mass to high C3 vs VC. Falcon Heavy is sending a nuclear powered VTOL drone to Saturn’s moon Titan and just sent a orbiter to Europa it’s the big boy rocket till Starship starts regularly putting up 150,000kg sized payloads into LEO space.
You could put a standard sized Falcon 9 second stage fully fuelled with 50,000kg on top of that inside Starship and send it to LEO from there that second stage could yeet that 50 tonnes to anywhere in the solar system no other vehicle humans have made can touch that.
So good for Vulcan they fill a congressional mandate but they are 20th century tech thrown to an ocean grave vs mechazilla catching skyscraper sized boosters that are hovering next to it in mid air.
It worked out very well. When both projects were new, SpaceX/Dragon was considered the backup, higher risk, option. Dragon was originally the insurance against a single point of failure. NASA was very smart to support both.
Nope. Falcon 9 has had an excellent reliability record from the get go.
Yep. When Falcon-9 was new, it was rightly viewed as insufficiently tested and not suitable for high priority payloads. I stated a true, verifiable fact.
And there you have the single most meaningful statement in your post. The rest, with all due respect, is fluff.
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