United Launch Alliance continues to make strides in direction of launching its first nationwide safety mission with its Vulcan rocket, however the precise timing of that launch stays unsure.
The U.S. House Pressure’s House Techniques Command continues to be within the means of certifying the rocket following its second take a look at mission (Cert-2), which launched on Oct. 4 with an inert payload. As soon as that’s full, it would pave the way in which for Vulcan’s first flight below the Nationwide Safety House Launch (NSSL) program: USSF-106.
In an announcement to Spaceflight Now on Oct. 24, Col. Doug Pentecost, SSC’s Deputy Program Government Officer for Assured Entry to House (AATS) stated the House Pressure continues to be working by way of its evaluation of the Cert-2 mission.
“The launch date for USSF-106 continues to be being decided, pending decision of points from the Cert-2 launch, and completion of the certification course of,” Pentecost stated. “Last approval to launch any NSSL mission features a course of to resolve information observations and information anomalies of the earlier mission.”
Throughout the first minute of the Cert-2 launch, the nozzle of one of many Northrop Grumman-built GEM 63XL strong rocket boosters broke away. That precipitated the Vulcan rocket to compensate for the scale back thrust.
Following the launch, Bruno stated that the impression of the misplaced nozzle was “lower than two p.c of the entire impulse” of the booster. He additionally said that the mission noticed an correct orbital insertion of the Centaur 5 higher stage.
Concerning how the nozzle anomaly could impression the work to certify Vulcan for NSSL missions, Pentecost stated that whereas SSC has its personal investigation underway, that doesn’t must be utterly wrapped up with the intention to end certifying the rocket.
“Inside our certification course of, now we have the flexibleness to certify with open work so long as we’re glad that we’re on a great path to decision, or wait till we’re utterly glad the problems are resolved earlier than we certify,” Pentecost defined. “We’ve got kicked off an investigation into the SRB anomaly to know root trigger and corrective motion.”
As of October 22, a ULA spokesperson stated its investigation was additionally nonetheless ongoing.
That stated, the certification of Vulcan is probably not too far off now. Pentecost stated they’re basically within the endgame of their work.
“We’re within the ultimate section of the certification course of, reviewing information from the ultimate qualification take a look at campaigns on Vulcan to solidify the technical baseline, and evaluating Cert-2 information to evaluation and modeling predictions,” Pentecost stated. “The ultimate approval for launch and certification of the baseline design are two separate processes.”
ULA’s first two missions for Vulcan following its certification are USSF-106 and USSF-87. The previous will launch the Navigation Expertise Satellite tv for pc-3 (NTS-3) and one other undisclosed payload for the U.S. House Pressure.
USSF-87 in the meantime will ship a pair of satellites for the Geosynchronous House Situational Consciousness Program to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO).
Because it’s ready for approval to proceed with USSF-106, ULA stacked each the Vulcan booster and the Centaur 5 higher stage contained in the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station.
The corporate additionally held a keel laying ceremony for the longer term R/S SpaceShip, the vessel that can assist transport future Vulcan rockets from ULA’s manufacturing amenities in Decatur, Alabama, to Florida. The ship is predicted to come back into service in early 2026.
#ICYMI: Final week, we formally laid the keel for the longer term R/S SpaceShip, a brand new ship to move #VulcanRockets! 🚀 @ulalaunch @BollingerShip @bhgi_1993 pic.twitter.com/IaAB5iuj8E
— Bollinger Shipyards (@BollingerShip) October 28, 2024
