United Launch Alliance is heading again to the launch pad with a Vulcan rocket forward of the car’s second launch. ULA must efficiently fly this second certification mission earlier than it will possibly start launching nationwide safety payloads for the U.S. Area Pressure and the Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace.
Liftoff of the mission dubbed Cert-2 is concentrating on Friday, Oct. 4, throughout a three-hour launch widow that opens at 6 a.m. EDT (1000 UTC). ULA accomplished stacking the rocket on Sunday, Sept. 21.
Following a stretch of dodgy climate attributable to Hurricane Helene, Monday guarantees to be a sunny day on Florida’s Area Coast because the rocket emerges from the Vertical Integration Facility to start the 550-meter (0.34 mi.) journey to the launchpad.
After the Monday morning rollout, the 202-foot-tall (61.6 m) rocket will endure a tanking take a look at on Tuesday, known as a moist costume rehearsal. When absolutely fueled, this variant of the Vulcan rocket, designation VC2S, weighs roughly 1.5 million kilos (663,000 kg).
There aren’t any plans to conduct a static fireplace take a look at of the 2 BE-4 engines on the bottom of the rocket previous to launch.
The mission will carry an inert payload, that means nothing is designed to separate from the Centaur 5 higher stage of the rocket following the deployment of the payload fairings. Throughout a June teleconference with members of the press, ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno talked about that the Cert-2 flight will carry some experiments and know-how demonstrations “which might be related to know-how improvement for future insertion into our Centaur 5 higher stage.”
“We’ll do some maneuvers with the higher stage simply to full characterize the bounds of what Centaur 5 can do. We’ll measure the way it behaves relative to its cryogenics,” Bruno stated through the June 26 teleconference. “Clearly, it’s a really lengthy length higher stage that’s required for these direct-injection, high-energy orbits, so it lasts a very very long time. However as you understand, as you would possibly guess, we’d by no means plan a mission and didn’t design it proper to the wire of after we’d be out of propellant or when the boil off would eat and acceptable quantity of propellant. We now have some margins and setbacks from that, however this is a chance for us to get some actually extra direct measurements on how that boil off habits occurs. So, we’ll be measuring that, together with these maneuvers.
“We’ll even have experiments connected to this inert payload that can assist us perceive easy methods to prolong the length of the higher stage and what the bounds, sensible limits to that may be sooner or later.”
Since then, Bruno and ULA have remained pretty quiet as to the specifics of these tech demos and experiments. In a tongue and cheek social media response to a query concerning the Cert-2 payload, Bruno merely stated “Extremely proprietary, secret sauce. It’s going to be awhile earlier than we share extra.”
ULA made the willpower to not carry a buyer payload onboard the rocket after Sierra Area allow them to know that their Dream Chaser spaceplane wouldn’t be prepared for its deliberate launch to the Worldwide Area Station.
Like Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, Sierra Area can be a part of the Industrial Resupplies Service 2 (CRS-2) contract with NASA. In a 2016 press launch, Sierra Area stated “Dream Chaser will present a minimal of six cargo supply missions to and from the ISS between 2019 and 2024.”
On Sept. 27, Sierra Area stated it accomplished a take a look at to confirm that its Passive Frequent Berthing Mechanism (PCBM) met NASA’s requirements to permit for a secure docking with the ISS. Earlier this month, it stated its Taking pictures Star cargo module completed with its acoustic testing.
“Our progressive Taking pictures Star cargo module provides the potential to ship extra capability, flexibility and energy to a variety of missions,” stated Sierra Area CEO, Tom Vice, in an announcement. “In our first mission, Taking pictures Star will carry essential science, meals and cargo to the Worldwide Area Station for NASA, and our cargo modules will proceed to play an integral function in bringing provides to house as we construct a Low Earth Orbit financial system via business spaceflight.”
The four-day take a look at marketing campaign was designed to make sure that it may “stand up to the acoustic surroundings of a launch on a Vulcan Centaur rocket.”
Our group efficiently accomplished the ISS Joint Check of our Passive Frequent Berthing Mechanism (PCBM). This take a look at verified that the PCBM meets NASA’s requirements. It included leak assessments and alignment checks, guaranteeing the berthing interface security between Dream Chaser and the ISS. pic.twitter.com/qvHCICdFT6
— Sierra Area (@SierraSpaceCo) September 27, 2024
Spherical two
Finishing the Cert-2 mission is essential to ULA. Not solely will it permit the corporate to launch nationwide safety payloads utilizing the Vulcan rocket, but it surely additionally strengthens their place to bid on future missions for NASA.
In a September 2024 interview with Ars Technica, Tim Dunn, the senior launch director at NASA’s Launch Companies Program based mostly on the Kennedy Area Middle, stated attaining a profitable flight with Cert-1 “allowed them to be ready to bid on our missions.”
“A second Cert flight that can then exhibit just a few different capabilities of the rocket permits extra information for our certification group that’s working in live performance with the US Area Pressure’s certification group,” Dunn informed Ars’ Stephen Clark. “We’re doing plenty of shared, intergovernmental collaborations within the certification work, so it permits us all extra information, extra confidence in that launch car to satisfy all of the wants that we consider we can have within the coming decade-plus.”
Nevertheless, a profitable second flight of Vulcan doesn’t routinely imply ULA will get to maneuver to those essential authorities missions. Throughout an look on the Air, Area and Cyber Convention earlier this month, Area Information reported that Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, who serves as the chief officer for the U.S. Area Pressure’s Assured Entry to Area program, stated that “it’s not instantaneous that if they’ve a clear flight, they’re routinely licensed.”
“We can have plenty of information to undergo after that simply to be sure that every part carried out as much as expectations. We’ll want a while after that to be sure that every part was clear,” Panzenhagen stated. “We’re positively wanting ahead to having them be utterly licensed, so we are able to begin these nationwide safety house launches.”
Throughout his feedback in June, Bruno stated they meant to launch USSF-106 and USSF-87 earlier than the tip of the calendar yr. Each of the Vulcan rockets that will probably be used to assist this mission had been delivered to the Cape earlier this yr earlier than ULA despatched its Rocketship barge off to get some work completed at a dry dock.
Because it awaits these future launches, ULA can be persevering with work on its second VIF situated at Cape Canaveral Area Pressure Station in addition to the launch infrastructure at Area Launch Advanced 3 (SLC-3) situated at Vandenberg Area Pressure Base. Bruno stated on social media that each property will come into play in 2025.
Mounting a brand new swing arm atop the umbilical tower at SLC-3. The higher swing arm will service the hydrogen vent for Centaur V, whereas the decrease swingarm will home engine chilldown and hazgas traces along with delivering hydrogen and LOX into the Centaur V.
#vulcanrocket . pic.twitter.com/PEJFkE0cjP— Tory Bruno (@torybruno) September 28, 2024