United Launch Alliance successfully tests new Vulcan rocket
Following a successful flight tanking test (FTT), United Launch Alliance launched its first Vulcan rocket last night. His two BE-4 rocket engines, built by Blue Origin, ignited in his six seconds, bringing the ULA closer to its first rocket launch.
United Launch Alliance said it has passed more than 98 percent of Vulcan’s certification program and will announce a launch plan after reviewing data from flight preparation fires (FRFs) and completing an anomaly investigation of Centaur V. .
Blue Origin BE-4 engine ignition (Credit United Launch Alliance)
During this test ignition, the BE-4 engine fired at T-4.88 seconds, ramped up to 60% power in 2 seconds, and then switched off.
The United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket had faced numerous delays leading up to this moment, most recently an anomaly in the Centaur V upper stage undergoing certification testing at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. .
The ULA is now investigating the cause of the anomaly, and ULA CEO Tory Bruno said the problem was found to be in the Centaur upper stage itself, but changed to the current flight article. It is still being determined whether it is necessary to add It is loaded on the Vulcan.
Prior to this unforeseen problem, Blue Origin had originally delivered two flyable BE-4 engines to ULA and was due to deliver by 2020 for incorporation into the Vulcan rocket, but failed to qualify. Due to various delays in testing and testing, delivery has been pushed back significantly to the second half of 2022.
After being installed in the first stage of a Vulcan rocket, it was transported aboard ULA’s “Rocketship” down the Mississippi River, across the Gulf of Mexico, around the southern tip of Florida, and to Port Canaveral, Florida. It was then transported to the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Force Station Cape Canaveral.
Vulcan standing on SLC-40 before flight preparatory fire (Credit United Launch Alliance)
This FRF test comes ahead of the summer’s planned launch of the Vulcan Centaur, which will carry the Astrobotics Peregrine lunar lander and Amazon’s first two Kuiper satellites, the answer to the SpaceX Starlink constellation.
Vulcan Centaur rockets, also known as CERT-1 flights, require two successful launches to qualify to launch national security payloads for the United States Space Force and other government payloads.
In the second flight, the first launch of the space plane “Sierra Space Dream Chaser” to deliver supplies to the International Space Station will be performed. At the moment, Vulcan’s Centaur payloads are the bulk of his manifesto, Amazon’s Kuiper satellite constellation and the US Space Force’s national security missions.
Available in several configurations for multiple payload sizes, the Vulcan Centaur rocket can be flown with just two BE-4 engines delivering 1.1 million pounds of thrust at sea level, two It can also fly with 4 or 6 solid rocket boosters. With six SRBs, the thrust will be up to 3.8 million pounds.
This would allow the Vulcan Centaur to carry 60,000 pounds (27,200 kg) into low Earth orbit and 25,400 pounds (11,500 kg) into the moon. ULA is also working on realizing a SMART reuse system. This will separate the two BE-4 engines from the first stage and deploy an inflatable heat shield before returning to Earth and landing on the water for recovery and subsequent engine modifications. . Mission.
However, it is unclear when ULA will start using this feature.
Questions or comments? Email or tweet us at @rangle1555@gmail.com. @RDAnglePhoto.
