United Launch Alliance won’t see the debut of its next-generation Vulcan rocket in 2023, as previously planned.
The launch company’s chief executive, Tory Bruno, announced the delay on the social media site X on Sunday. United Launch Alliance had been working toward a debut flight of the lift booster on Christmas Eve, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Bruno made the announcement after the corporate attempted to finish a fueling test of all the rocket, often called a wet dress rehearsal.
“Vehicle performed well,” Bruno wrote. “Ground system had a few (routine) issues, (being corrected). Ran the timeline long so we didn’t quite finish. I’d like a FULL WDR before our first flight, so XMAS eve is probably going out. Next Peregrine window is 8 Jan.”
Peregrine is the rocket’s primary payload, a lunar lander built by Astrobotic that is meant to deliver scientific experiments for NASA and other payloads the Moon. It has specific launch windows as a way to reach the Moon and attempt a landing during ideal lighting conditions.
From the data contained in Bruno’s comment, it appears as if the work to correct the bottom systems to fuel Vulcan—the primary stage propellant is methane, which United Launch Alliance has not worked with before—will take long enough that it would preclude one other fueling test ahead of the rocket’s late December launch window. Thus, the subsequent launch attempt will likely occur no sooner than January 8.
A lightweight cadence
It has been a slow 12 months for United Launch Alliance, which dominated the US launch industry a decade ago. The corporate goes to launch just three rockets this calendar 12 months: the classified NROL-68 mission on a Delta IV Heavy rocket in June, the “Silentbarker” mission for the National Reconnaissance Office on an Atlas V in September, and two Project Kuiper satellites for Amazon on an Atlas V in October.
That’s the corporate’s lowest total variety of launches since its founding in 2006, when the rocket businesses of Lockheed Martin and Boeing were merged.
A part of the explanation for the low total is that United Launch Alliance is undergoing a transition from its historical fleet of Delta and Atlas rockets to Vulcan, which is meant to be more price competitive with other industrial offerings, comparable to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. There might be loads of demand for Vulcan once it starts flying regulary.
Nonetheless, one other factor is that the lower cost and equally reliable Falcon rockets have taken industrial and government launch business away from United Launch Alliance. SpaceX has steadily ascended during the last decade as United Launch Alliance has struggled to compete.
Whereas Bruno’s company launched just three rockets in 2023, on a handful of occasions SpaceX has launched three rockets in three days during this calendar 12 months. SpaceX is more likely to end the 12 months with between 95 and 100 total launches.