Following the anomaly investigation into the Centaur V upper stage, United Launch Alliance is de-stacking the Vulcan Centaur rocket and shipping the Centaur V upper stage back to Decatur, Alabama.
While the Vulcan Centaur’s first stage performed nominally in the course of the Flight Readiness Firing and met all objectives, United Launch Alliance is doing the precise thing and fixing any potential issues on the bottom before checking out about them during flight. It’s price noting, the Centaur V upper stage performed as expected in the course of the test firing during which it was fully fueled and pressurized in a flight configuration.
The anomaly investigation found that “Centaur’s thin-walled pressure stabilized tanks require minor reinforcement at the highest of the forward dome” and they’re going to also select one other Centaur V currently in production at their processing facility to finish qualification testing.
This process will delay the maiden launch of the Vulcan Centaur for quite a while, and there’s a high probability that a few of those national security payloads may very well be converted to the Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy. United Launch Alliance had originally won 60% of the contract, with SpaceX picking up the remaining 40%.
OK. Yet one more. Ensure you switch up the quantity.. #VulcanRocket #CountdowntoVulcan pic.twitter.com/sdR6m2ycxR
— Tory Bruno (@torybruno) June 10, 2023
While the Centaur V upper stage is shipped back and reinforcements added, the Vulcan first stage will probably be faraway from the mobile launch platform and lowered right into a horizontal position for storage within the Horizontal Integration Facility.
United Launch Alliance’s Gary Wentz said the fix could be “relatively easy,” so there’s a probability that Vulcan Centaur could make its maiden launch before the 12 months is out.
The payload for the primary launch is Astrobotics Peregrine lunar lander, which is finished and prepared for shipping to the launch site in Florida. While this launch could still occur this 12 months, it is very likely that Amazon’s launch of their first two Kuiper web satellites will probably be delayed further, making a little bit of a domino effect for payloads assigned to the delayed rocket.
Throughout all of this, rumors abound of United Launch Alliance being shopped around for somebody to purchase. How much could these issues with the rocket that’s speculated to be their primary workhorse for years if not a long time to return, affect their potential buyers?