United Launch Alliance successfully test-fires latest Vulcan rocket
Following a successful Flight Tanking Test (FTT), United Launch Alliance fired up the Vulcan rocket for the primary time last night. The 2 Blue Origin-built BE-4 rocket engines ignited for six seconds and pushed ULA closer to their maiden launch of the rocket.
United Launch Alliance stated they’re greater than 98 percent through the qualification program for Vulcan, and after reviewing data from the Flight Readiness Firing (FRF) and shutting the Centaur V anomaly investigation, they are going to then announce launch plans.
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Ignition of the Blue Origin built BE-4 engines (Credit United Launch Alliance)
During this test firing, the BE-4 engines ignited at T- 4.88 seconds and ramped as much as 60% power for two seconds before powering down.
The United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket has faced many delays leading as much as this moment, most recently experiencing an anomaly of the Centaur V upper stage that was undergoing qualification testing on the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.
ULA is currently conducting an investigation into the explanation for the anomaly, and in response to ULA CEO Tory Bruno, they found the difficulty was on the Centaur upper stage itself, but they’re still determining if changes will have to be made to its current flight article that’s stacked on Vulcan.
🔥 Let’s relive that stunning #VulcanRocket Flight Readiness Firing! #CountdowntoVulcan 🔥 pic.twitter.com/WqPe3jbpiW
— ULA (@ulalaunch) June 8, 2023
Prior to this unexpected issue, Blue Origin originally had planned to deliver two of their flight-ready BE-4 engines to ULA for integration onto the Vulcan rocket by 2020, but various delays in qualifications and testing meant their delivery slipped significantly to late 2022.
Following their integration onto the Vulcan rocket’s first stage, it was then shipped aboard ULA’s ‘RocketShip’ down the Mississippi River, through the Gulf of Mexico, and after rounding the southern tip of Florida to Port Canaveral, Florida, after which it was unloaded after which transported to the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
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Vulcan stands at SLC-40 prior to its Flight Readiness Firing (Credit United Launch Alliance)
This FRF test comes before the planned Summer launch of Vulcan Centaur carrying Astrobotics Peregrine Lunar lander and Amazon’s first two Kuiper satellites, their answer to the SpaceX Starlink satellite constellation.
Also often known as the CERT-1 flight, the Vulcan Centaur rocket must perform 2 successful launches to qualify to launch national security payloads for the U.S. Space Force and other government payloads.
The second flight will feature the primary launch of the Sierra Space Dream Chaser space plane, which is able to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. As of now, the vast majority of the payload manifest for Vulcan Centaur is Amazon’s Kuiper satellite constellation and U.S. Space Force national security missions.
The Vulcan Centaur rocket has just a few configurations available to suit multiple payload sizes, the rocket can fly with just the two BE-4 engines delivering 1.1 million kilos of thrust at sea level to flying with 2, 4, or 6 solid rocket boosters and with 6 SRB’s it might bring its thrust as much as 3.8 million kilos.
This may make the Vulcan Centaur able to delivering 60,000 lbs (27,200 kg) to low Earth orbit or 25,400 lbs (11,500 kg) to the Moon. ULA can also be working toward its SMART re-use system, which is able to allow the two BE-4 engines to separate from the primary stage, and after an inflatable heatshield deploys, they might return to Earth and splash down for recovery and refurb for his or her next mission.
Nevertheless, it’s unknown when ULA will begin using this capability.