Monday launch from California begins countdown to Atlas 5 retirement – Spaceflight Now:
An Atlas 5 rocket standing on a launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base, set for liftoff Monday with the Landsat 9 Earth observation satellite, is one of 29 Atlas 5s remaining in ULA’s inventory. Jessica Rye, a ULA spokesperson, confirmed last month that all 29 Atlas 5s have been sold to customers for future launches.
ULA received its final shipment of RD-180 engines from Russia earlier this year. A dual-nozzle RD-180 engine, made in Russia by NPO Energomash, powers the first stage of each Atlas 5 rocket, generating around 860,000 pounds of thrust at full throttle while guzzling kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants.
The new Vulcan Centaur will be driven by twin U.S.-made BE-4 main engines from Blue Origin, the space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos. ULA says the Vulcan Centaur will have more lift capability, additional mission flexibility, and will be cheaper to operate than the existing Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rocket families.
There are three Delta 4 rockets left to fly on ULA’s schedule.
The Landsat 9 mission is the latest in a series of environmental satellites developed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. The new mission is designed for a lifetime of at least five years, extending an unbroken data record of global land images that dates back to the launch of the first Landsat satellite in 1972.
[...] Liftoff is timed for 11:12 a.m. PDT (2:12 p.m. EDT; 1812 GMT)[*] from Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg, a military base around 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
Launch is scheduled to occur 4 hours after this story goes live.
NASA live-stream of the launch on YouTube
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With further delays to BE-4 rocket engine, Vulcan may not make 2022 debut
Blue Origin is unlikely to deliver two flight-ready versions of the BE-4 rocket engine to United Launch Alliance (ULA) before at least the second quarter of 2022, two sources say. This increases the possibility that the debut flight of ULA's much-anticipated new rocket, Vulcan, could slip into 2023.
Vulcan's first stage is powered by two BE-4 engines, which burn methane and are more powerful than the space shuttle's main engines. The sources said there recently was a "relatively small" production issue with fabrication of the flight engines at Blue Origin's factory in Kent, Washington.
As a result of this, the engines will not be completed and shipped to the company's test stands in West Texas until next year. Once there, each engine must be unpacked, tested, and then re-configured to be moved to ULA's rocket assembly facility in northern Alabama. A reasonable "no-earlier-than" date for the engines' arrival at the rocket manufacturer is now April 2022, and this assumes a smooth final production and testing phase.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday September 27 2021, @03:58PM
"Where are my engines, Jeff?!"
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 4, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday September 27 2021, @04:02PM (8 children)
This would make Russia a more reliable engine supplier than Blue Origin with their BE-4 engines that were supposed to be ready a few years ago. The most recent deadline was July, two months ago. Any idea when ULA will receive fright certified BE-4 engines from Blue Origin?
ULA has sold all of it's remaining Atlas launchers. ULA had to bow out of a NASA launch because it had sold all of it's remaining Atlas launch capacity. (which is a good thing . . . unless they are unable to ever launch their new Vulcan Centaur because of Blue Origin)
Assuming Blue Origin can deliver.
Their specialty, and the focus of the company, seems to be their New Shepard. A rocket purpose built for sub orbital amusement joyrides for the super rich. Once they proved it could reach sub-orbit, and then land successfully -- multiple times -- did they then move on to bigger and better but more challenging things?
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 27 2021, @06:50PM (1 child)
Blue Origin isn't even trying to deliver. Jeff Bezos is deliberately running ULA out of business.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 27 2021, @11:46PM
If he does then it will be time to make popcorn, because Lockmart and Boeing will teach him what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a big city lawyering.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 28 2021, @12:07AM (5 children)
They should just switch over the SpaceX. Where do they get their engines? And why isn't Pratt & Whitney making the damn things? No profit?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 28 2021, @12:24AM (1 child)
Switching to Raptor engines would be a major redesign and would defeat the 'second independent supplier' thing that keeps ULA in business. There is also the problem that Raptors aren't a stable design so they'd need to block buy and then rework their rocket for each batch. I wouldn't be surprised if Tory has a red team working on it in secret, but that isn't something he'd admit to until *after* Jeff reneges on the contract.
P&W sold their rocket business to Aerojet back in 2013. Making Shuttle engine parts wasn't profitable without the Shuttle flying any more.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 28 2021, @01:19AM
Well,somebody needs to be sacked..
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday September 28 2021, @01:40PM (2 children)
ULA originally considered Blue Origin's BE-4 engine as well as a similar spec engine from (IIRC) aerojet rocketdyne. (hope I rememberized that correctfully)
The other engine would be more expensive, and some redesign would be required. But I suspect not as radical a change as Raptor. I believe both used the same fuel/oxidizer.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 28 2021, @06:35PM (1 child)
The price you pay for something functional. Which is more expensive? Waiting for Godot, or redesigning your vehicle?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Touché) by DannyB on Tuesday September 28 2021, @07:06PM
But Jeff Bezos promised . . .
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Monday September 27 2021, @08:19PM (1 child)
When the supplier goes out of business and sells it's remaining engines?
Sounds more to me like "here's your Rolex I bought from a guy on the beach yesterday, it's been nice, now GTFO. Warranty? Good for 30 years, just find Fred on the beach, he's there every day"
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 28 2021, @12:29AM
Roscosmos hasn't gone out of business. Atlas is being retired because it is now illegal to use imported engines for NSSL contracts. Without those contracts to keep up the launch cadence it simply isn't profitable any more.