Competing for business with SpaceX Falcon 9, Boeing-Lockheed ULA aims to launch the first flight of Vulcan Centaur rockets on May 4.
CTOnews.com, February 26, CEO Tory Bruno of ULA, a Boeing-Lockheed joint venture, announced in a telephone conversation with reporters that the company's new generation of Vulcan Centaur rockets tentatively set May 4 as the target date for the first flight, with a launch window of four days.
According to Parabolic Arc, the main factor affecting time is the BE-4 rocket engine provided by Blue Origin. The two companies continue to evaluate BE-4, mainly because ULA tests found some inconsistencies in several engines received. Although the performance difference is not very large, ULA still wants to make sure that this is not a production problem with Blue Origin.
In addition, there are some complete steps that must be taken before the launch, including the most important wet drills, while the main carrier of the Vulcan Centaur's maiden flight-the Peregrine lunar lander from American aerospace robotics company Astrobotic Technology-is waiting for a suitable lunar launch window, which is suitable for launch at only a certain time of month. The combination of these factors led ULA to tentatively set the date for May 4.
As previously reported by CTOnews.com, in addition to the Peregine lunar lander, the maiden Vulcan Centaur will also carry two prototype devices of Amazon Project Kuiper web satellites, allowing Amazon to collect real data before the satellite design is finalized.
If Vulcan Centaur makes its maiden flight on May 4, it will be a long-awaited success for ULA, giving NASA an alternative to the SpaceX Falcon 9 heavy launch vehicle.
Vulcan Centaur is expected to launch 27.2 metric tons to low-Earth orbit, or about 15.3 metric tons to geosynchronous transfer orbit. The rocket has a full height of 61.6m and a fairing diameter of 5.4m, which is much wider than the 3.66m width of Falcon 9, which also allows it to launch something larger that competitors' rockets cannot carry.
