It is difficult to underestimate how much was at stake in the launch of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) of the Vulcan Centaur rocket: major reputations, billions of dollars, a new lunar lander, the country's dreams for lunar exploration, new rocket engines used for the first time and what is, literally, the future of ULA as such.
And the ULA achieved it. The company's next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket successfully lifted off in the early hours of Monday, January 8, and its primary payload, a lunar lander of Astrobotic Now he's on his way to the moon.
The rocket lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Center at 2:18 a.m. of Monday. The first stage, which is powered by two methane-powered Blue Origin BE-4 engines, separates from the Centaur V upper stage at around 2:24.
The Centaur's main engine shutdown occurred around T+15 minutes. Centaur executed two more burns to get Astrobotic's Peregrine lander on the correct trajectory to the moon. Once completed, the lander, named Peregrine, will now embark on a month-and-a-half journey to the moon. Peregrine is taking a slightly longer route to the Moon, so it will have to execute a handful of complicated burns to maneuver into progressively lower lunar orbits. Finally, the spacecraft will attempt to land autonomously near a region called Gruithuisen Domes on February 23.
The launch and subsequent trip to the moon are a defining moment for both United Launch Alliance and Astrobotic. The first venture, a 50-XNUMX joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is envisioned as the future of ULA. The rocket is designed to replace the Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy, both of which are nearing retirement.
The rocket is also designed to compete with other launch providers, such as SpaceX, by offering a large payload fairing and an adjustable configuration depending on the mission profile. Therefore, customers will be able to choose between two payload fairing sizes (51 or 70 feet long) and four standard configurations with zero, two, four or six solid rocket boosters, depending on mission profile and requirements. the client's.
ULA has already sold several missions for the 65,5-meter-tall Vulcan, including 38 to Amazon to deploy part of its ambitious Project Kuiper satellite broadband constellation. The launch company has also secured more than two dozen contracts with the US Space Force (USSF), although it must complete one more launch certification before it can begin fulfilling those launches.
If all goes as planned, ULA could run that second certification rollout, called Cert-2, as early as April. That mission will transport another high-profile, high-stakes payload: Sierra Space's Dream Chaser spaceplane, which would embark on a journey to the International Space Station. The four remaining missions on this year's Vulcan manifest would all be for the USSF.
ULA and Astrobotic aren't the only ones who have something to celebrate: this is also the first time Blue Origin's BE-4 engines have flown, a triumph that comes after nearly a decade of development. While Vulcan will initially be completely expendable, the ultimate goal is to recover the two engines in the air and reuse them to further reduce costs.
Astrobotic's Peregrine is also the first lander to fly under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, an initiative to boost the development of lunar delivery services by commercial providers. Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic received $79,5 million for this mission in 2019, a cost that later increased to $108 million; Even if the moon landing fails, it remains an important proof of concept for NASA's ambitious efforts to foster advanced space services from private industry.
