United Launch Alliance is heading again to the launch pad with a Vulcan rocket forward of the automobile’s second launch. ULA must efficiently fly this second certification mission earlier than it will possibly start launching nationwide safety payloads for the U.S. Area Drive and the Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace.
Liftoff of the mission dubbed Cert-2 is concentrating on Friday, Oct. 4, throughout a three-hour launch widow that opens at 6 a.m. EDT (1000 UTC). ULA accomplished stacking the rocket on Sunday, Sept. 21.
Following a stretch of dodgy climate attributable to Hurricane Helene, Monday guarantees to be a sunny day on Florida’s Area Coast because the rocket emerges from the Vertical Integration Facility to start the 550-meter (0.34 mi.) journey to the launchpad.
After the Monday morning rollout, the 202-foot-tall (61.6 m) rocket will endure a tanking check on Tuesday, referred to as a moist costume rehearsal. When totally fueled, this variant of the Vulcan rocket, designation VC2S, weighs roughly 1.5 million kilos (663,000 kg).
There aren’t any plans to conduct a static fireplace check of the 2 BE-4 engines on the bottom of the rocket previous to launch.
The mission will carry an inert payload, that means nothing is designed to separate from the Centaur 5 higher stage of the rocket following the deployment of the payload fairings. Throughout a June teleconference with members of the press, ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno talked about that the Cert-2 flight will carry some experiments and expertise demonstrations “which might be related to expertise improvement for future insertion into our Centaur 5 higher stage.”
“We’ll do some maneuvers with the higher stage simply to full characterize the boundaries of what Centaur 5 can do. We’ll measure the way it behaves relative to its cryogenics,” Bruno stated through the June 26 teleconference. “Clearly, it’s a really lengthy period higher stage that’s required for these direct-injection, high-energy orbits, so it lasts a very very long time. However as , as you would possibly guess, we might by no means plan a mission and didn’t design it proper to the wire of after we’d be out of propellant or when the boil off would eat and acceptable quantity of propellant. We’ve some margins and setbacks from that, however this is a chance for us to get some actually extra direct measurements on how that boil off conduct occurs. So, we’ll be measuring that, together with these maneuvers.
“We’ll even have experiments hooked up to this inert payload that can assist us perceive easy methods to lengthen the period of the higher stage and what the boundaries, sensible limits to that could be sooner or later.”
Since then, Bruno and ULA have remained pretty quiet as to the specifics of these tech demos and experiments. In a tongue and cheek social media response to a query concerning the Cert-2 payload, Bruno merely stated “Extremely proprietary, secret sauce. It’s going to be awhile earlier than we share extra.”
ULA made the willpower to not carry a buyer payload onboard the rocket after Sierra Area allow them to know that their Dream Chaser spaceplane wouldn’t be prepared for its deliberate launch to the Worldwide Area Station.
Like Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, Sierra Area can also be a part of the Business Resupplies Service 2 (CRS-2) contract with NASA. In a 2016 press launch, Sierra Area stated “Dream Chaser will present a minimal of six cargo supply missions to and from the ISS between 2019 and 2024.”
On Sept. 27, Sierra Area stated it accomplished a check to confirm that its Passive Widespread Berthing Mechanism (PCBM) met NASA’s requirements to permit for a secure docking with the ISS. Earlier this month, it stated its Taking pictures Star cargo module completed with its acoustic testing.
“Our revolutionary Taking pictures Star cargo module presents the potential to ship extra capability, flexibility and energy to a variety of missions,” stated Sierra Area CEO, Tom Vice, in an announcement. “In our first mission, Taking pictures Star will carry vital science, meals and cargo to the Worldwide Area Station for NASA, and our cargo modules will proceed to play an integral function in bringing provides to area as we construct a Low Earth Orbit financial system via business spaceflight.”
The four-day check marketing campaign was designed to make sure that it might “stand up to the acoustic setting of a launch on a Vulcan Centaur rocket.”
Our staff efficiently accomplished the ISS Joint Take a look at of our Passive Widespread Berthing Mechanism (PCBM). This check verified that the PCBM meets NASA’s requirements. It included leak exams and alignment checks, guaranteeing the berthing interface security between Dream Chaser and the ISS. pic.twitter.com/qvHCICdFT6
— Sierra Area (@SierraSpaceCo) September 27, 2024
Spherical two
Finishing the Cert-2 mission is essential to ULA. Not solely will it permit the corporate to launch nationwide safety payloads utilizing the Vulcan rocket, but it surely additionally strengthens their place to bid on future missions for NASA.
In a September 2024 interview with Ars Technica, Tim Dunn, the senior launch director at NASA’s Launch Companies Program based mostly on the Kennedy Area Heart, stated reaching a profitable flight with Cert-1 “allowed them to be able to bid on our missions.”
“A second Cert flight that can then reveal a couple of different capabilities of the rocket permits extra information for our certification staff that’s working in live performance with the US Area Drive’s certification staff,” Dunn instructed Ars’ Stephen Clark. “We’re doing loads of shared, intergovernmental collaborations within the certification work, so it permits us all extra information, extra confidence in that launch automobile to fulfill all of the wants that we consider we could have within the coming decade-plus.”
Nevertheless, a profitable second flight of Vulcan doesn’t robotically imply ULA will get to maneuver to those essential authorities missions. Throughout an look on the Air, Area and Cyber Convention earlier this month, Area Information reported that Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, who serves as the manager officer for the U.S. Area Drive’s Assured Entry to Area program, stated that “it’s not instantaneous that if they’ve a clear flight, they’re robotically licensed.”
“We could have loads of information to undergo after that simply to be sure that all the pieces carried out as much as expectations. We’ll want a while after that to be sure that all the pieces was clear,” Panzenhagen stated. “We’re positively trying ahead to having them be fully licensed, so we will begin these nationwide safety area launches.”
Throughout his feedback in June, Bruno stated they meant to launch USSF-106 and USSF-87 earlier than the tip of the calendar 12 months. Each of the Vulcan rockets that will probably be used to assist this mission had been delivered to the Cape earlier this 12 months earlier than ULA despatched its Rocketship barge off to get some work finished at a dry dock.
Because it awaits these future launches, ULA can also be persevering with work on its second VIF situated at Cape Canaveral Area Drive Station in addition to the launch infrastructure at Area Launch Advanced 3 (SLC-3) situated at Vandenberg Area Drive Base. Bruno stated on social media that each belongings will come into play in 2025.
Mounting a brand new swing arm atop the umbilical tower at SLC-3. The higher swing arm will service the hydrogen vent for Centaur V, whereas the decrease swingarm will home engine chilldown and hazgas strains along with delivering hydrogen and LOX into the Centaur V.
#vulcanrocket . pic.twitter.com/PEJFkE0cjP— Tory Bruno (@torybruno) September 28, 2024
