United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) new Vulcan Centaur rocket will conduct its first-ever nationwide safety launch subsequent week, if all goes in accordance with plan.
ULA introduced on Tuesday (Aug. 5) that it is focusing on Aug. 12 for USSF-106, a U.S. Space Force mission that can elevate off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
“This is the first national security space launch aboard the certified Vulcan rocket. The Vulcan rocket will deploy the USSF-106 mission directly to geosynchronous (GEO) orbit using the high-performance Centaur V upper stage,” ULA mentioned via X on Tuesday.
Vulcan Centaur — the alternative for ULA’s venerable Atlas V rocket — has two flights below its belt so far, each of which have been profitable.
The first one, which flew in January 2024, despatched Astrobotic’s robotic Peregrine moon lander to Earth orbit. (Peregrine suffered a crippling anomaly shortly after it deployed from the rocket’s Centaur higher stage and ended up crashing again to Earth.)
Vulcan’s second flight, in October 2024, was a take a look at mission that flew with an inert mass simulator as a payload. The mass simulator took the place of Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser house aircraft, the initially deliberate payload, which wasn’t prepared in time for the launch.
Vulcan powered via an issue on that second flight — the failure of of an engine nozzle on one among its two stable rocket boosters (SRBs). Its efficiency on these two missions impressed the Space Force sufficient to certify Vulcan Centaur for nationwide safety missions, an enormous milestone for ULA that was introduced in March.
The choice doubled the variety of at present licensed U.S. nationwide safety launch suppliers; SpaceX had been the one firm that would loft such payloads. (ULA’s Atlas V launched many nationwide safety missions over time, however no such payloads are on its docket forward of its retirement in 2030 or so.)
“Assured access to space is a core function of the Space Force and a critical element of national security,” Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, the Space Force’s program govt officer for assured entry to house, mentioned in an announcement in late March. “Vulcan certification adds launch capacity, resiliency and flexibility needed by our nation’s most critical space-based systems.”