On October 4, a United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan VC2S rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, launching the second certification mission (Cert-2). For the second time, ULA successfully demonstrated the capabilities of its new launcher, which will replace the Atlas-V rocket. The launch wasn’t without complications, however. Shortly after launch what appeared to be a small explosion went off at the base of one of the Solid Rocket Boosters. Thankfully, this did not seem to have a significant impact on the result of the mission.
At 11:25 a.m. UTC, the BE-4 main engines and two solid boosters ignited, launching into orbit an inert payload to demonstrate Centaur V’s performance capabilities. 23 seconds after liftoff, a small plume of hot gas appeared near the throat of SRB 1’s nozzle. This new stream of gases was flowing into the main exhaust, generating a plume visibly wider than that of the other motor. At L+0:37, a cloud of sparks and debris went off at the base of the SRB. The rocket tilted slightly, suggesting a loss of thrust on the SRB, but then recovered its attitude.
These observations suggest something happened to the nozzle of the solid booster. The two 63XL boosters separated from the main stage at approximately L+2:10, around 20 seconds later than what the flight timeline predicted. The Centaur stage separated from the first stage three minutes later and the RL10 engines successfully fired in space. These events also appeared to take place slightly behind schedule, by approximately 10 seconds.
During the ascent of the Vulcan rocket on the #Cert2 mission, there appeared to be an issue with the solid rocket booster on the right side of the vehicle as seen from the KSC Press Site. However, the Centaur was able to reach orbit.https://t.co/3iwWLVWZHp
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) October 4, 2024
📹: @ABernNYC pic.twitter.com/5h06ffNMXr
One of Vulcan’s SRBs experiences an anomaly, leading to a slight tilt. Credits: SpaceflightNow
After the payload fairing jettison, the flight proceeded with the MECO-1, MES-2, and MECO-2 operations during the coast phase. Although no mention of the anomaly was made during the webcast, the trajectory was confirmed to be nominal. This validation opens the door for Vulcan to a large series of missions commissioned by the US Space Force for the coming years.
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Dream Chaser Misses Appointment
Originally, the second flight of Vulcan should have carried Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser cargo spacecraft to make its first resupply run to the International Space Station. However, the missed readiness of the spaceplane jeopardized the certification mission and ULA decided to proceed at his own expense.
ULA booked Dream Chaser to launch the second test flight of its Vulcan rocket in five years, but the spacecraft now faces an indefinite delay before it can take flight.
In the meantime, ULA had to withstand the pressure of its main customer, the Space Force, which plans to launch two Vulcan national security missions, USSF-106 and USSF-87, by the end of the year. The other ULA’s big customer, Amazon’s Kuiper broadband constellation, wasn’t ready to launch its first batch of satellites on Vulcan today.
ULA was left with no choice other than launching the rocket at his own expense, carrying a dummy load to certify the rocket for launching national security missions.
Today’s inert payload was originally built as a backup in case Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander suffered delays before Vulcan’s maiden launch.
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Rocket Configuration
The booster is 5.4 m in diameter and 33.3 m in length. Two staged combustion Methalox (liquid methane and oxygen) fueled BE-4 engines propel it, each producing 2,400 kN of sea-level thrust.
In the future, the company aims to recover those engines separately from the first-stage tank, through a re-entry system consisting of an inflatable heat shield. This system will allow the reconditioning of the engines in a short time with an estimated saving of 60% of the cost expected for the complete reconditioning of an engine-tank system. The goal is for this new recovery strategy to ensure that ULA can keep up with the ultra-competitive prices of SpaceX launches.
Two graphite epoxy motor (GEM) 63XL solid rocket boosters (SRBs) generate additional power, each providing 2,044 kN of thrust. Depending on the mission, the number of solid boosters can vary to a maximum of six.
The Centaur V second stage is 5.4 m in diameter and 11.7 m in length. The vehicle uses cryogenic fuel, with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, and two RL10C-1-1A engines that produce 106 kN of thrust.
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A strong supply chain
The United Launch Alliance is a consortium formed by Lockheed Martin and Boeing, for the creation of a completely US modular launch system capable of serving all launch needs, from small payloads in low orbit to interplanetary trajectories.
After the end of supplies of the Russian-made RD-180 engines that have put the Atlas-V launcher production in difficulty as a consequence of the sanctions imposed during the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, ULA adopted an all-American supply chain.
- Kent, Washington: BE-4 Engine Fabrication at Blue Origin.
- Magna, UT: Solid Rocket Booster Fabrication at Northrop Grumman.
- Denver, CO: ULA Headquarters & Design Center Engineering.
- Decatur, AL: Booster Fabrication & Final Assembly, Centaur Tank Fabrication & Final Assembly.
- Decatur, AL: 5.4 m Payload Fairing Fabrication at Beyond Gravity.
- West Palm Beach, FL: RL10C-1-1A Engine Fabrication at Aerojet Rocketdyne.
ULA has sold roughly 70 Vulcan rockets to Space Force, Amazon, and Sierra Space. In recent years, officials from the US Space Force have expressed concerns about ULA’s plans and the potential impact on national security launches.
However, ULA plans to demonstrate its ability to scale manufacturing of its Vulcan rocket and ramp up the launch cadence, with a goal of two flights per month in 2026. The company is confident about the objectives: there are 34 rockets in production at ULA’s factory in Decatur, Alabama, most of them Vulcans. Furthermore, ULA can count on a storage of 16 more Atlas Vs to fly.
To facilitate the transition from Atlas Vs to Vulcans, ULA has also reconfigured its launch complex with a dual-track system, which allows the assembly of both rockets in parallel, sharing the same launch pad.
Tory Bruno, CEO at ULA, reassured: “We’ll be waiting on satellites, not the other way around.”
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The future
It is unclear what impact this anomaly will have on Vulcan’s certification to launch national security payloads, though the overall success of the mission will certainly make things easier. “We had an observation on one of our solid rocket boosters (SRB) that we are reviewing but overall, we are pleased with the rocket’s performance and had a bullseye insertion,” stated ULA’s president and CEO Tory Bruno at the end of the launch webcast.
“The FAA is aware an anomaly occurred during the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur 2 mission that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Oct. 4, 2024,” stated Steve Kulm, Public Affairs Specialist of the FAA, “This involved one of the solid rocket boosters. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported. The FAA is assessing the operation and will issue an updated statement if the agency determines an investigation is warranted.”
“ULA continues to work closely with the U.S. Space Force as they take the next few weeks to review the data and compare it to ULA’s first certification mission to ensure that the vehicle performed as expected and there are no additional items that need review. Once the evaluation is complete to the Space Force’s standards, the Vulcan rocket will be certified to launch national security missions,” added ULA in its Cert-2 live updates page. Pending the release of the certification, ULA still hopes to launch the two national security missions with Vulcan by the end of the year.
