ULA boss says Vulcan rocket will lift off in 2024 after ground problems

United Launch Alliance will not see the launch of the next generation Vulcan rocket in 2023, as previously planned.

The advertising company’s CEO, Tory Bruno, announced the delay on the X publishing website on Sunday. The United Launch Alliance was working toward a first liftoff flight on Christmas Eve, from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Bruno made the announcement after the company attempted to complete a fuel test of the entire rocket, known as a wet dressing test.

“The car went well,” wrote Bruno. “The ground system had a few problems (normal), (corrected). It took a long time so we didn’t finish. The window is 8 Jan.”

The Peregrine is the first payload of the rocket, a lunar upgrade developed by Astrobotic intended to provide scientific research for NASA and other Moon payloads. There are special launch windows in order to get to the Moon and try to land during good windows.

From the information contained in Bruno’s statement, it seems that the work to prepare the ground for the Vulcan launch – the first phase of methane propulsion, which the United Launch Alliance has not previously worked on – it will take longer to hold another oil. test before the end of the rocket’s December window. Therefore, the next trial may occur no earlier than January 8.

It’s pure inspiration

It’s been a slow year for United Launch Alliance, which has dominated the US launch industry for the past decade. The company will launch only three rockets this calendar year: the NROL-68 classification mission on the Delta IV Heavy rocket in June, the “Silentbarker” mission for the National Reconnaissance Office on the Atlas V in September, and two Project Kuiper satellites. for Amazon on the Atlas V in October.

This is the company’s lowest number since its founding in 2006, when the rocket businesses of Lockheed Martin and Boeing were merged.

Part of the reason for the low number is that the United Launch Alliance is making a transition from its historic fleet of Delta and Atlas rockets to Vulcan, which is expected to be more competitive with other commercial vehicles, such as the SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. rocket. There will be a lot of demand for Vulcan when it starts flying normally.

However, the other side is the low cost and equally reliable Falcon rockets that have taken commercial and commercial government launches from United Launch Alliance. SpaceX has taken off over the past decade as the United Launch Alliance has struggled to compete.

While Bruno’s company will launch only three rockets in 2023, SpaceX has on several occasions launched three rockets in three days this calendar year. SpaceX may end the year with between 95 and 100 total launches.