Space Launch Report ULA Vulcan Launch Vehicle Flight History by Variant/Year (2024-Present) by Ed Kyle Last Update: January 31, 2024 Page 1 of 1: L(F) = Number of Launches(Number of Failures) Vulcan by Variant Grand VC2S Total Year L(F) L(F) L(F) L(F) L(F) L(F) ------------------------------------------------------------------ 2020 - - - - - - 2021 - - - - - - 2022 - - - - - - 2023 - - - - - - 2024 1(0) - - - - 1(0) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Grand VC2S Total L(F) L(F) L(F) L(F) L(F) L(F) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Suborb - - - - - - Orbit 1(0) - - - - 1(0) Total 1(0) - - - - 1(0) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Footnotes: Vulcan Vehicle Configurations Naming Convention: Vulcan VCN(S/L) Where V = Vulcan C = Centaur N = Number of GEM-63XL SRMs S/L = Short/Long PLF (masses in metric tonnes) LEO GTO GEO TLI/ Height GLOW (407 km x 1800 m/s TMI 51.6 deg (2) to GEO (555 km x 98.75 deg)(3) ================================================================== Vulcan VC0S 8.8 t (2) 3.3 t 2.1 t 61.6 m 415 t 7.9 t (3) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Vulcan VC2S 16.3 t (2) 8.3 t 2.5 t 6.2 t/ 61.6 m 663.367 t 14.3 t (3) 3.6 t ------------------------------------------------------------------ Vulcan VC4S 11.6 t 4.8 t 9.1 t/ 61.6 m 770.167 t 6.0 t ------------------------------------------------------------------ Vulcan VC4L 21.4 t (2) 67.4 m 18.5 t (3) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Vulcan VC6S 14.4 t 6.3 t 11.3 t/ 61.6 m 876.967 t 7.6 t ------------------------------------------------------------------ Vulcan VC6L 25.6 t (2) 6.0 t 67.4 m 22.3 t (3) ================================================================== GEO = Geosynchronous Earth Orbit GTO = Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit Vulcan Vehicle Components ================================================================== SRMs Vulcan Centaur 5 Short Long GEM-63XL PLF PLF ================================================================== Diameter (m) 1.61 m 5.4 m 5.4 m 5.4 m 5.4 m Length (m) 22.0 m 32.46 m 12.6m 15.5 m 21.3 m Mp (tonnes) 48.0 t 454 t 54.43 t GLOW (tonnes) 53.4 t 496 t 59.9 t 4.1 t 4.7 t Engine GEM-63XL BE-4 RL10C-1-1A N/G Blue P&W Origin Fuel HTPB LNG LH2 Oxidizer HTPB LOX LOX T (SL tonnes) 206.57 t 499 t T (Vac tonnes) 540 t 21.77 t ISP (SL sec) 245 s 310 s ISP (Vac sec) 280 s 335 s 453 s Burn Time (sec) 84 s 240 s s No. Engines 1 2 2 ================================================================== Vulcan Launch Record ================================================================== ================================================================== Date Vehicle ID Payload Mass Site* Orbit ------------------------------------------------------------------ 01/08/24 Vulcan VC2S V-001 Peregrine 1.283 CC 41 TLI ------------------------------------------------------------------ [V-001] 0718 UTC. 2 x Centaur-5 burns to 490x382,855 km x 30.1 deg for planned lunar orbit/landing. Third Centaur 5 burn to HCO. Inaugural launch. Peregrine suffered a propellant leak after reaching orbit, preventing a lunar landing. ------------------------------------------------------------------ *Site Code: CC = Cape Canaveral, FL, USA CC37B = Space Launch Complex 37B: Delta 4 CC41 = Space Launch Complex 41: Atlas 5 VA = Vandenberg AFB, CA, USA VA3E = Space Launch Complex 3E: Atlas 5 VA6 = Space Launch Complex 6: Delta 4 **Orbit Code: References Atlas Launch Systems Mission Planners Guide, Atlas V Addendum, January 1999 Atlas Launch Systems Mission Planners Guide, Rev 9, September 2001 Atlas Launch Systems Mission Planners Guide, Rev 10, December 2004 Atlas V and Delta IV Technical Summary, ULA, June 2013 BE-4 Fact Sheet, Blue Origin, September 2014 BE-4 Announcement, ULA/Blue Origin, September 2014 Tony Bruno Twitter Post, July, 2015 Vulcan, ACES, and Beyond, ULA, 2016 Vulcan Development At the 31st Space Symposium on April 13, 2015 , United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced that its Next Generation Launch System (NGLS) would be named "Vulcan", after the Roman god of fire.  The company also revealed plans for a step-by-step Vulcan development process that would keep some existing EELV elements in service for years. During the first step, a new booster stage would replace the existing Atlas 5 Common Core Booster (CCB).  The new 5.4 meter diameter booster would be powered by two Blue Origin BE-4 LOX/LNG engines.  It would lift existing Centaur stages and existing four or five meter diameter payload fairings.  As many as six SRBs could boost Vulcan.  With six SRBs and a Centaur within a 5.4 meter fairing, Vulcan would lift more payload than Atlas 5-551, but less than Delta 4 Heavy.  During the second step, the Centaur second stage would be replaced by a heavier and more powerful stage named Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage (ACES).  ACES would carry three times more LH2/LOX propellant than Centaur and would produce more thrust than Centaur.  ACES would feature an "Integrated Vehicle Fluids" system that would use existing propellant boil-off gases for thrusting, pressurization, and electricity generation, eliminating or reducing hydrazine and helium systems and batteries.   A competition would be held to determine which engine or engines would power ACES.  Contenders included RL10,  Blue Origin's BE-3U, and an XCOR engine. With six SRBs and ACES, Vulcan/would be able to outlift the existing Delta 4 Heavy. ULA considered recovery of the BE-4 engines, using a heat shield, a parachute, and helicopter air recovery. On September 17, 2014, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin, a privately held company owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, announced that they were teaming to jointly fund development of Blue Origin's new BE-4 rocket engine. The development effort would last four years, with full-scale testing in 2016 and first flight in 2019. The new engine would be available for use by both companies. BE-4 would burn liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in an oxygen rich staged combustion cycle to produce 550,000 pounds (249.5 tonnes) of sea level thrust. ULA boosters would use two BE-4s to produce 1,100,000 pounds (499 tonnes) of total thrust at sea level. Blue Origin had been working on BE-4 development since 2011, with component testing underway at the company's test site near Van Horn, Texas and in facilities near Kent, Washington. Completed testing included subscale oxygen-rich preburner development and staged combustion testing of the preburner and main injector assembly. Testing of the turbopumps and main valves was the next major step. A large new test facility was completed in May, 2014 in Texas to support full-scale engine testing. September-October 2015 Developments During September 2015, ULA announced that it had selected Orbital ATK to produce solid motors for both Vulcan and for Atlas 5 beginning before the end of 2018.  The new GEM-63 (63 inch diameter) motors would generally replicate the dimensions and performance of the existing Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ-60A motors used by Atlas.  GEM-63XL motors, stretched about 1.52 meters compared to the GEM-63 motors, would power Vulcan.  The stretched motors would likely carry 5-10% more propellant and provide about 5-10% more thrust compared to GEM-63.   The announcement reduced Aerojet Rocketdyne's ULA work.  Vulcan would end use of RD-180, RS-68A, and AJ-60A, leaving only the RL-10 upper stage motor. Rocketdyne's AR-1 engine had already been rejected in favor of BE-4 for Vulcan. During October, ULA announced that Vulcan would fly from the two existing Atlas 5 launch sites, SLC 41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida and SLC 3E at Vandeberg AFB, California.  Both pads would be modified to handle Vulcan, but the modifications would not interrupt Atlas operations. Modifications would include the installation of liquified natural gas equipment.  At the time, Vulcan's maiden flight was expected to occur during 2019.  During mid-April, 2017, ULA President and CEO Tony Bruno confirmed that Vulcan would use 5.4 meter diameter tanks.  The new tanks, fatter than even the Delta 4 tanks, would be fabricated by friction stir welding four orthogrid panels together.  Use of the orthogrid design, replacing the previous isogrid, would play a role in reducing production time by half.   Blue Origin rolled-out its first BE-4 engine during March, 2017.  The engine was delivered to the company's Texas test site for full-scale testing, but during May, 2017, Blue Origin suffered a BE-4 "power pack" failure at West Texas. The failure set back development efforts for several months. BE-4 Hot Fire Success On October 18, 2017, after months of delay, Blue Origin performed an initial successful hot fire test of its full-scale BE-4 engine.  The engine was fired at 50% thrust for about three seconds at the company's West Texas test facility. Vulcan Centaur 5 On October 10, 2017, ULA CEO Tory Bruno announced, in a Space News opinion piece, that ULA had decided to modify Vulcan’s Centaur stage to meet heavy lift requirements provided in the October 5, 2017 U.S. Air Force EELV Launch Services Agreement RFP. The specification listed payload masses for nine reference orbits. Bruno stated that the change would add about six months to the original program schedule. Original plans had called for the existing "Centaur 3" stage flown atop Atlas 5 to serve as the second stage for an initial Vulcan Centaur variant. Later, in a question and answer session on Reddit, Bruno revealed that the upgraded stage would be named "Centaur 5" and that it would be 5.4 meters diameter, a substantial increase from the previous 3.048 meters. He also noted that while Centaur 5 would bring the heavy lift capabilty forward sooner, the previously planned ACES stage would still be needed to provide long duration and in-orbit reusability. He said that ACES and Centaur 5 would use the same tooling. He also said that ULA had not yet selected an ACES engine, suggesting that Centaur 5 would still be powered by RL10 engines. Vulcan Centaur 5 Update On April 20, 2018, Tory Bruno tweeted additional information about Vulcan Centaur 5.  He revealed that there would be two variations of the new Centaur 5 stage - an "initial" and a "stretched" version.  One or both versions would be powered by four RL10C engines.   The most powerful Vulcan Centaur 5 version, presumably using the stretched Centaur 5 stage and denoted "Vulcan Centaur Heavy" in a released graphic, would be able to lift 6.8 tonnes to geosynchronous orbit, 15.88 tonnes to geosynchronous transfer orbit, or 35.88 tonnes to low earth orbit.  Vulcan Heavy's two liquid core stage engines and six GEM-63XL solid fuel strap-on motors would combine to produce 1,724 tonnes (3.8 million pounds) of thrust at liftoff. Mr. Bruno also released a graphic that showed a common bulkhead between the Vulcan first stage fuel and oxidizer tanks . Bruno and ULA released more information during the late Spring and Summer months. On July 23, 2018, Mr. Bruno revealed that Centaur 5 would be powered by two RL10C engines and would carry 54.43 tonnes of propellant in its 5.4 meter diameter tanks. An upgraded Centaur 5+ follow-on version would be equipped with two upgraded engines, possibly the RL10CX engine under development by Aerojet Rocketdyne. Finally, in 2023 or later, a stretched stage named "Centaur 5+ Long", which would carry 77.11 tonnes of propellant, would enter service. This stage would serve the Vulcan Centaur Heavy variant that would finally replace Delta 4 Heavy. A May 28, 2018 ULA document provided payload capabilities for three Vulcan Centaur variants. These included Vulcan Centaur with 2 SRMs, Vulcan Centaur with 6 SRMs, and Vulcan Centaur Heavy with 6 SRMs and the Centaur 5+ Long second stage.  Polar LEO payloads ranged from 14.3 tonnes to 27.9 tonnes, GTO (GEO-1800 m/s) from 7.4 to 16.3 tonnes, and GEO from 2.05 to 7.2 tonnes. BE-4 Selected On September 28, 2018, ULA announced that it had selected Blue Origin's BE-4 for Vulcan first stage propulsion. The announcement was long expected. Aerojet Rocketdyne's AR-1 alternative development seemed to have slowed to a technology demonstration effort during the months preceeding the annoucement. ULA/SpaceX Win NSSL On August 7, 2020, the U.S. Space Force awarded National Security Space Launch Phase 2 contracts to United Launch Alliance and SpaceX, locking out bidders Blue Origin (New Glenn) and Northrop Grumman (Omega) as primary contractors, though both would serve as subcontractors for ULA's winning Vulcan launch vehicle. ULA won about 60% of the launch services orders and SpaceX about 40% during 2020-2024. ULA will launch USSF-51 and USSF-106 during 2022. SpaceX will launch USSF-67 during 2022. ULA won $337 million and SpaceX $316 million for these initial launch services task orders. ULA and SpaceX would compete annually for up to 34 NSSL launches during during the 2020-2027 period. The initial launches will be from Florida, with California launch capability added after a couple of years. Blue Origin announced that it intended to continue development of its New Glenn launch vehicle, aiming to win civil and commercial space contracts. GEM 63XL QM-1 On August 13, 2020, Northrop Grumman test-fired the first GEM 63XL solid motor at Promontory, Utah. The QM-1 (Qualification Motor 1) test was the first of two planned test firings needed to qualify the booster for use on United Launch Alliance's Vulcan launch vehicle. QM-1 produced up to 203.7 tonnes of thrust during its 90 second burn. The motor was cooled to 4.4 degrees Celsius prior to the test to document performance in cold conditions. Vulcan Inaugural Vulcan's first launch, on January 8, 2024, successfully boosted the Astrobotic Peregrine lunar lander toward the Moon from Cape Canaveral's SLC 41. The V-001 Certification-1 flight used two Castor 63XL SRMs and a Standard fairing. It was the first flight for Blue Origin's BE-4 LOX/Methane engine, two of which powered Vulcan's first stage. The Centaur 5 second stage, powered by two RL-10 LOX/LH2 engines, was not fully filled with propellants on this flight. Centaur 5 fired for 10 min 40 sec to reach a parking orbit, then restarted at T+43 min 43 sec for 3 min 55 sec before Peregrine separated. A 20 sec burn followed that placed Centaur into solar orbit. The BE-4 burn was 1.2 sec shorter than planned. This caused Centaur's first burn to run 10.7 seconds long. The second Centaur burn was 5.9 seconds shorter than expected, but an on-target orbit was achieved. ULA described the differences as "normal variations". The early Vulcan shutdown (T+5:58.9 was the plan) was caused by a difference between modeled and actual propellant temperatures, which triggered the BE-4 shutdown. Unfortunately, Peregrine suffered a propellant leak shortly after separating, causing loss of mission.