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NROL-44 is the first of the last five missions to be flown by Delta 4 Heavy by 2024
Story updated August 24 with a new launch date
WASHINGTON – A Delta 4 Heavy rocket is scheduled to launch a classified mission for the National Reconnaissance Office on August 27 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, Florida.
NROL-44 will be United Launch Alliance’s 41st Delta 4 rocket launch, and the 12th in the heavy configuration. The ULA said on August 24 that the vehicle had passed a launch readiness exam. The launch was originally scheduled for 2:16 a.m. on August 26, but ULA announced Monday night that the launch was being delayed to 2:12 a.m. on August 27 “due to customer demand.”
NROL-44 is the first of the last five missions flown by the Delta 4 Heavy by 2024, when ULA intends to withdraw the three-core rocket.
The next four missions are NROL-82, NROL-91, NROL-68 and NROL-70.
The NROL-82 is expected to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., Later this year.
Heavy NRO missions are school bus sized satellites and are considered the most complex and expensive missions performed by the US government.
ULA received contracts in 2017 to launch NROL-44 and NROL-82. In 2018, it received the NROL-91, NROL-68 and NROL-70 awards – slated for launch in fiscal years 2022, 2023 and 2024.
The Air Force and the NRO have paid the ULA approximately $ 2.2 billion for the last five Delta 4 Heavy missions. The Air Force announced in September that it had negotiated the close of Delta 4 Heavy contracts and that the vehicle would be retired in fiscal year 2024.
The last five launches went to ULA, the Air Force said, because the Delta 4 Heavy was the only rocket capable of meeting the payload compatibility requirements of the NRO and ULA the only supplier capable of meeting the agency’s requests for satellite management.
Heavy NRO missions (known as Category C) beyond 2024 will be put in competition between ULA and SpaceX, which have been selected as the two suppliers for the supply of Phase 2 of the space launch. national security. ULA is developing the Vulcan Centaur to replace the Atlas 5 and the Delta 4. SpaceX will pilot the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy.
The Air Force said that by the time the Delta 4 Heavy goes out of service, ULA and SpaceX should be ready to compete for Category C contracts.
The phase 2 launch services market was aimed at introducing competition into the launch market and reducing costs. At over $ 400 million each, Delta 4 Heavy missions are the most expensive.
On August 7, the Air Force announced the first Phase 2 awards to SpaceX and ULA for three NRO missions. ULA was awarded a $ 337 million contract for two launches and SpaceX a $ 316 million contract for one launch.
The Air Force has not explained why the SpaceX launch granted on August 7 costs much more than the ULA launches. The contracts cover additional costs beyond the actual price of the launch service. The prices offered by ULA and SpaceX for Phase 2 missions are exclusive.
In 2018, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted: “A fully consumable Falcon Heavy that far exceeds the performance of a Delta IV Heavy costs $ 150 million, compared to over $ 400 million for the Delta. IV Heavy. “
Industry experts have speculated that the high price includes one-time costs for vehicle and infrastructure upgrades.
“We don’t know enough about the price yet to know what counts toward SpaceX’s price for this mission,” said defense budget analyst Todd Harrison, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“It could be that some of the one-time development costs associated with meeting some of DoD’s unique launch requirements – such as vertical payload integration – could be included in the cost of that first launch,” Harrison said. SpaceNews.
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