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United Launch Alliance's new-generation Vulcan rocket – and Blue Origin's BE-4 rocket engine – have been chosen to send the Astrobotic Lunar Lander Peregrine and the Dream Chaser mini-shuttle. 39, Astrobotic to the last frontier in 2021.
None of last week's announcements was surprising, as Astrobotic and SNC had already made agreements to use the Atlas 5 rocket of the current ULA generation. But the two announcements underline the importance of meeting the current schedule for the deployment of the BE-4 and Vulcan, designed to use two BE-4 engines on its first propeller.
Blue Origin, the private space company founded by Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, would be about to test the performance of the BE-4, not only for ULA's Vulcan, but also for its new rocket New Glenn, orbital class. also due for its maiden flight in 2021.
Although Blue Origin is headquartered south of Seattle, Washington, USA, engine testing is taking place at the company's facility in West Texas. The BE-4 is designed to use liquefied natural gas as fuel and reach a maximum thrust of 550,000 pounds.
Earlier this month, Bezos touted a full-power engine in Texas.
Once the BE-4 has passed its qualification tests, engine production will move from Kent to the plant currently under construction in Huntsville, Alabama. Vulcan rockets will be assembled near the ULA plant in Decatur, Alabama. The Vulcan launch system will use the ULA Centaur's top floor.
In a press release, Tory Bruno, CEO of ULA, said the Astrobotic lunar mission would mark the first launch of Vulcan. It would be held at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida and would be the first of two US Air Force certification flights for national security missions.
"Our rockets have made exploration missions on the Moon, the Sun and all the planets in the solar system, so it is quite fitting that the inaugural flight of the Centaur Vulcan lead the Americans back to the lunar surface." said Bruno today. "We could not be more excited about leading this mission for Astrobotic."
Astrobotic, based in Pittsburgh, was selected to carry up to 14 NASA payloads to the lunar surface in 2021, under a $ 79.5 million grant from Commercial Lunar Payload Services from NASA.
The company announced that it had signed agreements to fly more than two dozen payloads for 16 customers on its first lunar mission.
The last calendar published by Astrobotic should be launched in June 2021, with the lunar landing scheduled for the following month.
Sierra Nevada Corp. also relies on a first launch in 2021 of its Dream Chaser, a winged space plane that looks like a smaller version of NASA's space shuttle, now retired. ULA plans to launch Dream Chaser during the second Vulcan mission.
In a press release, Fatih Ozmen, CEO of SNC, said that the Dream Chaser can be sent in space through a wide variety of rockets, "so we had some great options".
"SNC chose ULA because of its strong collaboration in the Dream Chaser program, its safety performance and its respected performance," said Ozmen. "This brings together the American space plane and the American rocket for innovation and first-rate exploration."
NASA chose SNC and the Dream Chaser to deliver more than 12,000 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station on six unmanned flights launched from Cape Canaveral. At the end of each mission, the Dream Chaser would bring payloads back to Earth and land a shuttle-like landing at the Kennedy Space Shuttle Landing Station.
A prototype of Dream Chaser, designed only for atmospheric flight, has completed a gliding flight and landing tests in 2017. Since then, SNC has been working on the space-saving version of the craft in facilities located in Colorado and elsewhere.
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