by A brand new rocket lifted off early Monday morning from Cape Canaveral, Florida, sending a robotic spacecraft toward the surface of the moon. No American spacecraft has made a soft landing on the moon since 1972.
For United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the successful launch of the Vulcan Centaur rocket was critical. Vulcan is designed to replace two older rockets, and the US Space Force is also counting on it to launch spy satellites and other spacecraft important to US national security.
The Vulcan is also the first of several new rockets that could take the dominance of Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, in the space launch market at the moment. SpaceX launched nearly 100 rockets into orbit last year. Other orbital launches in the coming months include the Ariane 6 rocket from Arianespace, a European company, and New Glenn from Blue Origin, the company started by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.
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Through the night, the countdown to the Vulcan rocket went smoothly, and the weather cooperated.
At 2:18 am Eastern time, the rocket’s engines ignited and they took off from the launch pad, heading up and east over the Atlantic Ocean.
“Everything is looking good,” Rob Gannon, the launch commentator at United Launch Alliance, said repeatedly as the Vulcan headed for space.
“Yee-haw,” said Tory Bruno, the company’s chief executive, after the lunar spacecraft was deployed. “I am delighted. I can’t tell you how much.”
United Launch Alliance was founded in 2006, and for seven years was the only company certified by the US government to put national security payloads into orbit. So far, it has two vehicles in use: the Delta IV, developed by Boeing, which will complete its final flight later this year, and the Atlas V, developed by Lockheed Martin, which is due to retire in a few years. too.
Seventeen Atlas V launches remain, but the rocket uses Russian-built engines, which became more politically indefensible as tensions between Russia and the United States increased. That led ULA to begin development of the Vulcan, which replaces the capabilities of both rockets at a lower cost, United Launch Alliance officials said.
“What’s unique about Vulcan, and what we set out to do first, is provide a rocket that has all the capabilities of Atlas and Delta in one system,” said Mark Peller, vice -president of ULA in charge of Vulcan development. “Because we have that adjustability, its configuration can really be tailored to the specific mission.”
Vulcan can be configured in several ways. Its core booster stage, the main body of the rocket, is powered by two BE-4 engines manufactured by Blue Origin. The engines, which emit deep blue flames from burning methane fuel, will also be used on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.
Up to six solid rocket fuel boosters can be attached to the side of the core to increase the amount of mass it can lift into orbit. Its nose cone has two dimensions – a standard size of 51 feet long, and a longer one, 70 feet, for larger payloads.
“The launch market is stronger than it’s been in years,” said Carissa Christensen, chief executive of Bryce Tech, a consulting company in Alexandria, Virginia. “And the expected demand is likely to be enough to support multiple launch providers, including Vulcan.”
ULA already has a backlog of more than 70 missions to fly on Vulcan. Amazon has purchased 38 launches to deploy for Project Kuiper, a constellation of communications satellites that will compete with SpaceX’s Starlink network to provide high-speed satellite internet.
Many of the other launches will be for the Space Force. ULA and SpaceX are the only companies currently approved to launch national security missions. Monday’s launch is the first of two demonstration missions required by Space to gain confidence in Vulcan before using the launcher for military and surveillance payloads.
The second launch will be the liftoff of Dream Chaser, an uncrewed space plane built by Sierra Space of Louisville, Colorado, on a cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station. After that four additional Vulcan launches could be sent this year to Space.
Peregrine, a spacecraft built by Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh, was the main payload for Vulcan’s first launch. Astrobotic, founded in 2007, is one of many private companies aiming to provide a delivery service to the lunar surface. The main customer for this trip is NASA, which paid Astrobotic $108 million to conduct five experiments. That’s part of the scientific work being done by the space agency to prepare the astronauts to return to the moon under the Artemis program.
Unlike in the past, when NASA built and operated its own spacecraft, this time it is relying on companies like Astrobotic to provide the transportation.
A second burn of the Vulcan’s second stage engine that lasted about four minutes put the Falcon on the path towards the moon. “It’s a dream come true,” John Thornton, chief executive of Astrobotic, said on a NASA Television broadcast after the launch. “We’re on our way to the moon.”
About 50 minutes after launch, the Astrobotic spacecraft separated from the rocket.
After a 2 1/2-week voyage to the moon, the Hawk lander will enter lunar orbit and circle there until February 23, when it will attempt to land in Sinus Viscositatis – Latin for “Bay of Stickiness” – and enigmatic region on the near side of the moon.
Vulcan also lifted a secondary payload for Celestis, a company that remembers people by sending some of their ashes or DNA into space. Two toolbox-sized containers attached to small cylindrical capsules house the Vulcan’s advanced stage.
Among those whose remains are on this final journey are Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek; his wife, Majel Barrett, who played Nurse Chapel on the original TV show; and three other actors on the show: DeForest Kelley, who played medical officer Leonard “Bones” McCoy; Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura, the communications officer; and James Doohan, who played Montgomery Scott, the chief engineer.
One of the capsules contains hair samples from three American presidents: George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.
The second stage and the Celestis memorial were placed in orbit around the sun for a short final shot.
Celestis, as well as another company that provides similar services, Elysium Space of San Francisco, has a payload on the Falcon. That prompted an outcry from leaders of the Navajo Nation, who say many Native Americans consider the moon a sacred place, and consider placing human remains there to be destructive. Navajo officials requested that the White House delay the launch to discuss the issue.
Charles Chafer, CEO of Celestis, said he respected everyone’s religious beliefs, but “I don’t think you can regulate space missions based on religious reasons.”
During news conferences, NASA officials noted that they were not in charge of the mission and had no direct comments on other payloads sold by Astrobotic on Falcon. “An intergovernmental meeting is being set up with the Navacho Nation that NASA will support,” Joel Kearns, associate deputy administrator for exploration at NASA, said during a news conference Thursday.
John Thornton, Astrobotic’s chief executive, said Friday that he was disappointed that “this conversation came up so late in the game,” because his company announced Celestis and Elysium’s involvement years ago.
“We’re really trying to do the right thing,” Thornton said. “I hope we can find a good path forward with the Navajo Nation.”
NASA announced the program to tap private industry for lunar deliveries – known as Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, for short – in 2018. But it has been slow to get off the ground. After repeated delays, the Falcon Astrobotic flight will be the first CLPS mission to reach space, and will be the first to orbit the moon. But he may not be the first to land.
The second CLPS mission, by Intuitive Machines of Houston, is scheduled to launch as early as mid-February and take a faster path to the moon, meaning it could reach the surface before the Falcon.
While Vulcan has plenty of payloads to launch in the next few years, the long-term prospects are less clear. Other aerospace companies are trying to win some of the Space Force business, and Amazon could in the future move many more of its Kuiper launches to Bezos’ Blue Origin.
Another factor affecting Vulcan’s future is that SpaceX uses and reuses its Falcon 9 boosters, which is likely to give it a significant price advantage over ULA. In contrast, the entire Vulcan rocket is used only once. Blue Origin also plans to reuse the New Glenn boosters.
ULA is developing technology that could be used to recover the two engines in the booster, the most expensive part of the rocket, but that is years away.
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