РН Вулкан - Vulcan Centaur heavy-lift launch vehicle (Планов громадье в ULA)

[Salo]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/boeing-lockheed-venture-raises-spacex-explosion-in-fight-over-pentagon-contract/2016/09/21/b6907fa8-7f7e-11e6-9070-5c4905bf40dc_story.html
 

Boeing-Lockheed venture raises SpaceX explosion in fight over Pentagon contract    
By Christian Davenport September 21 at 8:49 PM
 
The recent explosion of a SpaceX rocket should raise concerns about going with the lowest bidder on sensitive national security launch contracts, the chief executive of the United Launch Alliance wrote in a letter to top Pentagon officials earlier this month.
Tory Bruno, ULA's chief executive, urged the Air Force to postpone the deadline for bids, saying it should take time to explore the impact of SpaceX's rocket failure while also taking into account both companies' experience and past performance.
The Pentagon should have particular reservations, Bruno wrote, given that two of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets have blown up, which he said "serve as a reminder of the complexity and hazards intrinsic to space launch services."
"This strategy defies both law and logic and puts hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and Warfighter mission needs unnecessarily at risk," he wrote.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, is the latest salvo in one of Washington's most contentious contractor feuds, one that has pitted a pair of the world's most powerful defense contractors against a brash billionaire looking to shake up a calcified market by offering launches for far less money. And it's the most glaring example yet of a competitor going after SpaceX for the two explosions.
  An explosion on the launch site of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is shown in this still image from video in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. September 1, 2016. (Handout/Reuters)  
 
The Air Force did not immediately respond to requests for comment. SpaceX declined to comment.
For a decade, ULA, the joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, had a monopoly on launching national security satellites for the Pentagon. But then SpaceX, the hard-charging company founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, sued the Air Force for the right to compete, saying it could save taxpayers millions of dollars. The parties settled, and last year the Air Force granted SpaceX the certification to compete, saying it had met its rigorous technical standards.
ULA fired its chief executive and hired Bruno, who vowed to "literally transform the company" for it to compete against SpaceX, which had already won contracts from NASA to fly cargo and eventually astronauts to the International Space Station.
But faced with competition for the first time, ULA declined to bid on the first of the contested contracts last year, saying, among other things, that the Air Force was giving too much weight to the price companies bid.
The emphasis on price — and not experience and past performance — put ULA at a disadvantage, the company said.
SpaceX then walked away with the $82.7 million contract, the first of nine launches to be competitively bid, at a price far less than the Air Force had been paying ULA. Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves cheered the service's new partner, saying in a statement last month that the Air Force hopes "to continue fostering competition in order to promote innovation and reduce cost to the taxpayer while maintaining our laser focus on mission success."
But two of SpaceX's rockets have exploded in spectacular fireballs, raising concerns about their reliability and safety. One of its rockets blew up last year while carrying $118 million worth of cargo to the space station. Earlier this month, a rocket blew up during fueling before an engine test and a $195 million satellite was destroyed.
The Air Force is part of the investigation into the most recent failure, but officials have said the explosion has not affected SpaceX's certification.
In his letter to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's chef weapons buyer, Bruno sought to contrast his company's long record of accomplishment with its relatively new competitor. He trumpeted ULA's 111 consecutive successful launches on its Atlas and Delta rockets. And he wrote that the company has a long heritage of delivering "into precise orbits some of the most sensitive and valuable national security payloads directly supporting our country's Warfighters — and it has done so with unprecedented dependability and mission success."
Focusing so heavily on price is only appropriate when the "risk of unsuccessful contract performance is minimal," he wrote. And the recent SpaceX explosion "reminds us that the risk associated with space launch service contracts is well beyond 'minimal.' "
The criteria used by the Air Force in the contract to launch its GPS III satellite "relegates technical performance to an afterthought, favoring price as the determining evaluation factor — a purchasing strategy befitting perhaps of basic commodity contracting services, not the 'incredible challenge' of spaceflight."
Bruno urged the Air Force to push back the deadline for bids by 60­ days so that it could "explore the nature and impact" of SpaceX's failure and also ensure that it "adequately factors" criteria such as "reliability, schedule certainty and past performance." And he hinted that the fight may not be over, saying ULA's concerns "could conceivably be litigated in a courtroom."
Despite the plea, the Air Force proceeded with the bids, which were due Monday. This time, ULA said it submitted a bid.

[Salo]

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2016/09/20/ula-competes-spacex-gps-satellite-launch/90747848/

[Quооndo]

а что ULA собирается делать с Атласами через 5 лет после появления Вулканов?

[Salo]

Jeff Foust ‏@jeff_foust  4 мин.4 минуты назад  
Holguin, on ULA-SpaceX competition: we're not mortal enemies; not trying to kill each other. All of us working to same goal. #ISPCS2016
 
  Jeff Foust ‏@jeff_foust  54 мин.54 минуты назад  
McAlister: impressed with ULA in how they're transforming that company and investing in new technologies. #ISPCS2016

[Salo]

Jeff Foust ‏@jeff_foust  48 мин.48 минут назад  
Collins: easy to sell launches for $60M each if you can sell 40 launches a year; we tried that with Delta vehicle in 90s. #SpaceComExpo

[Apollo13]

Тори Бруно на реддите:

https://www.reddit.com/user/ToryBruno

Decatur was sized for 40 Delta's per year.
The content of those 40 was also intended to be > 60% buy, meaning that less than 40% of the 40 rocket's content was to be manufactured in Decatur with the rest in the supply chain.
Decatur has around twice the square footage as Hawthorn
So, yeah... its a lot less crowded.
This will be helpful as we overlap Atlas, Delta-Heavy and Vulcan during the transition.
It is also enabling our effort to bring content and suppliers inside our walls. For example, RUAG is now occupying space inside Decatur to build our composite structures (bringing jobs from overseas to the US, BTW)

Yes. We have giant bridge mills in Decatur that mill the isogrid into aluminum plates.
These are then "bump pressed" into the tank's radius on massive hydraulic break presses. 4 of these are welded together to form the propellant tanks.
We also have North America's largest chemical treatment facility within Decatur's walls.

Honestly, the original price for our base Rocket (AtlasV 401) was more like $184M. Much, much lower now. On its way to sub $100M

Yes. The first day of the block buy, it was $184M. In the block buy, ULA committed to an average price across all in that buy of $164. Which means that they would be less than $164M by the end in order to average out to the target.

[silentpom]

"We have giant bridge mills in Decatur that mill the isogrid into aluminum plates. 
These are then "bump pressed" into the tank's radius on massive hydraulic break presses. 4 of these are welded together to form the propellant tanks"   - кто нить может пояснить как другие сваривают баки?

[Salo]

http://www.ulalaunch.com/ula-to-unveil-website-to-transform.aspx

ULA to Unveil Website to Transform How Launch Services are Sel ected
ULA CEO Tory Bruno to Announce Details and Transparent Launch Pricing

November 30, 2016 -- 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time

What: Media are invited to participate in a news conference on Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 9:30 a.m. ET, during which United Launch Alliance (ULA) CEO Tory Bruno will unveil an innovative website which will set a new standard for pricing transparency and transform how customers shop for launch services.

This new website will reflect the true total cost of launch and makes launch services more transparent and accessible to anyone. With a click of a button, people around the world will be able to build a rocket that optimizes the cost-effectiveness of their spacecraft designs.

When:Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016
9:30 a.m. Eastern Time

Where: The news conference will take place at the Newseum Private Dining Room, in Washington, D.C., and light refreshments will be provided. Attendees must enter the Newseum through the C Street group entrance.

Although questions will only be taken fr om attendees at the Newseum, remote participants are invited to watch via webcast: www.ulalaunch.com/webcast.aspx.

RSVP: Media interested in attending, please RSVP to jessica.f.rye@ulalaunch.com
About United Launch Alliance
With more than a century of combined heritage, United Launch Alliance is the nation's most experienced and reliable launch service provider. ULA has successfully delivered more than 110 satellites to orbit that provide critical capabilities for troops in the field, aid meteorologists in tracking severe weather, enable personal device-based GPS navigation and unlock the mysteries of our solar system.

[Apollo13]

Кому Атлас по 109 млн? Налетай!

https://www.rocketbuilder.com/

[Apollo13]

Каждый ускоритель 6 млн. 5-метровый обтекатель +20-25 млн к 4-метровому!

[Apollo13]

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/11/rocketbuilder-ula-revamp-launch-services-process/

He added that a few years ago an Atlas V 401 sold for $191 million. Now it's $109 million. "We've streamlined, taken advantage of experience.  It now takes half amount of time to build rocket in Alabama and 1/3 time for process in VIF and pad."

[Salo]

Spaceflight Now ‏@SpaceflightNow  14 ч.14 часов назад  
United Launch Alliance's 10th birthday today, blended Atlas and Delta rocket families, 113 launches in 120 months

[Salo]

http://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1019148

Contracts
Press Operations
 Release No: CR-231-16
 Dec. 2, 2016

CONTRACTS

AIR FORCE

United Launch Services LLC, Centennial, Colorado, has been awarded a $269,235,964 modification (P00149) to previously awarded contract FA8811-13-C-0003 to execute a requirement for fiscal 2017 launch vehicle (LV) production services in support of the launch vehicle  configuration of an Air Force Delta IV Heavy. This modification adds a pre‐priced contract line item for the Delta IV Heavy LV configuration. Work will be performed at Centennial, Colorado; Decatur, Alabama; and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and is expected to be complete by April 30, 2020. Fiscal 2016 and 2017 space procurement funds in the amount of $85,800,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity.

[Salo]

Spaceflight Now ‏@SpaceflightNow  15 ч.15 часов назад  
ATLAS: No. 68 now added to the Atlas 5 launch chart. And see our launch archive page updated with today's success! http://spaceflightnow.com/atlas/ 
 

[silentpom]

помогите понять смысл "This modification adds a pre‐priced contract line item for the Delta IV Heavy LV configuration"
что именно за 300 лямов они должны сделать?

[Чебурашка]

Apollo13 пишет:
5-метровый обтекатель +20-25 млн к 4-метровому!

Бгг... а что в обтекателе такого дорогого, чтоб 25 миллионов стоить?

[Apollo13]

Чебурашка пишет:

Apollo13 пишет:
5-метровый обтекатель +20-25 млн к 4-метровому!

Бгг... а что в обтекателе такого дорогого, чтоб 25 миллионов стоить?

Домик для Центавра

[Salo]

United Launch Alliance Explores the Future of Rocket Design with Additive Manufacturing

[triage]

 https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/826394204305764352
Tory Bruno @torybruno
31 янв. 2017 г.

Mighty Atlas‏@Rocket_AtlasV
@torybruno Ah. since AR-1 produces significantly less thrust than RD-180 would a solution be dual engine or more SRBs?

Both Vulcan/BE4 and Vulcan/AR1 configurations call for 2 engines, which is about 30% more thrust than AtlasV. Removes at least one SRB

(Continued). Conversrely, A single AR1 or BE4 config would be about 48% less thrust than AtlasV, which would typically add 2 SRBs. More cost

Stian Nuland‏@Stian_Nuland
@torybruno Won't Vulcan/BE4 require a different tank size compared to Vulcan/AR1 due to propellant density differences? MethaLOX vs. KeroLOX

Yes. LN2 less dense than RP1. Both Vulcan/BE4 and Vulcan/AR1 configs have larger tank than AtlasV to optimize for > thrust: Lower total cost

Stian Nuland‏@Stian_Nuland
@torybruno Thank you. A quick follow up on that. Has the tank diameter been decided? I've heard both 5.4 meter and 5 meter.

5.4. Think of Vulcan as evol of Atlas. AtlasIII got RD180 + bigger Centaur, AtlasV incr to 3.8m + SRBs, Vulcan chg engine and incr to 5.4m

[Salo]

Chelsea Leu
More Money, More Problems for the Commercial Space Launch Biz
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/launching-rockets-business-hence-explosions-layoffs/