Standing in the foyer of the Colorado state capitol earlier today, United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno introduced a new cubesat launch program aimed at promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education at the university level. Beginning in 2017, ULA will mount a dedicated cubesat launcher on the Aft Bulkead Carrier of the Atlas […]
As threatened, United Launch Alliance declined to turn in a bid for the first openly competed national security space launch in more than a decade. Here is the statement from ULA: “ULA wants nothing more than to compete, but unfortunately we are unable to submit a compliant bid for GPS III-X launch services. The RFP […]
The latest NASA launch award provides more evidence that ULA’s prices for the Atlas V are indeed coming down. This was posted on Friday: “NASA has selected United Launch Services LLC of Centennial, Colorado, to provide launch services for the agency’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M (TDRS-M) mission. The mission will launch in October 2017 […]
Editorial On Monday, an Innerspace editorial suggested that perhaps it is time to reconsider restrictions on launching U.S. government payloads on friendly foreign launchers, namely the Ariane V. Part of the logic came from the assessment that ULA is simply not going to be able to make the Atlas V price competitive with the SpaceX […]
Editorial The long running drama regarding United Launch Alliance and the use of Russian RD-180 engines for the Atlas V rocket entered a new phase late Friday with the announcement that the Pentagon will not issue a waiver requested by the company allowing it to acquire more engines which it says are needed for competitive […]
Reflecting what appears to be a state of increasing desperation, Aerojet Rocketdyne is not giving up on its bid for United Launch Alliance just yet. Reuters reports that after having seen its $2 billion offer rejected in a 2 sentence e-mail, Aerojet has hired outside consultants who may suggest upping the offer, or in the […]
Two weeks ago, for a moment it looked as if Aerojet Rocketdyne stood a fair shot at walking away with United Launch Alliance for something close to its $2 billion dollar unsolicited offer. Had the deal gone through, Aerojet would have presumably been in a much stronger position to secure government funding for its AR-1 […]
According to Reuters, Aerojet-Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. has made an offer to purchase United Launch Alliance from parent companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin for approximately $2 billion in a deal which could achieve preliminary agreement as early as next week. The deal would mark a major shakeup and yet another consolidation in the traditional, or “OldSpace” […]
When the SpaceX Falcon 9 boosting the NASA CRS-7 payload exploded in the air over Cape Canaveral on June 28th, one of the first sympathetic tweets came from United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno. It seemed sincere enough, and a refreshing moment of class in what has otherwise been a bitter battle between ULA and […]
At Issue: The RD-180 According to a Reuters story the running battle between SpaceX and United Launch Alliance over military launches and Russian hardware took a new turn yesterday when Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R, Arizona) flatly rejected a request by defense officials to allow a broader interpretation of restrictions on the […]
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