Tag: Delta Heavy

Atlas, Delta, Falcon and Whole Bunch of Smoke

Atlas, Delta, Falcon and Whole Bunch of Smoke

Opinionated Analysis The ping pong match between the House and the Senate over ULA’s request for more RD-180 engines for the Atlas V was in the hands of the latter yesterday, where the Senate Armed Services Committee once again insisted that the number be limited to 9 engines beyond tbose already ordered as part of […]

Read’em and Weep: New Falcon 9 Performance Numbers Are Bad News for ULA, Arianespace

Read’em and Weep: New Falcon 9 Performance Numbers Are Bad News for ULA, Arianespace

Over the weekend, SpaceX updated the maximum performance numbers for the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters, helpfully including payload to Mars capability, (and Pluto) along with standard LEO and GTO numbers supplied by most launch vehicle providers. While the Falcon Heavy showed a somewhat surprisingly small increase, from 53,000 kg to 54,400 kg to […]

Posted in: SpaceX
SpaceX, ULA and the Delta IV

SpaceX, ULA and the Delta IV

Delta Heavy / Image Credit United Launch Alliance An Innerspace Editorial: In what seems to be becoming something of an annual affair, it was SpaceX versus United Launch Alliance Round earlier this week in Washington D.C. Last year, SpaceX’s Elon Musk and ULA’s Michael Gass squared off against each other in a highly contentious Senate […]

Orion Liftoff Was a Vision of What Might Have Been

Orion Liftoff Was a Vision of What Might Have Been

Visions of Future Past  / Image Credit NASA Following a one day delay due to weather and balky liquid hydrogen fill/drain valves, a ULA Delta Heavy launch vehicle bearing the first space capable Orion capsule lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s SLC-37. Launch, which took place right on time 7:05 AM ET, was flawless, although viewers […]

Posted in: NASA, SLS / Orion, SpaceX
Orion Launch Scrubbed For 24 Hours

Orion Launch Scrubbed For 24 Hours

Waiting on a New Day. Image Credit NASA After a litany of minor issues mostly relating to ground wind speed constraints, today’s launch of NASA’s EFT-1 and a test Orion spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta Heavy was delayed repeatedly, and ultimately scrubbed. The final problem, which managers were not able to resolve in […]

Posted in: SLS / Orion
Blue Origin, ULA Announce New Engine Project

Blue Origin, ULA Announce New Engine Project

The Times They Are A Changin Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance held a news conference at the National Press Club today entitled “Igniting the Future.” The purpose was announce the joint development of a new main engine to replace the Russian built RD-180 which powers the Atlas V booster. Called the BE-4, the new […]

Ariane V Scores 61st Consecutive Successful Launch, But Does it Have a Future?

Ariane V Scores 61st Consecutive Successful Launch, But Does it Have a Future?

Image Credit: Arianespace Industry leader Arianespace reached a historic milestone yesterday, conducting the 75th launch of the Ariane V rocket. It was also the 61st consecutive successful flight for booster, which lifted off in its traditional duel payload configuration, carrying two satellites, MEASAT-3b and Optus 10. In typical fashion, Arianespace was not shy about touting […]

Posted in: Arianespace
SpaceX Lands Falcon Heavy Order with Inmarsat, Two More Possible

SpaceX Lands Falcon Heavy Order with Inmarsat, Two More Possible

Note: This marks a substantial order for SpaceX, and a strong vote of confidence by one of the blue blood players in the ComSat industry.  Thus far, and despite the ground breaking potential of the Falcon Heavy, commercial orders have been somewhat slow in coming.  If today’s order ultimately results in three Falcon Heavy missions, […]

Posted in: SpaceX
Editorial: What if the ULA Merger Never Happened?

Editorial: What if the ULA Merger Never Happened?

Image Credit : ULA Editorial Karl Marx once said “The last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope.” He may have been right on at least this point. Underscoring once again America’s self-inflicted dependence on Russian technology for launching its own most expensive intelligence assets, a United Launch Alliance Atlas […]

Annual GAO Report Highlights Exploding Costs of EELV

Annual GAO Report Highlights Exploding Costs of EELV

“Over the past year, the 80 programs of the 2013 portfolio have grown by a total of $12.6 billion, a net cost increase nearly all attributable to the significant procurement cost associated with one program—the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle.” And that’s just from the front page. In what is becoming a repeated annual refrain, the […]

Posted in: EELV
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