United Launch Alliance announces new Vulcan reusable rocket
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028795
New Scientist : United Launch Alliance (ULA) is the partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin that is currently responsible for all Atlas and Delta rocket launches. On Monday, the partnership announced that its next generation of rockets, called Vulcan, will be reusable, similar to competitor SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Vulcan’s first launch is scheduled for 2019, at a cost of just $100 million. In comparison, the companies’ current rockets cost an average of $225 million per launch . To reduce ULA’s dependence on Russian RD-180 engines, Vulcan’s engines will be produced by either Blue Origin or Aerojet Rocketdyne. Instead of attempting to land its used booster engines on an ocean barge as SpaceX has done, ULA says that its engines will deploy parachutes and then be caught by helicopters.