ULA launch and discussion thread

[AckSed]

12 minutes ago, tater said:

Good thing the SRBs are tiny.

Tiny when compared to the Shuttle SRBs; Vulcan's big. The GEM 63XL is built by Northrop Grumman and is taller, wider and heavier than Rocket Lab's Electron: 22m high, 1.63m wide, 53.4 metric tons versus 18m high, 1.2m wide and 28 metric tons.

I was thinking it's fortunate that the lower stage is built up enough to withstand the force of 6 SRBs firing at once.

[tater]

FAA says no investigation required.

Interesting choice, given a rocket hitting it's exact landing target (but breaking a leg and falling over) results in a pause.

[GuessingEveryDay]

4 hours ago, tater said:

Interesting choice, given a rocket hitting it's exact landing target (but breaking a leg and falling over) results in a pause.

To be fair, the debris fell somewhere within the danger canal that was already set apart for it.

Anyways, I'm looking for FAA offices to put in my complaint.

Edited October 5, 2024 by GuessingEveryDay

[darthgently]

5 minutes ago, GuessingEveryDay said:

To be fair, the debris fell somewhere within the danger canal that was already set apart for it.

Anyways, I'm looking for FAA offices to put in my complaint.

The SpaceX hot stage ring falling in the zone caught a lot of flack.  The sea level F9 pinpoint landing on the barge where the landing leg failed inspired a pause from the FAA.  Wonky.

Maybe their reasoning is the pace at ULA is so slow that they don’t need an official pause.  It would be like making a snail take a break

[GuessingEveryDay]

29 minutes ago, darthgently said:

It would be like making a snail take a break

 

[magnemoe]

4 hours ago, GuessingEveryDay said:

To be fair, the debris fell somewhere within the danger canal that was already set apart for it.

Anyways, I'm looking for FAA offices to put in my complaint.

Yes they held on to them longer so they could drop in drop zone. 
I say they got lucky, this could easy ended as an rud. 

[darthgently]

On 10/5/2024 at 1:10 AM, magnemoe said:

Yes they held on to them longer so they could drop in drop zone. 
I say they got lucky, this could easy ended as an rud. 

Still, that nozzle blew off around 25s when the trajectory appears to have been near vertical.  It had to have fallen fairly close.  Still safe given precautions, but nowhere near where the boosters came down.  What if it had blown off at ignition?  That is the kind of question one would think about at the FAA, I’d hope

[AckSed]

The new RL10E-1 uses 3D-printed thrust chamber for a 98% reduction in part-count: https://www.l3harris.com/newsroom/press-release/2024/11/l3harris-delivers-new-generation-rl10-rocket-engines

Spoiler

I'm startled by the size of the vacuum nozzle, though Wikipedia says that's average. Looks cleaner, though it's still a chandelier-o'-gear on the powerhead.

[tater]

(just dropping some Berger bad vibes in a couple threads, lol)

[tater]

 

[tater]

 

120k and 85k are prop load in pounds, so 54.4 tonnes of props, and 38.5t respectively.

[AckSed]

Testing modified GEM63XL solid rocket boosters: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/02/gem-63xl-test-fire/