The Pentagon's primary satellite-launch provider announced plans
Monday to develop a new rocket featuring some reusable engines,
part of an effort to cut costs and compete with Elon Musk's Space
Exploration Technology Corp.
United Launch Alliance LLC, a joint venture between Boeing Co.
and Lockheed Martin Corp., is developing a new rocket for military
and commercial use to reduce both launch prices and its
controversial reliance on a Russian-made engine. The proposed
booster also is intended to help in the escalating competition from
SpaceX, as Mr. Musk's company is called, which is close to winning
its long battle to start launching U.S. Air Force and spy
satellites.
ULA's plans include reusing the rocket's main engines, which are
the most expensive parts, by snaring them with a helicopter in
midair as they fall with parachutes open toward Earth. Recovering
them and recycling them for three or more launches would be one of
the simplest ways to cut launch costs, according to ULA, which said
the new missions would cost less than $100 million apiece.
SpaceX aims to cut costs by landing the first stage of its
Falcon 9 rocket on a specially-designed barge floating in the
Atlantic. SpaceX cancelled another attempt to land its booster on a
barge Monday afternoon, due to weather problems. Two previous
efforts have ended in failure.
ULA said catching the engines with a helicopter is cheaper than
a controlled landing and places less stress on the equipment. It's
explored a plan where the engines would separate from the rocket's
fuel tanks high in the atmosphere after launch and be slowed with
parachutes and other devices, releasing a line that a helicopter
could then capture with a hook. A ULA study in 2008 identified the
Sikorsky CH-53, which can carry a 36,000-pound load, as suitable
for the task.
ULA outlined the recycling plan as it announced that its new
U.S.-made engine would be called Vulcan, chosen in a contest that
the company said attracted more than a million votes. The other
contenders were Eagle, Freedom, Galaxy One and Zeus.
The joint venture has enjoyed a monopoly on military and
intelligence satellite launches since 2006, but has been told by
Congress to stop using the Russian-made RD-180 engines on its Atlas
V rocket because of concerns that supplies could be cut off. ULA is
retiring its Delta IV rocket to save money.
With the future of the Russian-made engine under threat, ULA
last year turned to the new BE-4 engine being developed by Blue
Origin LLC, a venture backed by Amazon.com Inc.'s Jeff Bezos. ULA
said the BE-4 is designed to be reused.
The joint venture also is examining a separate engine being
developed by Rancho Cordova, Calif.-based GenCorp Inc., and plans
to choose between the two in 2016 or 2017. But ULA Chief Executive
Tory Bruno said last month it would be 2022 or 2023 before a rocket
with the new engine would be able to fly for the Pentagon.
Congress has told the Air Force to have two competing launch
systems ready by 2019. Amid growing tension between the U.S. and
Russia last year, Congress directed the Pentagon to explore
developing one of them itself. Industry experts said this could
cost $2 billion to $3 billion, including redesigning rockets around
the new engine.
SpaceX hopes to have its Falcon 9 Heavy rocket available by 2018
to handle the biggest satellites at an average cost of $160 million
a launch. The new rocket is due to fly for the first time later
this year, and military officials have said it could be 2019 or
2020 before it is certified, though they didn't discount SpaceX
meeting its timetable.
Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com
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