WASHINGTON \u2014 United Launch Alliance is set to make a decision this year on whether a Blue Origin or Aerojet Rocketdyne engine should power its Vulcan launch system. The outcome hinges on a series of hot-fire tests that will prove whether Blue Origin’s BE4 works, ULA’s chief executive told Defense News on April 6.
ULA will not be making a final selection alone. The company has established an independent team of experts to advise it, and Congress has chartered its own group \u2014 comprised of engineers and scientists from NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center \u2014 to give lawmakers guidance. Bruno also expects the Air Force to provide input.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If all four groups say the same thing, it will be a very easy decision. If there are any differences, we\u2019ll resolve them, and then we\u2019ll pick an engine,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bruno hopes to make an engine selection before ULA submits its final proposal for the Air Force\u2019s launch service agreement competition, the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) follow-on program that will help fund the development of new launch systems. But with the final request for proposals likely coming out in summer, ULA may have to structure its bid to accommodate both the AR1 and BE4 while continuing to develop both engines, as a down-select is slated for later..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bruno characterized the AR1 as the lower-risk but higher-priced entrant. Aerojet is currently “making excellent progress” conducting component testing, he said. Aerojet\u2019s AR1, like the RD-180 currently employed by ULA\u2019s Atlas V, will be fueled by a combination of kerosene and liquid oxygen, making combustion instability less of a concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
“It’s not zero risk, because it’s going to be our first oxygen-rich staged combustion engine developed<\/p>\n\n\n\n
here in the States, but much less risk” than the BE4, Bruno said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike Blue Origin, Aerojet has yet to sign a contract with ULA because the design is not yet mature enough to set a firm price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What they’re doing instead is doing cost modeling, forecasting the price as they work through the design. They have a price target that they’re trying to drive to,” Bruno said, adding that those estimates show that a set of BE4 engines will be cheaper than both the RD-180 and the AR1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aerojet Rocketdyne officials maintain that the AR1 will be lower cost and lower risk than its competitor, and that the engine\u2019s performance will replicate the battle-tested RD-180 that powers ULA\u2019s Atlas V. Even if the BE4 manages to make it through hot-fire testing, there will still be added uncertainty involved because Blue Origin still has not chosen a production facility for the BE4, meaning manufacturing processes aren\u2019t solidified, Julie Van Kleeck, its vice president of advanced space and launch programs and strategy, said during an April 3 briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“To truly certify, you don’t have to [just] certify the design, you certify the processes that are built in a certain factory. You have to certify the whole thing to really know you have a certified engine,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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