United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, plans to upgrade its Vulcan rocket to challenge SpaceX’s Starship in the low Earth orbit satellite launch market. The company’s CEO, Tory Bruno, announced that they want to develop a Vulcan model tailored to the lucrative LEO market, where thousands of satellites are being launched for internet services.
Bruno said that ULA has selected a modification to Vulcan which gives it more mass and puts it in a competitive range with SpaceX Starship. Among the options considered were a “Vulcan Heavy” version, which would strap three boosters together, as well as other unique configurations with propulsion in unusual places.
ULA expects to finish development of the variant by the time SpaceX’s Starship begins offering LEO satellite launches, which could be several years from now. The company has already booked several Vulcan missions with Amazon to deploy Kuiper internet satellites, making it an important part of Amazon’s strategy to challenge Starlink.
The Vulcan rocket starts at a launch price of $110 million and has a book order of roughly 70 missions. ULA is aiming to fly eight Vulcan missions next year and 12 missions with Atlas V, its retiring predecessor. The company has been exploring options for acquisition, including Sierra Nevada Corp’s space unit Sierra Space and Blue Origin.
With SpaceX’s Starship dominating the LEO market, ULA aims to develop a competitive rocket that can challenge it. However, the company’s CEO, Tory Bruno, predicted that they would not face SpaceX in this particular marketplace for several years.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/rival-spacexs-starship-ula-eyes-vulcan-rocket-upgrade-2024-12-14