{"id":43566,"date":"2025-11-27T22:34:40","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T14:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/ula-aimed-to-launch-up-to-10-vulcan-rockets-this-year-it-will-fly-just-once\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T22:34:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T14:34:40","slug":"ula-aimed-to-launch-up-to-10-vulcan-rockets-this-year-it-will-fly-just-once","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/ula-aimed-to-launch-up-to-10-vulcan-rockets-this-year-it-will-fly-just-once\/","title":{"rendered":"ULA aimed to launch up to 10 Vulcan rockets this year\u2014it will fly just once"},"content":{"rendered":"

Around this time last year, officials at United Launch Alliance projected 2025 would be their busiest year ever. Tory Bruno, ULA\u2019s chief executive, told reporters the company would launch as many as 20 missions this year, with roughly an even split between the legacy Atlas V launcher and its replacement\u2014the Vulcan rocket.<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s likely that ULA will close out 2025 with six flights\u2014five with the Atlas V and just one with the Vulcan rocket the company is so eager to accelerate into service. Six flights would make 2025 the busiest launch year for ULA since 2022, but it would still fall well short of the company\u2019s forecast.<\/p>\n

Last week, ULA announced its next launch is scheduled for December 15. An Atlas V will loft another batch of broadband satellites for the Amazon Leo network, formerly known as Project Kuiper, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This will be ULA\u2019s last launch of the year.<\/p>\n

The Vulcan rocket\u2019s sole launch this year occurred on August 12, when it took off on a mission sponsored by the US Space Force. The rocket deployed an experimental military navigation satellite and at least one additional classified payload into orbit. This mission was the third flight of the Vulcan rocket, and its first national security mission after the Space Force formally certified ULA\u2019s new launch vehicle.<\/p>\n

United Launch Alliance is one of the Space Force\u2019s two certified launch providers for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program and the military\u2019s most critical space missions, delivering satellites to orbit for reconnaissance, navigation, communications, and early warning. SpaceX, the other provider, has launched its Falcon 9 rocket fleet 151 times so far this year, including six times for the Space Force\u2019s NSSL program.<\/p>\n

Concerns about the Vulcan rocket are nothing new at the Pentagon. In May 2024, the defense official then in charge of procuring space hardware wrote a letter to Boeing and Lockheed Martin\u2014ULA\u2019s corporate parents\u2014outlining his concerns about the Vulcan rocket\u2019s entry into service. \u201cCurrently there is military satellite capability sitting on the ground due to Vulcan delays,\u201d wrote Frank Calvelli, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition under the Biden administration.<\/p>\n

A year-and-a-half later, the military still has satellites waiting to launch on Vulcan.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

Great expectations<\/h2>\n

By the time of the launch in August, ULA had cut its forecast for 2025 to nine missions, but officials still expected more Vulcan flights before the end of the year. That is no longer the case. Now, the next two military missions booked to launch on Vulcan are scheduled for next year, according to a spokesperson for Space Systems Command. These missions will launch a pair of in-space reconnaissance satellites and a GPS navigation spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Amazon Leo is focusing on preparing for the next launch of 27 Internet satellites on the Atlas V next month and the network\u2019s first launch on a European Ariane 6 rocket early next year. Amazon is in the early stages of building and launching more than 3,200 satellites to beam consumer-grade broadband connectivity around the world, a service intended to rival SpaceX\u2019s Starlink network. Amazon has launched 153 operational satellites so far.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A Vulcan rocket stands on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n United Launch Alliance<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Amazon and the Space Force are ULA\u2019s two primary customers, combining to make up about 90 percent of the company\u2019s mission backlog. Amazon has reserved 38 launches on Vulcan rockets, plus five more flights on the soon-to-retire Atlas V. The Space Force, which also awards launch contracts for the National Reconnaissance Office\u2019s spy satellites, currently has 27 launches booked on Vulcan rockets.<\/p>\n

The Space Force\u2019s upcoming missions on the Vulcan rocket will carry operational satellites, unlike the experimental payloads carried on the most recent Vulcan launch in August. The next military launch on Vulcan, designated USSF-87, will deploy two so-called GSSAP satellites designed to reconnoiter other objects, including classified Russian and Chinese satellites, in geosynchronous orbit. These are among the Space Force\u2019s most precious satellites at a time when space surveillance is taking on greater importance.<\/p>\n

The Vulcan rocket has been slow to ramp up after the malfunction of one of the rocket\u2019s strap-on solid rocket boosters on its second test flight in October 2024. The rocket continued climbing into orbit after its liquid-fueled main engines compensated for the decline in thrust from the damaged booster.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

Engineers traced the problem to a manufacturing defect in an insulator on the solid rocket motor, and telemetry data from all four boosters on the following flight in August exhibited \u201cspot-on\u201d performance, according to Bruno. But officials decided to recover the spent expendable motor casings from the Atlantic Ocean for inspections to confirm there were no other surprises or close calls.<\/p>\n

The hangup delaying the next Vulcan launches isn\u2019t in rocket production. ULA has hardware for multiple Vulcan rockets in storage at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.<\/p>\n

Instead, one key reason for Vulcan\u2019s past delays has been the rocket\u2019s performance, particularly its solid rocket boosters. It isn\u2019t clear whether the latest delays are related to the readiness of the Space Force\u2019s GSSAP satellites (the next GPS satellite to fly on Vulcan has been available for launch since 2022), the inspections of Vulcan\u2019s solid rocket motors, or something else.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Vulcan booster cores in storage at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n United Launch Alliance<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

A Space Systems Command spokesperson told Ars that \u201cappropriate actions are being executed to ensure a successful USSF-87 mission \u2026 The teams analyze all hardware as well as available data from previous missions to evaluate space flight worthiness of future missions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson did not provide a specific answer to a question from Ars about inspections on the solid rocket motors from the most recent Vulcan flight.<\/p>\n

ULA\u2019s outfitting of a new rocket assembly hangar and a second mobile launch platform for the Vulcan rocket at Cape Canaveral has also seen delays. With so many launches in its backlog, ULA needs capacity to stack and prepare at least two rockets in different buildings at the same time. Eventually, the company\u2019s goal is to launch at an average clip of twice per month.<\/p>\n

On Monday, ground crews at Cape Canaveral moved the second Vulcan launch platform to the company\u2019s launch pad for fit checks and \u201cinitial technical testing.\u201d This is a good sign that the company is moving closer to ramping up the Vulcan launch cadence, but it\u2019s now clear it won\u2019t happen this year.<\/p>\n

Vulcan\u2019s slow launch rate since its first flight in January 2024 is not unusual for new rockets. It took 28 months for SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 and ULA\u2019s Atlas V to reach their fourth flight, a timeline that the Vulcan vehicle will reach in May 2026.<\/p>\n

The Delta IV rocket from ULA flew its fourth mission 25 months after debuting in 2002. Europe\u2019s Ariane 6 rocket reached its fourth flight in 16 months, but it shares more in common with its predecessor than the others. SpaceX\u2019s Starship also had a faster ramp-up, with its fourth test flight coming less than 14 months after the first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Around this time last year, officials at United Launch Alliance projected 2025 would be their busiest year ever. Tory Bruno, ULA\u2019s chief executive, told reporters the company would launch as many as 20 missions this year, with roughly an even split between the legacy Atlas V launcher and its replacement\u2014the Vulcan rocket. Now, it\u2019s likely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43566"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}