An accident during the flight of a ULA Vulcan rocket has increased its chances of being allowed to launch military satellites

On Monday (Oct. 21), United Launch Alliance began assembling its third Vulcan launch vehicle, which is expected to make the first certified payload launch for the U.S. military. The test launch of the rocket on October 4 was accompanied by an anomaly – the destruction of the nozzle of one of the side solid fuel boosters. Despite the accident, the rocket and upper stage completed the mission, earning the respect of the military.

Image source: United Launch Alliance

As the Internet resource ArsTechnica learned, the military was impressed by the survivability of the rocket. 37 seconds after launch, the nozzle of one of the two side-mounted solid fuel boosters manufactured by Northrop Grumman collapsed and the booster lost a lot of thrust. Fortunately, both Blue Origin ULA Vulcan first stage engines are designed to produce asymmetric thrust, and they compensated for the thrust anomaly that occurred on one of the boosters.

Also, the reduction in thrust had to be compensated by the engines of the Centaur upper stage, which were turned on more times and for a longer time. As a result of the successful operation of the first stage of the rocket and its upper stage, the payload simulator, despite the anomaly, was delivered to the desired orbit and they still had some room for additional work. Otherwise, another test flight would be required to certify Vulcan for U.S. national security launches. However, the qualities demonstrated by the missile and its struggle for survivability clearly proved that the missile is ready for military missions and will prove this with 100 percent trouble-free subsequent service.

Previously, the military department hoped to launch two missions using Vulcan missiles before the end of this year – USSF-106 and USSF-87 to test the next generation of satellite GPS systems. An anomaly during the October launch of Vulcan may slightly shift the dates of these launches, but not critically. Since these missions will lift satellites into geostationary orbit, Vulcan will be equipped with four solid rocket boosters both times. The rocket has never flown in this configuration. In particular, four accelerators will be installed on the first stage of the rocket, which was installed on a mobile platform last Monday.

So far, orders from the American military go exclusively to SpaceX. With the start of mass production of Vulcans, United Launch Alliance will be able to receive half of the orders. This process is expected starting next year.