Northrop Grumman successfully test solid rocket booster for ULA’s Vulcan
Capitalism in space: Northrop Grumman today announced that it has successfully test fired the strap-on solid rocket booster, qualifying it for flight, for use on ULA’s new Vulcan rocket.
In the Jan. 21 static test, the motor fired for approximately 90 seconds, producing nearly 449,000 pounds of thrust to validate the performance capability of the motor, the company said. The firing also verified the motor’s internal insulation, propellant grain ballistics and nozzle in high temperatures.
If all goes right Vulcan will make its inaugural flight later this year.
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Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
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Capitalism in space: Northrop Grumman today announced that it has successfully test fired the strap-on solid rocket booster, qualifying it for flight, for use on ULA’s new Vulcan rocket.
In the Jan. 21 static test, the motor fired for approximately 90 seconds, producing nearly 449,000 pounds of thrust to validate the performance capability of the motor, the company said. The firing also verified the motor’s internal insulation, propellant grain ballistics and nozzle in high temperatures.
If all goes right Vulcan will make its inaugural flight later this year.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
I thought Vulcan was canceled? I know NG shut down a bunch of development work after a Stop Work from the AF. Maybe this is the AF giving them some crumbs.
The Vulcan was a disaster in every phase of it’s existence.
pawn: I don’t think you are referring to the Vulcan rocket that ULA is developing. While there are aspects of Vulcan’s design that I think are a mistake, it has so far not been “a disaster.”
It was Omega that was cancelled. And it probably should have been, there is no need for a rocket of that class, specifically tailored to govt launches, anymore.
Pawn,
I thought the same thing a while back on a Vulcan article that was posted in August: https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/air-force-terminates-development-contracts-to-ula-blue-origin-northrop-grumman/#comments
You are probably thinking of the Liberty or OmegA SRB rockets that were cancelled. Vulcan will use SRBs, but it is still waiting for the BE-4 engines.
David beat me to the post!
You folks are correct. I had a major brain fart and confused the Omega with the Vulcan.
The Omega was doomed for a variety of reasons. One of them I always brought to the table was that there was no way the AF was going to pay to keep the Omega launch infrastructure in place if the SLS was canceled.
Is anybody talking about what could possibly happen to KSC when they finally pull the plug on their white elephant? I know the tourism is big but you only need so many bus drivers.
pawn: KSC is doing quite well, and that is without SLS, which remember still has not launched. The many private launch companies are bringing the cape far more business than it ever saw when NASA was its only launch customer.