ULA picks Blue Origin rocket engine for Vulcan first stage
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Capitalism in space: ULA has chosen Blue Origin’s BE-4 rocket engine to power the first stage of its next generation rocket, which they are now calling Vulcan-Centaur.
Two BE-4 engines will be used to power the Vulcan first stage. The press release does not mention anything about how they plan to recover these first stages. Earlier announcements had said that they would separate from the rocket stage and parachute down to be capture before hitting the ground.
Please consider donating to Behind the Black, by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, as outlined in the tip jar below. Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
Regular readers can support Behind The Black with a contribution via paypal:
If Paypal doesn't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
Capitalism in space: ULA has chosen Blue Origin’s BE-4 rocket engine to power the first stage of its next generation rocket, which they are now calling Vulcan-Centaur.
Two BE-4 engines will be used to power the Vulcan first stage. The press release does not mention anything about how they plan to recover these first stages. Earlier announcements had said that they would separate from the rocket stage and parachute down to be capture before hitting the ground.
Tory Bruno has suggested that recovering the engines is a down the road thing. First iteration won’t do it. Which initially seems silly, but again, SpaceX experimented with recovery until they got it right, so maybe not.
Time will tell.
Will the Vulcan-Centaur eventually be the booster for Boeing’s Starliner?
Chris Cresta: A good question. The deal now is to use ULA’s Atlas 5 with Starliner. I assume this will transfer to Vulcan-Centaur but it is also possible that Boeing will keep its options open.