ULA confirms Atlas V first stage malfunction

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Still no word on the latest anomaly, and with these layoff's, it's not helping matters...

 

ULA cuts 375 jobs as new commercial space-race heats up

 

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Centennial maker of rocket launchers to shed 10% of workforce as it tries to stay competitive as SpaceX and other startups join space race.

 

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As United Launch Alliance transitions to stay competitive in the new space race, the company confirmed Friday that it is cutting 375 jobs.

 

Most of the job losses are expected to be voluntary and affected employees will get a severance package, ULA spokeswoman Jessica Rye said.

 

"As ULA continues our transformation, we have determined that a reduction in force is necessary," Rye said in a statement. "ULA's intention is to accomplish most, if not all of the reductions via voluntary separation. We anticipate up to 375 employees separating from ULA across all five locations."

 

ULA currently employs 3,400 people, with about 1,500 in Colorado. Rye said the job reductions are expected to be completed "later this year."

The Centennial-based developer of spacecraft launchers faces pressure from new competitors led by billionaire tech entrepreneurs.

 

Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic want to expand into space tourism and are currently taking a bite of the existing aerospace market.

 

Last May, SpaceX broke ULA's monopoly on national security launches after getting certified to launch satellites for the Pentagon.

ULA, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. formed in 2006, hasn't been struggling, per se.

 

The company has had a perfect performance record and no failed launches, defense analyst Loren Thompson with the Lexington Institute told Bloomberg News recently.

 

But Thompson said that the new competitors, the government and others are putting pressure on ULA to change and deliver better results.

 

ULA has spent the past year making changes and finding ways to cut costs so it's more streamlined and less reliant on government contracts. Last June, it cut 12 positions, or 30 percent of its executive team.

 

A month later, it announced it would put a small engineering team in Pueblo to bring some of its rocket testing in house. The propulsion testing facility will help the company's existing Atlas and Delta rockets and its new Vulcan launch system, which will include reusable booster engines.

 

But in November, ULA dropped out of a bidding process against SpaceX for the launch of a new satellite for the Air Force-run GPS. At the time, ULA said it wouldn't compete unless the Pentagon let it buy more Russian-made RD-180 engines. The government declined.

 

Last month, ULA partnered with Blue Origin, Aerojet Rocketdyne and the Air Force to make new engines here in the United States.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_29742701/ula-cuts-375-jobs-new-commercial-space-race

[DocM]

ULA is hamstrung by the micromanagement & low R&D funding of its joint venture parents, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, as well as its charter. Faced with these aggressive, rapid development new entrants led by SpaceX it's hard to see how they can compete in the long term absent major changes. 

[Unobscured Vision]

1 hour ago, DocM said:

ULA is hamstrung by the micromanagement & low R&D funding of its joint venture parents, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, as well as its charter. Faced with these aggressive, rapid development new entrants led by SpaceX it's hard to see how they can compete in the long term absent major changes. 

They can't. Their business model, their internal culture, and even their mindset isn't compatible with the new ways of NewSpace. No matter how much money ULA earns from launches, that money inevitably ends up back in the coffers of the two parent companies. They don't have the room to innovate like before; when it was only them (when there was really no need to unless it was to keep up with Russia). We all know this.

 

Now things are different, and they didn't see SpaceX achieving what they've achieved due to their own arrogance and "burying their heads in the sand". Now it's too late.

 

They're screwed, and they know it.

[Unobscured Vision]

Call me nuts, but I see Orbital/ATK making a serious buyout offer for ULA -- and the parent companies might actually go for this one. Not that garbage offer (Who was it? The ones that used to supply the strap-on boosters?) that was forwarded last year; but an honest, brass-tacks offer that would actually be taken seriously.

[DocM]

There are only 2 ways they continue long term; they're spun off or they're bought out. Vulcan may be an evolutionary design, of Delta IV not of Atlas V as is advertised, but it's not going to be competitive against SpaceX, Blue Origin or an outfit like an evolved Rocket Lab or Firefly.  NoWayInHell.

[Unobscured Vision]

1 minute ago, DocM said:

There are only 2 ways they continue long term; they're spun off or they're bought out. Vulcan may be an evolutionary design, of Delta IV not of Atlas V as is advertised, but it's not going to be competitive against SpaceX, Blue Origin or an outfit like an evolved Rocket Lab or Firefly.  NoWayInHell.

Agreed; but I think it's going to be some kind of combination of the two, sporting a BE-4 (or possibly four of them, depending on the size/ISP output). Lots of stuff up in the air in that scenario.

[DocM]

I see ULA abandoning Vulcan then using Blue Origin's heavy lifter from LC-36 at KSC. This won't be Blues first launcher, which ISTM will be more of an Atlas V 401 equivalent, but the follow-on which is looking to be in the Proton to Delta IV Heavy class.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

MUOS-5 MISSION DELAYED INDEFINITELY DUE TO PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED ON OA-6 MISSION

 

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — United Launch Alliance announced on Friday, April 8, that the flight of the fifth and final Mobile User Objective System satellite (MUOS-5) would be delayed from May 12 until an unspecified time. This latest slip was caused by an in-flight anomaly encountered in the first stage of the Atlas V 401 rocket that launched the OA-6 Cygnus spacecraft on its way to the International Space Station on March 22, 2016.

 

The statement issued by ULA read as follows:

The Atlas V MUOS-5 launch is delayed and indefinite on the Eastern Range due to ongoing evaluation of the first stage anomaly experienced during the OA-6 mission. ULA successfully delivered the OA-6 Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on March 22. The MUOS-5 spacecraft and launch vehicle are secure at their processing facilities.

 

As was noted, the S.S. Rick Husband Cygnus spacecraft reached the ISS as planned with no issues. In order to gain a better understanding of what had happened during the flight, where the Atlas V booster’s first stage engine shut down about 6 seconds earlier than planned, Colorado-based ULA pushed the MUOS-5 mission from May 5 to May 12.

 

During the March 22 flight, the OA-6 mission was salvaged by having the Atlas V’s Centaur upper stage burn for about a minute longer than the 14 minutes that it had been scheduled to be active for. The Centaur uses a single Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10C-1 engine.

 

At present, there are as many as nine Atlas V launches that are scheduled for the remainder of 2016. It is unclear what impact this issue will have on the rest of this year’s manifest.

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/ula/muos-5-mission-delayed-indefinitely-due-problems-encountered-oa-6-mission/

 

There appears to be a little more to this, after this length of time, and they are not telling.....

[DocM]

Yup, sounds like the whole schedule could be delayed. What a mess, and I'm sure McCain will have his $0.02 on it. 

 

The other question is the impact on Commercial Crew if it's so serious RD-180 engines already here need mods that have to be made in Russia.

[Unobscured Vision]

Wow. Guess that it's worse than they first thought. If ULA themselves are the ones delaying future launches, then it's a defect with the 180's that they've only now noticed.

 

So with that in mind ... the Antares failure might not have been caused by "debris in the fuel tank becoming jammed in the fuel system" etc etc; and ULA has just been "lucky"? 

 

Pretty sure we're tracking the same point of failure here, folks.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Problem is, we have no data of any kind and are just guessing. It could easily be software as well. Either way, a fix is required as well as some form of testing, which will take more time. The length of time will reflect the severity/difficulty of the issue.

 

[DocM]

The avionics and software are in the Centaur upper stage. They've stated the problem is in the "fuel system", the most complex parts of which are in the RD-180 engine. 

[Beittil]

Btw, Jeff Foust tweeted this after last nights ULA/BA presser:

 

 

[DocM]

Guesses in order

 

1. clogged fuel filter (FOD)

2. sticky fuel valve

3. fuel line leak

4. turbopump fuel side leak

[DocM]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ula-rocket-idUSKCN0XA26W?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FscienceNews+%28Reuters+Science+News%29

 

United Launch Alliance suspends Atlas 5 flights

 

United Launch Alliance said on Wednesday its Atlas 5 rocket will need to be repaired before flights resume following an early engine shutdown on its last mission.

 

"There will be corrective action," Tory Bruno, chief executive of the joint venture by Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co,told Reuters in an interview at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

 

"I'm still confident that were going to get all the missions off within a year, but theres going to be a little shuffling around," Bruno said.

 

ULA currently holds a monopoly on launching U.S. military and national security payloads.

The companys next launch of a military communications satellite, MUOS-5, originally slated for May 5, has been delayed indefinitely, pending resolution of a problem that shut down an Atlas rocket first-stage engine 5.5 seconds early during its last flight on March 22, ULA said.

The rockets second stage compensated for the shortfall, successfully delivering an Orbital ATK cargo ship into orbit for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The capsule later reached the International Space Station without incident.

 

ULA launched an immediate investigation into the premature engine shutdown. "Anytime anything happens on a rocket thats not expected, we grind it to dust," Bruno said.

The problem involves the system that delivers kerosene fuel to the rockets Russian-made RD-180 first-stage engine. Bruno said he expects to know within the next few days which components are suspect.

 

"Engineers have not found anything in the processing of the rocket for that launch on March 22 that was different from any previously flown," Bruno added.

 

"We have a very good idea (of what the problem is), but were not quite done isolating it," Bruno said. "I think in the next few days we should be able to say which components ... were actually focused on."

[Draggendrop Veteran]

and here they go again...

 

ULA plans second, bigger round of job cuts in 2017

 

United Launch Alliance plans to eliminate more than 400 jobs in 2017, the company’s chief executive said April 13.

 

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — United Launch Alliance plans to eliminate more than 400 jobs in 2017 in addition to the 375 it plans to cut this year, the head of the Denver-based launch services provider said April 13.

 

ULA, the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture that builds and operates the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets, currently employs roughly 3,400 people throughout the United States. On April 8, ULA told The Denver Post it planned to eliminate about 375 jobs in 2016 largely through voluntary separation.

 

In an April 13 interview at the 32nd Space Symposium here April 13, Tory Bruno, ULA’s president and CEO, said a second round of job cuts is planned for 2017.

 

“We’re going to do one more next year ­— about the same size, a little bit bigger — and then we’re going to be done,” he told SpaceNews. “This year is 375. Next year’s is a little bit larger— 400-and-something, but less than 500 — and then we’re finished. And then I intend to be done-done, hit my competitive price points, and if anything I expect to grow after that.”

 

Bruno said the job cuts would hit ULA’s Denver-area headquarters as well as manufacturing sites in Alabama and Texas and launch sites in Florida and California.

 

“It’s about all the things we’re doing to be more efficient, more competitive and to cut costs,” he said. “Ultimately, we’re going to be doing the same work because we’re more efficient with less people. That’s what’s driving that.”

 

ULA is facing tough competition from SpaceX for national security and civil launches. At the same time, many of the Defense Department’s major satellite programs are nearing full on-orbit deployment, which could mean fewer launch opportunities to go around. ULA is counting on the next-generation Vulcan rocket it is developing with a mix of Air Force and corporate money to achieve a $100 million-per-launch price point.

http://spacenews.com/ula-plans-second-bigger-round-of-job-cuts-in-2017/

[Unobscured Vision]

Exactly what they need to be doing. It's just sound business practice. I don't like seeing people losing their jobs, ever, but this is how a business is run. Those people will be okay; they'll find work elsewhere in the field or retire (as I've been reading elsewhere, a lot of those cuts will be early retirement incentives).

 

Bigelow did this recently, and I'm sure that the majority of those workers have secured employment elsewhere. SpaceX is always looking for talented people, and they need all the help they can get with all the expansion and stuff they're doing.

 

So my advice to those ULA Employees who aren't retiring? Apply to SpaceX -- and join the NewSpace Revolution!  

[DocM]

Blue Origin is starting a hiring tear too, prepping to populate their Exploration Park factory, other facilities and LC-36 launch/landing pads at KSC.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Hopefully, the ones slated for downsizing will be able to stay in the field...we need this talent working. 

[DocM]

It was the RD-180's Mixture Ratio Control Valve (MRCV), once again bringing up the issue of Russian quality control. MUOS-5 is now looking like late May at the earliest.

 

Centennial, Colo., (April 29, 2016) -- ULA successfully delivered the OA-6 Cygnus spacecraft to its precise orbit as planned on March 22. During the launch, the system experienced a premature first stage shutdown. Atlas is a robust system. The Centaur upper stage compensated for the first stage anomaly, delivering Cygnus to a precise orbit, well within the required accuracy. The ULA engineering team has reviewed the data and has determined an anomaly with the RD-180 Mixture Ratio Control Valve (MRCV) assembly caused a reduction in fuel flow during the boost phase of the flight. In addition to analysis and testing, all RD-180 engines are being inspected.

 

Last Friday, in preparation for the MUOS-5 launch, the Atlas V completed the Launch Vehicle on Stand (LVOS) operation, erecting the Atlas V into the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. LVOS will allow configuration of the vehicle to support RD-180 engine inspections and confirm all engine components are ready for launch. The Atlas V MUOS-5 launch is targeted for early summer; a new launch date has not been secured on the Eastern Range. The impact to the remainder of the Atlas V manifest is in review with new launch dates being coordinated with our customers. All missions manifested for 2016 are expected to be successfully executed by the end of the year, including OSIRIS-REx, which will remain in early September to support its critical science window.

RD-180 plumbing - MRCV at bottom right

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Case Closed: United Launch Alliance finishes Investigation into Atlas V Flight Anomaly

 

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United Launch Alliance announced on Wednesday that the company had closed the investigation into the Atlas V underperformance occurring on the Cygnus OA-6 launch in March and cleared the workhorse launcher to proceed with its upcoming June 24 launch of the MUOS 5 satellite for the U.S. Navy.

 

Atlas V, flying in its 401 configuration, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on March 22, carrying the 7,942-Kilogram Cygnus OA-6 cargo vehicle for a resupply mission to the International Space Station. Signs of a performance shortfall emerged at the shutdown of the first stage’s RD-180 engine that occurred about five seconds prior to the expected time, leaving the vehicle short of its intended velocity. As a result, the Centaur upper stage extended its RL-10C engine burn by approximately 67 seconds, successfully delivering Cygnus to its target orbit.

 

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Typically, RD-180 is operated at an oxidizer-to-fuel ratio of 2.53 to 2.91. The MRCV is used in tandem with the Thrust Control Regulator Valve for smooth throttling of the engine between 47 and 100%. RD-180 is capable of operating in a wide range of fuel/oxidizer mixture ratios owed to its robust design, making it possible for the engine to tolerate the operational environments associated with changes in O/F ratio.

 

Due to the imbalance in propellant consumption, the Common Core Booster’s oxidizer supply was depleted short of the expected burn time with significant fuel remaining at RD-180 cutoff. Remarkably, RD-180 was able to run for 28 seconds in an oxidizer-rich setting which results in a significant increase in combustion temperature and is common cause of engine burn through.

 

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Existing RD-180 engines will undergo a replacement of the part in question and detailed inspections will be conducted to support the current manifest. The final reviews as part of the investigation were completed by June 2, allowing Atlas V to be cleared for flight with no significant impact expected to ULA’s 2016 manifest.

 

Sudden Change in Exhaust Plume – Image: Spaceflight101/NASA

 

http://spaceflight101.com/ula-concludes-oa6-anomaly-investigation/

[Jim K Global Moderator]

12 minutes ago, Draggendrop said:

Case Closed: United Launch Alliance finishes Investigation into Atlas V Flight Anomaly

 

 

 

 

Sudden Change in Exhaust Plume – Image: Spaceflight101/NASA

 

http://spaceflight101.com/ula-concludes-oa6-anomaly-investigation/

Cool.  You can see it on this launch video  (event at 3:56)

 

 

 

[DocM]

Ran LOX rich for 28 seconds? 

They came really close to a big bada-boom

[Unobscured Vision]

No kidding, wow. They got super fortunate. In fact, it's because of the 180's design that it didn't kaboom as soon as the mix went rich like that ... sheesh. Instead, it simply went into a "wtf is this treachery?!" kind of firing mode but kept going as long as it could.

 

Dodged a bullet.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

1 minute ago, Unobscured Vision said:

No kidding, wow. They got super fortunate. In fact, it's because of the 180's design that it didn't kaboom as soon as the mix went rich like that ... sheesh. Instead, it simply went into a "wtf is this treachery?!" kind of firing mode but kept going as long as it could.

 

Dodged a bullet.

This comment made me laugh so loud.