United Launch Alliance

United Launch Alliance (ULA), legally United Launch Alliance, LLC, is an American spacecraft launch service provider that manufactures and operates a number of rocket vehicles that are capable of launching spacecraft into orbits around Earth, and to other bodies in the Solar System and beyond. The company, which is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, Space & Security, was formed in December 2006. Launch customers of the United Launch Alliance include the Department of Defense (DoD), NASA, and other organizations.

ULA provides launch services using expendable launch systems Delta IV Heavy and Atlas V, and until 2018 the medium-lift Delta II. The Atlas, Delta IV Heavy and the recently retired Delta IV launch systems have launched payloads including weather, telecommunications, and national security satellites, scientific probes and orbiters. ULA also launches commercial satellites.

, the company is developing the Vulcan Centaur, a successor to the Atlas V that includes some Delta IV technology. The maiden flight is planned to take place in 2023, launching Astrobotic Technology's '' Peregrine'' lunar lander.

Company history

Formation

Boeing and Lockheed Martin announced their intent to form a 50-50 joint venture on 2 May 2005 aiming to consolidate the manufacture and deployment of US government expendable launch vehicles and launch services. The United Launch Alliance name was announced at the same time. Prior to the creation of the United Launch Alliance and contrary to expectations of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, a strong, competitive commercial launch market did not materialize within the United States. Estimated prices for future contracts and program costs increased, resulting in a Nunn-McCurdy cost breach. There was also considerable turmoil within the United States Air Force (USAF) space community and between the two EELV launch service providers due to competition in the shrinking space launch market, cost increases, and the growing need for reliable access to space. This turmoil culminated in civil and criminal fraud accusations being brought against Boeing relating to the improper use of competitors' information and racketeering.

As a result, the United States Department of Defense changed its acquisition strategy to one which would maintain assured access to space. Under the "Buy III" program, all fixed costs were covered by the US government, which brought about a deal between the two major EELV contractors to combine their efforts into a single company. Annual savings were estimated to be US$100-150 million. SpaceX challenged the legality of the launch services monopoly on 23 October 2005 on anti-trust grounds, creating competition with reusable launch systems. The Federal Trade Commission gave ULA anti-trust clearance on 3 October 2006.

It was the FTC's opinion that due to the challenge of entering the government medium-to-heavy launch services market, the entry of SpaceX was unlikely to reverse the anti-competitive effects resulting from the formation of ULA, but, it approved the joint venture on the basis that the benefits of assured access to space for national security outweighed anti-competitive harm.

The commission required ULA to "cooperate on equivalent terms with all providers of government space vehicles ... provide equal consideration and support to all launch service providers when seeking any U.S. government delivery in orbit contract ... and to safeguard competitively sensitive information obtained from other providers of space vehicles and launch services".

Michael Gass era (2005-2014)

ULA merged the production and operation of the two companies' government space launch services into one central plant in Decatur, Alabama, and merged all engineering into another central facility in Littleton, Colorado. The parent companies retained responsibility for marketing and sales of the Delta and Atlas rockets.

ULA had a peak of seven space launch facilities between 2005 and 2011, including three Delta II launchpads, which were decommissioned starting in 2011. Two years after its formation, in late 2008, ULA announced it would lay off 350 of its 4200 workers in early 2009. In the event, ULA had approximately 3900 employees by August 2009. ULA joined the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) in June 2010 as an executive member. ULA's CEO Michael Gass described the company's membership as a "natural fit for us, and we are proud to do so". By May 2014, ULA's membership of the CSF had lapsed.

With the introduction of competition from lower-cost launch providers and the annually increasing costs of ULA launches, increased attention has been paid to the amounts ULA has received for U.S. government launch contracts and for its annual government funding of $1 billion for launch capability and readiness. This readiness requirement included the maintenance of five launch pads and a number of variants of the Delta II, Delta IV, Delta IV Heavy, and Atlas V rockets. As a result of increasing costs by ULA, in April 2012, the EELV program triggered a critical Nunn-McCurdy cost breach and a reassessment of the program, of which ULA was the sole participant.

An uncontested USAF block-purchase of 36 rocket cores for up to 28 launches, which was valued at US$11 billion, was awarded in December 2013 and drew protest from SpaceX, which said the cost of ULA's launches were approximately US$460 million each and proposed a price of US$90 million to provide similar launches. In response, ULA's CEO Michael Gass said its average launch price was US$225 million, with future launches as low as US$100 million.

Tory Bruno era (2014 onward)

Michael Gass stepped down as ULA's CEO in August 2014 and was replaced by Tory Bruno, former vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Strategic and Missile Defense Systems. ULA entered into a partnership with Blue Origin in September 2014 to develop the BE-4 LOX / methane engine to replace the RD-180 on a new, lower cost first-stage booster rocket. At the time, the engine was in its third year of development by Blue Origin. ULA said it expected the new stage and engine to start flying no earlier than 2019 on a successor to the Atlas V. A month later, ULA announced a major restructuring of processes and workforce to halve launch costs, partly due to competition from SpaceX. The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) calculated the average cost of each ULA rocket launch for the U.S. government had risen to approximately US$420 million in 2014.

ULA had less success securing deals for Earth observation, commercial communication, and privately owned satellites than it had with launching U.S. military payloads. In November 2014, Tory Bruno stated the structuring was intended to "lead to improvements in how ULA interacts with its customers, both governmental and commercial", shorten launch cycles, and halve launch costs again. Part of that program involved the development of a new rocket, the Vulcan, initially with private funds, to tackle "skyrocketing launch costs". Bruno believed the new, lower-cost launcher could be competitive in the commercial satellite sector. ULA intended to have preliminary design ideas in place for a blending of the Atlas V and Delta IV technology by the end of 2014 but the high-level design was not announced until April 2015.

In February 2016, it was announced the development of the Vulcan rocket would be funded via a public–private partnership with the U.S. government. By early 2016, the USAF had committed $201 million of funding for Vulcan development. ULA had not "put a firm price on the cost of Vulcan development" but according to Mike Gross of SpaceNews, Bruno "said new rockets typically cost US$2 billion, including US$1 billion for the main engine". In 2016, ULA had asked the U.S. government to provide a minimum of $1.2 billion by 2020 to assist the development of the new U.S. launch vehicle. It was unclear how the change in development funding mechanisms would change ULA plans for pricing market-driven launch services. Since Vulcan development began in October 2014, the privately generated funding for Vulcan development has been approved only on a short-term basis. The ULA board of directors, which was composed of executives from Boeing and Lockheed Martin, would approve development funding on a quarterly basis. ULA planned to reduce its number of launchpads from five in 2015 to two.

ULA released contract values to the public and new CEO Tory Bruno testified before Congress in March 2015 that while ULA receives government subsidies "to conduct national security launches", the same is true of SpaceX, which received funding "to develop new capabilities and the use of low-cost or no-cost leases of previously developed launch infrastructure". It is difficult to directly compare launch costs because they are not necessarily calculated using the same cost-model assumptions.

ULA announced in February 2015 it was considering undertaking domestic production of the Russian RD-180 rocket engine at the Decatur, Alabama, rocket stage manufacturing facility. The U.S.-manufactured engines would be used for government civil (NASA) or commercial launches, and would not be used for U.S. military launches. This idea was abandoned following the passage of legislation permitting the continued purchase of the RD-180 from Russia.

In May 2015, ULA stated it would go out of business unless it won commercial and civil satellite launch orders to offset an expected slump in U.S. military and spy launches. The same month, ULA announced it would lay off 12 of its executives, a reduction of 30%, in December 2015. The management layoffs were the "beginning of a major reorganization and redesign" as ULA endeavors to "slash costs and hunt out new customers to ensure continued growth despite the rise of SpaceX".

A controversy arose in March 2016 following public remarks by ULA VP of Engineering, Brett Tobey, whose comments were, according to Peter de Selding of SpaceNews, "resentful of SpaceX" and dismissive of one of the two competitors (Aerojet Rocketdyne) for the new engine that will power the Vulcan launch vehicle, which was under development. Tobey resigned on 16 March 2016 and Bruno disavowed the remarks. Senator John McCain asked the DoD to investigate the comments that implied it may have shown "favoritism to a major defense contractor or that efforts have been made to silence members of Congress". The Secretary of Defense asked the DoD's Inspector General to investigate.

In 2016, ULA released the Cislunar 1000 Vision with an aim of creating an economy on the Moon and in Earth orbit with 1,000 people living and working in space. Core to this aim was that the production of fuel in space would allow for dramatically cheaper space travel. ULA made clear it was willing to become a customer for in-space refueling. It previously announced a willingness to pay US$3,000 per kilogram for fuel delivered in low Earth orbit, US$500 per kilogram on the lunar surface, and US$1,000 per kilogram at L1. ULA believes it will need off-Earth propellant supplies sometime in the 2020s. In December 2016, ULA created an online pricing tool called "Rocket Builder", which allowed potential customers and the public to estimate launch costs of the Atlas V rocket with configurable orbits, payloads and launch services. Purchase-price estimates were removed from the tool in 2018 because it potentially provided commercially sensitive information to ULA's competitors. Despite ULA's cost-cutting and restructuring, the cheapest ULA space launch in early 2018 remained the Atlas V 401 at a price of approximately US$109 million.

Following the failure of a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying AMOS-6, incorrect reports about potential corporate espionage by ULA circulated. These reports were proved to be false and on 2 January 2017 SpaceX released an official statement saying the cause of the failure was a buckled liner in several of the COPV tanks.

In July 2017 the company was awarded US$191 million single-launch contract to launch the STP-3 mission aboard the heavy-lift Atlas V 551.

In January 2018, ULA took over marketing and sales responsibilities for Atlas V launches. Dan Collins, ULA's inaugural Chief operating officer, retired in April 2018 and was replaced by John Elbon, former vice president and program manager at Boeing Defense, Space & Security.

During the 2019–2020 COVID-19 pandemic, some aspects of ULA's launch related outreach were scaled back but the company said it would maintain its launch schedule.

On 7 August 2020, the U.S. Space Force awarded contracts for the second phase of its long-term launch services program for national security launches through 2020. United Launch Alliance, along with SpaceX, was chosen over Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman. The decision was driven primarily by past launch performance. As ULA has had 100% success record in about two decades of operation, it was awarded 60% of the contract.

In late 2020, ULA won a contract to launch and provide in-flight refueling for the Dynetics lunar lander. Initially, refueling would be provided by launching additional rockets to carry fuel. Each lunar mission would include two other Vulcan Centaur launches. The propellant from the upper stages of these rockets would be transferred to the Dynetics lander. ULA would significantly increase its launch pace of refueling rockets to minimize the boil-off of cryogenic fuel. The in-space refueling capability would have been tested in low Earth orbit before any lunar missions take place. However, in April 2021, NASA announced that SpaceX would instead be the prime contractor for the crewed lunar lander, having ranked the Dynetics bid low in readiness by 2024.

In September 2020, Tory Bruno announced that it had found a vendor in its supply chain that has partial Chinese ownership. The vendor designed software tools for use in development of the Vulcan Centaur rocket. Bruno said the vendor did not acquire any sensitive information. The company in question is KUKA Robotics. The Chinese interest in the vendor was discovered by a private investigator hired by ULA to monitor the security of its supply chain. The case was referred to the FBI. Bruno called on the federal government to cooperate more closely with the private sector to deal with Chinese corporate espionage.

By authority of Tory Bruno, United Launch Alliance implemented a vaccination requirement for its employees on 1 September 2021. ULA employees were required to receive a first dose by 30 September and any required second dose by 31 October 2021.

Launch vehicles and engines

As of 2020, ULA operates the Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, which were developed under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program by Lockheed Martin and Boeing respectively, both launching in 2002. The Delta IV Medium was retired on 22 August 2019, but Delta IV Heavy rockets will continue to be used to launch heavy payloads. As of 2020, ULA is developing Vulcan, a heavy-lift launch vehicle that will replace its existing fleet. Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lander will be launched on the first Vulcan certification flight, which is expected to occur in 2021 from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Current fleet

Atlas V

Atlas V is the fifth major version in the Atlas rocket family. It is an expendable launch system that was originally designed by Lockheed Martin. Each Atlas V rocket consists of two main stages. The first stage is powered by a Russian RD-180 engine, which is manufactured by RD Amross, and burns kerosene and liquid oxygen. Each RD-180 engine costs about US$10 million which is considerably cheaper than any competing rocket with the ability to launch a satellite to geostationary orbit. It has a flawless record of launching American satellites over many years of service.

The Atlas V has been modified for human spaceflight. Human-rating required new computers to monitor performance and trigger an abort when necessary, data links between the rocket and spacecraft, and other changes. Crewed flights will include a mechanism to allow astronauts to manually abort. The Atlas V has already carried the Boeing CST-100 Starliner on its first unmanned spaceflight. The Atlas V that carried the Starliner was equipped with two SRBs from Aerojet Rocketdyne. This was the only Atlas V ever to fly without a payload fairing. With the Starliner on top, the rocket is 172 feet tall.

In 2017, Sierra Nevada selected the Atlas V to launch the first two missions of the Dream Chaser cargo capsule to the International Space Station. These launches are part of NASA's Cargo Resupply Services 2 contract. At the time of signing its agreement with ULA, Sierra Nevada expected the missions to take place in 2020 and 2021.

An Atlas V rocket was selected for the NROL-101 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. The rocket was launched successfully on 13 November 2020. The variant of the Atlas V selected for this mission used of three new GEM-63 solid rocket booster made by Northrop Grumman. A larger version of this booster, the GEM 63XL, is being developed for the Vulcan Centaur.

Amazon has selected the Atlas V to launch satellites for Project Kuiper. Project Kuiper will offer a high-speed satellite internet service. The contract signed with Amazon is for nine launches. Project Kuiper aims to put thousands of satellites into orbit. ULA is Amazon's first launch provider.

Centaur

The Centaur is a family of rocket-propelled upper stages currently with one main active version and one version under development. The 3.05-meter diameter Common Centaur/Centaur III flies as the upper stage of the Atlas V launch vehicle, while the 5.4-meter diameter Centaur V is being developed as the upper stage of ULA's new Vulcan rocket. A lengthened version of the Centaur V will be used on the Vulcan Centaur Heavy.

The Centaur upper stage is powered by one or two RL10 engines, which are manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne, and burn liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The Centaur is the first rocket stage to use these fuels. On the Atlas V ULA typically only uses the one RL10 version of the Centaur upper stage. However, Aerojet Rocketdyne supplies two RL10A-4-2 engines for each Starliner mission flown by the Atlas V. The dual-engine Centaur configuration is used on human-rated launches for safety reasons. This configuration allows the rocket to fly on a shallower path to orbit, meaning horizontal velocity is emphasized over vertical velocity. This in turn reduces the maximum G-forces endured by the crew and allows for a safe abort at any time during the launch. The standard payload fairings are 4 or 5 meters (13 or 16 ft) in diameter with varying lengths. The dual-engine variant of the Centaur has flown more than 100 times on Atlas variant rockets. 166 of the Centaur's flights have used dual-engine variants. As of late 2019, Centaurs of all kinds had flown 251 times.

The Centaur upper stage for the Atlas V also has an Aft Bulkhead Carrier capacity. The capacity was developed initially for the National Reconnaissance Office to take advantage of the extra capacity Atlas V has.

Delta IV

Delta IV is a group of five expendable launch systems in the Delta rocket family, which was introduced in the early 2000s. The Delta IV was originally designed by Boeing's Defense, Space & Security division for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, and became a ULA product in 2006. The Delta IV is mostly used for launching United States Air Force military payloads but has also been used to launch a number of U.S. government non-military payloads and one commercial satellite.

The Delta IV originally had two main versions, which allowed the family to accommodate a range of payload sizes and masses; models include the retired Medium, which had four configurations, and the Heavy. As of 2019, only the Heavy remains active; payloads that would previously fly on Medium moved to either the existing Atlas V or the forthcoming Vulcan Centaur. Retirement of the Delta IV family as a whole is anticipated in 2024.

ICPS

ULA designed and builds the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage for the Space Launch System (SLS) in Decatur, Alabama and by Boeing in Huntsville, Alabama. It is a variant of a stage used for the Delta rocket family. The ICPS was the first the first component of the SLS to arrive at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ICPS will be located high on the SLS stack, just below the Orion capsule.

Delta IV Heavy variant

The Delta IV Heavy combines a diameter DCSS and payload fairing with two additional CBCs. These are strap-on boosters which are separated earlier in the flight than the center CBC. As of 2007, a longer 5 meter diameter composite fairing was standard on the Delta IV Heavy, with an aluminum isogrid fairing also available. The aluminum trisector (three-part) fairing was built by Boeing and derived from a Titan IV fairing. The trisector fairing was first used on the DSP-23 flight.

Delta Cryogenic Second Stage

The Delta Cryogenic Second Stage (DCSS) is a family of cryogenic rocket stages used on the Delta III and Delta IV rockets, and which is planned to be used on the Space Launch System Block 1. DCSS consists of a cylindrical liquid hydrogen tank structurally separated from an oblate spheroid liquid oxygen tank. The liquid hydrogen tank cylinder carries payload launch loads, while the liquid oxygen tank and engine are suspended below within the rocket's interstage. The stage is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney RL10B-2 engine, which features an extendable carbon-carbon nozzle to improve specific impulse.

In development

Vulcan Centaur

Vulcan is a heavy-lift launch vehicle that ULA is developing to meet the demands of the NSSL competition and launch program. The rocket is ULA's first launch vehicle design, which is adapting and evolving technologies that were developed for the Atlas V and Delta IV rockets. Vulcan is intended to undergo the human-rating certification process to allow the launch of crew in a vehicle such as the Boeing Starliner

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