Horne said the Space Force is still analyzing data from the Oct. 4 launch, but so far officials expect to approve certification for the Vulcan rocket. An agreement between the Space Force and ULA requires two successful flights of the Vulcan rocket before the military can entrust it with a national security mission.
“For the purposes of the certification plan, which requires that the certification flight successfully deliver the satellite or payload (in this case the mass simulator) into the specified orbit… that is what happened,” Horne said. “So this was a successful completion of that mission.”
He added that early assessments by the Space Force show that if the same booster anomaly had occurred during either of the first two military missions to fly on Vulcan, the rocket could still have achieved orbit on the target, with a performance margin.
“So it was a successful Cert flight, and now we're in the process of finalizing the certification,” Horne said.
Launch date to be determined
But it could take a little longer than the Space Force or ULA planned to sign the final paperwork to complete the certification process.
Engineers from ULA, booster supplier Northrop Grumman, the Space Force, the National Reconnaissance Office and NASA are participating in the nozzle failure investigation. Last week, a ULA spokesperson told Ars that the company had recovered jet nozzle fragments that fell from the rocket near the launch pad to assist in the investigation.
“I think if people zoom in on the video, they will see thrust and hot gas burning through, possibly at the bottom of the rocket section,” Horne said.
The second flight of ULA's Vulcan rocket is on its way to orbit.
There was an unusual plume from one of the solid rocket boosters, accompanied by slugs or sparks, which appeared at approximately T+37 seconds.
However, ULA reported nominal performance from the start of the flight. pic.twitter.com/VewQyxfOdp
— Stephen Clark (@StephenClark1) October 4, 2024
Tory Bruno, the CEO of ULA, posted on However, there were visual indications that a plume of hot exhaust appeared just above the bell-shaped nozzle, possibly near where it bolted to the main body of the booster.
