WORLDTECHVulcan rocket fails in climb, losing 40 Amazon Leo satellites in ULA's first total mission loss
A United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket carrying 40 Amazon Leo internet satellites malfunctioned during its climb to space on Sunday, and the payload was lost. The failure was the first outright loss of a United Launch Alliance rocket since the company was formed in 2006, and it is likely to disrupt launch schedules for both ULA and Amazon.
What the failure cost
The Vulcan lifted off from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 12:40 p.m. EST, powered by six Northrop Grumman solid-fuel strap-on boosters and two methane-burning BE-4 engines. About ten minutes into the flight, the mission failed, and all 40 Amazon Leo satellites on board were lost.
Spaceflight Now, reporting the event, described the loss as a major setback for ULA and noted that it also threw Amazon's launch plans off course. It was not immediately clear what had gone wrong.
Strap-on boosters and engine timing
The solid boosters appeared to perform normally, lifting the rocket out of the dense lower atmosphere before burning out and separating. The two BE-4 engines on the first stage then continued the climb, but they appeared to fire longer than ULA's pre-launch timeline had planned.
After stage separation, the hydrogen-fueled Centaur upper stage was to take over for a planned burn of 12 minutes and 15 seconds. According to ULA's update, something went wrong during that Centaur firing, though the company gave no further details.
A flight with a troubled history
Sunday's flight was only the fifth Vulcan flight and the first in nine months. ULA and booster supplier Northrop Grumman had been working to resolve problems with nozzles on the strap-on boosters that affected two earlier flights. The BE-4 engines used on Sunday had been retrofitted with a fix by Blue Origin engineers.
The mission was also the first of 38 Vulcan flights Amazon bought to launch its Leo satellites. Those satellites are designed to compete with Elon Musk's Starlink and other space-based internet providers. ULA had already flown eight Leo missions on Atlas 5 rockets.
Effect on Amazon's constellation
Amazon has also booked 24 Leo launches on Blue Origin's New Glenn, 24 on the European Ariane 6 and 13 on SpaceX's Falcon 9. More than 3,300 Leo satellites will be needed to complete the constellation, and Sunday's flight would have brought the total launched to 436.
Amazon now must wait for ULA's failure investigation to run its course before flying another Vulcan. Blue Origin's New Glenn is also grounded after a catastrophic on-pad explosion last May, which the facts attribute to an oxygen valve problem in one of its BE-4 engines. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman offered assistance if needed and thanked ULA on X for keeping the public and partners informed.
Open questions
- What caused the fault during the Centaur upper-stage burn?
- How long will the Vulcan remain grounded while engineers review telemetry?
- When will Amazon Leo resume launches, and on which vehicle?