ULA Delays Atlas V, Delta IV Missions
CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. (ULA PR) — The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V551 rocket carrying the Lockheed Martin-built Advanced Extremely High Frequency 5 (AEHF-5) satellite for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center is delayed, due to an anomaly during component testing at a supplier which has created a cross-over concern.
Additional time is needed for the team to review the component anomaly and determine if any corrective action is required to the launch vehicle. Launch of the AEHF-5 mission is now targeted for no earlier than Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019.
AEHF satellites provide highly-secure, jam-proof connectivity between U.S. national leadership and deployed military forces. Atlas V rockets successfully launched the first four AEHF satellites in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2018.
The AEHF-5 launch will mark the 80th Atlas V mission since the inaugural launch in 2002 and the 10th in the 551 configuration. The rocket features a kerosene-fueled common core booster, five solid rocket boosters, the hydrogen-fueled Centaur upper stage and a five-meter-diameter payload fairing.
The ULA Delta IV rocket carrying the GPS III SV02 mission for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center is delayed, due to an anomaly during component testing at a supplier which has created a cross-over concern.
Upon further evaluation, additional time is needed to replace and retest the component on the launch vehicle. Launch of the GPS III SV02 mission is now targeted for no earlier than Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019.
11 responses to “ULA Delays Atlas V, Delta IV Missions”
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The slippage of the AEHF-5 mission to August 8 also pushes the first unmanned Starliner test mission back to late September at the earliest. It takes ULA at least a full month to turn SLC-41 around between missions and the first Starliner mission plan also calls for at least one wet dress rehearsal which is an atypical procedure for Atlas V launches and will add to the total time needed between consecutive missions.
Given that the cause of the delays for both the Atlas V that is to launch AEHF-5 and the Delta IV Medium that is to launch the second GPS III satellite is an electrical or electronic component of the common Centaur upper stage used on both vehicles, replacement of the same component, which is presumably also used in the twin-engine version of Centaur needed for the Starliner launch, could also further delay that launch, perhaps into October.
Given the recent announcement of a preliminary finding of cause for the April 20 Dragon 2 test-related explosion, it would seem these latest delays affecting Starliner serve to keep very much open the questions of which Commercial Crew vehicle will be first to carry crew to ISS and exactly when said mission will occur.
Centaur is only used on Atlas, DCSS is used on Delta. They share a lot of commonality but are not even close to the same stage.
True. But the avionics are common so far as I know. A story about this delay on the Spaceflight Now site said the problem was with a component whose electrical characteristics were off-nominal.
Yes, the avionics are common. There was an entire program to do that for cost reduction.
The Space News article about this delay explicitly says the delay of the Delta IV is also because of this same now-questionable component. So it looks like an additional delay to the first Starliner test may also be in the cards unless all three upper stages are repaired in parallel.
This is actually the second consecutive delay for the AEHF-5 mission. It was originally supposed to launch in June, but a problem with a battery on the Centaur delayed it until July. Now this latest problem has pushed it back to August. What with NROL-70 having also been delayed multiple times by various hardware issues not so long ago, ULA seems to be losing its “schedule certainty” mojo.
They lost that a long time ago. Back around when they used to use the term ScrubX.
There’s an old, and seemingly infrequently honored, showbiz maxim to the effect that one should always be nice to people on your way up as one never knows just how important they might be by the time you meet them again on your way down.
I’ve always tried to live by that maxim–and keep getting stepped on myself all the same. 😉
Elon Musk just stated in a interview he doesn’t expect the Dragon2 crew flight to take place for around four to eight months, assuming NASA approves. He also stated that he hopes the Falcon 9 and Dragon will be only museum pieces in the near future. ?
Factual, but off topic.
More topical would be pointing out that even ULA, the entrenched launch provider to the US government, has delays. ULA used to point out every single SpaceX delay by touting their on time launch reliability. With the current launch cadence of SpaceX, it seems the tables have turned.
Oops. Stuff happens.