SpaceNews.com
• Jeff Foust
United Launch Alliance’s corporate parents have provided a guaranteed loan to help the company address “financial challenges” tied to the ongoing Vulcan grounding. The support is intended to bridge the period of constrained launch activity and associated cost pressures.
ULA
Latest source-backed stories
The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a record up to $58.62 billion contract for Patriot interceptor missile production, while adding $54 billion to a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) agreement, bringing the total to about $59B; the latest Army contract is undefinitized. Rocket Lab also secured its largest launch contract to date—$266 million—for multi-launch suborbital missions with the U.S. Space Force.
United Launch Alliance’s corporate parents have provided a guaranteed loan to help the company address “financial challenges” tied to the ongoing Vulcan grounding. The support is intended to bridge the period of constrained launch activity and associated cost pressures.
United Launch Alliance deployed 29 Amazon Leo low-Earth-orbit broadband satellites on a July 2 launch from Florida, with ULA confirming the satellites’ insertion into orbit. The mission adds another batch to Amazon’s constellation deployment cadence using the Atlas V launcher.
The U.S. Space Force is considering a workaround to resume United Launch Alliance Vulcan missions while solid rocket boosters remain under investigation. The approach would fly Vulcan without the troubled boosters for certain national-security launches, potentially preserving some on-orbit delivery cadence during the grounding.
As the U.S. Space Force investigates the root cause of a booster anomaly tied to a Feb. 26 Vulcan Centaur launch, it is also exploring alternatives to still use the rocket for less-complex missions. Pentagon and USSF priority setting is likely to drive mission swaps to keep capability on orbit.
High activity
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman has cancelled the SLS Block 1B and overhauled the Artemis roadmap to accelerate a crewed lunar landing by 2028. The revision aims to speed lunar return by pivoting architectures and schedules, with NASA keeping open the possibility of two landings in 2028.
Create a free account to see more recent ULA stories and keep bookmarks in one place.
