| ▲ | Alive-in-2025 44 minutes ago |
| Dang it. I feel a sense of despair about yet another failure. We need multiple providers for rockets. I know this is incredibly difficult, endless failures in this difficult world. Since a lot of the rest of the US space world is struggling to successfully launch, it will be even more of a loss when space x stops the falcon. How much of this is coming from combining and revamping huge existing space companies with a lot of legacy and practies? |
|
| ▲ | GMoromisato 38 minutes ago | parent | next [-] |
| I'm with you--space is hard, but Vulcan was supposed to be the easy, reliable rocket. I'm worried that this is a problem with the BE-4 engines, in which case, New Glenn is also affected. |
|
| ▲ | ericmay 34 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] |
| > We need multiple providers for rockets. We have that? SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab to name a few I can think of. > Since a lot of the rest of the US space world is struggling to successfully launch Can you walk me through how you are arriving at this conclusion? |
| |
| ▲ | GMoromisato 31 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | SpaceX is retiring the Falcon 9 and not currently selling rides on Starship. ULA and Blue Origin are recovering from anomalies, and ULA uses Blue Origin engines, so if there is a problem with BE-4 both companies are affected. Rocket Lab's rocket is small and cannot launch either Leo satellites or the major national security payloads. No other US launch vehicles are currently operational. | | |
| ▲ | andrewl-hn 17 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | Space X will probably have to keep Falcon 9 around for a while for human spaceflight to ISS, no? | | |
| ▲ | GMoromisato 11 minutes ago | parent [-] | | They are contractually obligated to fly up to ISS until 2030 or so. But they are not obligated to sign new contracts nor are they currently selling rides on Falcon 9 to commercial customers (all future flights are booked). Will they offer launch on Starship to NASA and commercial customers? TBD, but SpaceX is making so much money on Starlink that they have no financial incentive to do so. They make more money launching their own Starlink satellites than anyone else is willing to pay. |
| |
| ▲ | ericmay 28 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | Thanks - that makes more sense, but the OP was being quite general which is why I asked the question. |
| |
| ▲ | Polizeiposaune 28 minutes ago | parent | prev [-] | | Today's anomaly is just the latest in a series of anomalies for ULA's Vulcan.
(previously the solid fueled boosters were losing their nozzles). Blue Origin blew up a rocket on the pad in May and hasn't launched since. Rocket Lab's medium lift rocket (Neutron) hasn't launched yet and its Electron is too small for most payloads. |
|
