ULA’s Final Six Atlas V Rockets Are Reserved for Boeing’s Starliner
▼ Summary
– The final Atlas V launch for Amazon’s Leo broadband constellation lifted off on Thursday, deploying 29 satellites to orbit.
– This was the 110th Atlas V flight since 2002 and the fourth in under three months, marking a rare high cadence as the rocket nears retirement.
– Six Atlas V rockets remain in ULA’s inventory, reserved for Boeing’s Starliner crew missions to the ISS.
– NASA reduced Boeing’s guaranteed Starliner missions from six to four due to delays, leaving two Atlas Vs potentially unused.
– Unused Atlas Vs could be repurposed for other missions, such as additional Amazon Leo launches, but a catch exists.
The final United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket won’t retire for several more years, but a major chapter for the storied launch provider officially closed last week. The last Atlas V dedicated to Amazon’s Leo broadband constellation lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 12:30 am EDT (04:30 UTC) on Thursday, carrying 29 satellites into orbit to push the network closer to its initial service deployment.
All 29 spacecraft successfully separated from the Atlas V less than an hour after launch. They will now rely on onboard propulsion to climb from an initial altitude of roughly 289 miles (465 kilometers) to their final operational orbits at 392 miles (630 kilometers) above Earth.
Thursday’s mission was the ninth Atlas V flight for Amazon Leo and the fourth launch of the rocket in under three months,a cadence rarely seen during its nearly 25-year service life. This surge in activity comes as the Atlas V approaches the end of its near-flawless career. Thursday’s launch marked the 110th flight of the Atlas V since its debut in 2002.
A long goodbye
ULA retains six more Atlas V rockets in its inventory, all reserved for launching Boeing’s Starliner crew capsules to the International Space Station (ISS) under a NASA contract. However, it remains uncertain whether Boeing will actually use all six. Last year, NASA reduced Boeing’s guaranteed commercial crew missions from six to four, citing persistent program delays. The next Starliner flight will carry cargo to the ISS, consuming one of the remaining Atlas Vs.
This raises the question: what happens to the unused Atlas Vs if Boeing doesn’t need them all? One possibility would be to repurpose these rockets for other missions, potentially adding launch capacity for the Amazon Leo network. But there’s a significant hurdle.
(Source: Ars Technica)
