SpaceX awarded $5.92 billion, ULA awarded $5.36 billion and Blue Origin awarded $2.38 billion in DoD launch contracts
https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/4146543
SpaceX awarded $5.92 billion, ULA awarded $5.36 billion and Blue Origin awarded $2.38 billion in DoD launch contracts
https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/4146543
12 Comments
Good to see that ULA is still getting contracts and Musk’s SpaceX isn’t getting a monopoly.
Good to see ULA Vulcan getting some contracts this rocket was probably their last attempt to compete with their competitors and it’s a pretty decent and capable rocket.
Hopefully we see some falcon heavy flights from California. Need more heavy/super heavy lift from the west coast
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|——-|———|—|
|[BE-4](/r/Space/comments/1jrmy42/stub/mlgo1pk “Last usage”)|Blue Engine 4 methalox rocket engine, developed by Blue Origin (2018), 2400kN|
|[BO](/r/Space/comments/1jrmy42/stub/mlgrnzs “Last usage”)|Blue Origin (*Bezos Rocketry*)|
|[DoD](/r/Space/comments/1jrmy42/stub/mlheukc “Last usage”)|US Department of Defense|
|EELV|[Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolved_Expendable_Launch_Vehicle)|
|[GEO](/r/Space/comments/1jrmy42/stub/mlhcsoh “Last usage”)|Geostationary Earth Orbit (35786km)|
|[GTO](/r/Space/comments/1jrmy42/stub/mlhcsoh “Last usage”)|[Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit](http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/20140116-how-to-get-a-satellite-to-gto.html)|
|[LEO](/r/Space/comments/1jrmy42/stub/mlh1e71 “Last usage”)|Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)|
| |Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations)|
|[NSSL](/r/Space/comments/1jrmy42/stub/mlhe1u3 “Last usage”)|National Security Space Launch, formerly EELV|
|[SSTO](/r/Space/comments/1jrmy42/stub/mlgebxz “Last usage”)|Single Stage to Orbit|
| |Supersynchronous Transfer Orbit|
|[ULA](/r/Space/comments/1jrmy42/stub/mlhcsoh “Last usage”)|United Launch Alliance (Lockheed/Boeing joint venture)|
|Jargon|Definition|
|——-|———|—|
|methalox|Portmanteau: methane fuel, liquid oxygen oxidizer|
Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.
—————-
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But I thought the once poster boy for liberals now dirty devil was only doing this to wipe out the competition and make 100 trillion dollars all for himself? How dare they award contracts to other companies…. /s
The fact that spacex only got 44% of the major phase 3 lane 2 despite having the capacity to launch all of them as well as being being more practical and cost effective than either of these other companies would hopefully shut people up yelling that spacex is abusing a conflict of interest but it probably won’t.
Poor Rocket Lab, they are in the running, except everyone knew they werent.
Wonder how many ULA launches will slip have to go up SpaceX rockets? There is no way they can meet all of those launch contracts
Why was Blue Origin awarded a contract? Have they successfully launched *anything* for the DoD?
28 launches projected for SpaceX, at an average price of $212 million
19 launches projected for ULA, at an average price of $282 million
7 launches for Blue Origin, at an average price of $341 million
https://spacenews.com/spacex-ula-blue-origin-win-13-5-billion-in-u-s-military-launch-contracts-through-2029/
>Of the 54 projected missions, SpaceX is expected to carry out 28, or roughly 60%, while ULA will perform 19 missions, or around 35%. Blue Origin, which has flown its New Glenn rocket just once and has yet to be certified, is slated for seven launches starting in the program’s second year, contingent on certification of its vehicle.
The math is messed up, though. A third provider option for 7 additional launches was added to the original 60/40 split planned for Phase 3. Of 47 projected launches, SpaceX got the 60% (28) slot and ULA the 40% (19) slot. (That is the reverse of the original Phase 2 award being 60/40 in favor of ULA, although Vulcan delays led to the realized Phase 2 split being close to 50/50.) New Glenn, as expected, got the 7 launch slot (that was totally definitely not created specifically for them), bringing the projected total to 54. ~~So, that is:~~
Note, however, that those costs do not just include standard launch services. From the OP article:
>This contract provides launch services, mission unique services, mission acceleration, quick reaction/anomaly resolution, special studies, launch service support, fleet surveillance, and early integration studies/mission analysis.
Launch prices per launch:
– SpaceX: 28 missions, $212M per launch
– ULA: 19 missions, $282M per launch
– Blue Origin: 7 missions, 341M per launch
Surprised how much they increased over the Phase 2 contracts that included just SpaceX and ULA. Blue Origin seems to be especially expensive. We’re hitting old ULA prices despite them being reusable.
SpaceX as usual is cheapest by a pretty good margin.
Taxpayer money going to the very people destroying the country. America has lost its complete mind!