I'm really looking forward to this new design launch vehicle.

Fascinating video. The Centaur used to launch the Mars 2020 rover (the now landed Perseverance) is shown under assembly:

Vulcan/Atlas V/Centaur Factory Tour - United Launch Alliance - Smarter Every Day 231
11,483,167 views - Feb 29, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0fG_lnVhHw

The tour guide:

Tory Bruno
@torybruno
President and CEO United Launch Alliance, @ULAlaunch, ...Rocket Scientist, Horseman, proud @calpoly alum

https://twitter.com/torybruno

Vulcan Centaur

https://www.ulalaunch.com/rockets/vulcan-centaur

Additive Manufacturing: Aerojet Rocketdyne 3-D printing technology & application

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ICcB6IzJR8

Space Collection Part 3: Everyday Astronaut figures out the RL-10 Rocket Engine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb5etF6KW6s

ULA orders 116 Aerojet Rocketdyne RL-10CX engines for Vulcan’s upper stage
April 11, 2022

https://spacenews.com/ula-orders-11...ns-upper-stage/

Each Vulcan Centaur upper stage will use two RL10C-X engines.

Aerojet said the RL10C-X is a variant of the RL1o developed for Vulcan Centaur that will “increase the use of additive manufacturing and introduce other advanced technologies to improve the quality, reliability, affordability and performance.”

The RL10C-X uses a 3D-printed main injector and main combustion chamber, and has a 94-inch monolithic lightweight composite nozzle. According to Aerojet, the specific impulse, or Isp, of the RL10C-X is 461 seconds, which “puts it near the very top of the RL10 engine family in terms of performance. Specific impulse measures the amount of thrust generated by a rocket engine per unit of propellant consumed per second.

BE-4 Engine

https://www.blueorigin.com/engines/be-4/

Vulcan Centaur 1920x1080 wallpaper:

https://i.insider.com/5f31ac382618b...e8f3?width=1920

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The other day I sat next to a woman who has a profound fear of flying. I wanted to comfort her, so I said, "Don't worry, we're not gonna' crash. Statistically, we got a better chance of being bitten by a shark." Then I showed her the scar on my elbow from a shark attack. I said, "I got this when my plane went down off of Florida." - Dennis Regan

First Vulcan Centaurs will not use RL10C-X, they will use RL10C-1-1A. RL10C-X is in development.

Just glad to see the legacy aerospace industry developing new and improved stuff.

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The other day I sat next to a woman who has a profound fear of flying. I wanted to comfort her, so I said, "Don't worry, we're not gonna' crash. Statistically, we got a better chance of being bitten by a shark." Then I showed her the scar on my elbow from a shark attack. I said, "I got this when my plane went down off of Florida." - Dennis Regan

NEW and improved is Falcon 9... reusable! Vulcan Centaur is interesting, but it's basically just a Delta IV/Atlas V rehash re-engined with a Blue Origin BE-4 methane burning engines versus the Russia RD-180's of Atlas V. IIRC they're supposed to drop off the bottom of the rocket first stage in the thrust structure, deploy parachutes, and be recovered in midair by helicopter, unless they dropped that and just make the thing 100% expendable. "Supposedly" they can replace the tanks cheaper than recovering the entire stage... yeah, right. I read a similar study that said they could get the cost of shuttle ET's down to $23 million each, IF they flew about 50 times a year LOL You can "prove anything" if you play with the numbers enough.

I like the RL-10's... I read at one point they were about the same cost as a helicopter engine, so tossing them isn't much of an issue when you get ANYTHING rocket-powered THAT cheap! Hydrogen is a much better upper stage propellant, which gives you a LOT more payload capability for a given size rocket/amount of propellant/upper stage size than the kerosene upper stage of Falcon 9, BUT kerosene upper stages and engine commonality (other than the larger nozzle on the upper stage Merlin) also brings a lot of cost efficiency to the table as well... BUT if SpaceX developed a hydrogen powered upperstage for Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy, they'd REALLY have a world-beater!!! The kerosene upper stage is "good enough" to get the job done and hit the targets, and is easier and cheaper and more efficient to implement, which is why Soyuz still launches with a kerosene upper stage as well even after 60 years... No need for "better" when "good enough" hits the price points and requirements cheaper and more efficiently.

BUT, if the need for MAXIMUM PAYLOAD PERFORMANCE was there, upgrading to a hydrogen upper stage on Falcon would be HUGE...

Later! OL J R

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The X-87B Cruise Basselope-- THE Ultimate Weapon in the arsenal of Homeland Security and only $52 million per round!

Which is late to the party. For once, NASA along with Lockheed and Boeing (ULA) are waiting on somebody else. The Vulcans are waiting in Decatur for their fart engines. Come on Bezos, get the lead out! Methane is lighter than air. It shouldn't make you drag your azimuth!

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I love sanding.