ULA Plans Vulcan Rocket Upgrade to Compete with SpaceX’s Starship
United Launch Alliance (ULA), the rocket venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is planning an upgrade to its Vulcan rocket in a bid to compete with SpaceX’s Starship in the growing low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite launch market. According to ULA CEO Tory Bruno, the company aims to develop a version of the Vulcan rocket specifically designed to meet the demands of the LEO market, which has been largely dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink satellite deployments.
“We recently completed a major trade study for what we need to be competitive in the future LEO market,” Bruno told Reuters at a military space conference in Orlando. “We’ve selected a modification to Vulcan that gives us significantly more mass to LEO and puts us in a competitive range.”
The Vulcan rocket, powered by engines from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, has already completed its first two launches this year. Initially designed for Pentagon missions, the Vulcan is now being reconfigured to cater to the commercial LEO satellite market. One potential upgrade is the “Vulcan Heavy,” a version with three core boosters for increased payload capacity. Bruno also mentioned other “unique” configurations, including propulsion placements in unconventional locations.
SpaceX’s Starship, which is primarily designed for crewed missions to the Moon and Mars, has turned its attention to accelerating its Starlink satellite launches into LEO. This has intensified competition for launch providers, as companies like Amazon also aim to deploy large satellite networks to challenge Starlink’s dominance. ULA aims to complete the Vulcan upgrade before SpaceX’s Starship becomes fully operational for LEO satellite launches, which Bruno suggests could take several years.
ULA has secured several Vulcan missions with Amazon, aimed at launching the company’s Kuiper satellite network. This makes the Vulcan an integral part of Amazon’s strategy to rival SpaceX’s Starlink. SpaceX has already conducted six test flights of Starship, demonstrating its commitment to testing and improving the rocket’s capabilities, while ULA plans to finalize the Vulcan design before launching it commercially.
In 2024, ULA is set to conduct eight Vulcan missions and 12 Atlas V missions, its predecessor. The Vulcan’s starting launch price is about $110 million, slightly above SpaceX’s Falcon 9, and ULA has a backlog of roughly 70 missions, including those for Amazon.
Although ULA has been considering a sale, drawing interest from companies such as Sierra Nevada Corp and Blue Origin, Bruno has declined to comment on any acquisition discussions.
