Anonymous source
10:30 pm ET Update: Hours after this article was published, Ars obtained a still image of the Centaur V anomaly that occurred on March 29 during a test of the Vulcan rocket’s upper stage. The image shows the anomaly—a fireball of hydrogen on fire—to the left of Blue Origin’s rocket engine test stand.
After the author posted this photo on Twitter, United Launch Alliance chief executive Tory Bruno offered a more detailed assessment of the anomaly. “Most of what you see is the insulation and smaller pieces from the test rig. A piece of the hydrogen tank dome, about a foot square, ended up a few feet away. The test article is still inside of the rig and almost intact, which will significantly help the investigation”, Bruno said via Twitter.
Original post: On the evening of March 29, at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, United Launch Alliance began pressurizing the upper stage of its new Vulcan rocket. But then, suddenly, something went wrong on this Centaur’s upper stage.
Shortly after the incident, to his credit, United Launch Alliance’s chief executive, Tory Bruno, quickly recognized on Twitter that something happened: “Keeping you posted: During Qual testing of the Centaur V structural article at MSFC, the hardware experienced an anomaly.”
Unpacking this tweet a bit, Bruno says that during qualification testing—the process of testing rocket engines and stages on the ground to determine their behavior in flight conditions—the stage of Centaur had a problem. More than a week later, however, there are more questions than answers about the accident.
A mushroom cloud
Multiple sources confirmed to Ars that there was a large explosion Wednesday night, which resulted in multiple first responders arriving on the scene at NASA’s field center where the company has a test stand. No one was injured, but the accident made for dramatic visuals.
“A column of burning, clear hydrogen shot through a mushroom cloud that dwarfed the test stand,” a source said. “Their test article was actually more than ‘damaged.'”
The anomaly was captured on video cameras operated by Blue Origin, which is restoring a nearby test stand. Located about 100 meters from the United Launch Alliance facility, Blue Origin invested more than $100 million in NASA’s old Test Stand 4670 for acceptance testing of its BE-4 and BE-3U rocket engines.
A Blue Origin source confirmed that a mushroom cloud had formed from the anomaly. United Launch Alliance then asked Blue Origin to delete the explosive video footage from the company’s computers, which Blue Origin agreed to do.
(Remember: After this article was published, when asked about the removal of the video, Bruno tweeted that it “didn’t happen.” However, two sources told Ars that after the incident, United Launch Alliance asked Blue Origin to “secure” the video for its investigation. Blue Origin did this, but also removed the video from its own internal servers, reserving access for only a few officials at the company).
The loss of the Centaur upper stage raises questions about ULA’s schedule for the debut launch of its highly anticipated heavy-lift Vulcan rocket. For several years, ULA said it was waiting for Blue Origin to deliver a BE-4 engine for the rocket’s first stage. The fact that ULA is still conducting qualification testing of the Centaur upper stage suggests that this is also a pacing item for the new launch vehicle.
Although this upper stage Centaur V is based on a heritage design, however, the new version has significant upgrades. before, Bruno said Centaur V can operate 40 percent longer in flight and has two and a half times more energy than the Centaur upper stage ULA currently flying.
Another unanswered question is about exactly what the Centaur stage ULA is trying to do in Alabama. Is this a full flight-like stage to be used for a future mission? Or is it more of a prototype stage used for development testing, which may be more prone to failure? ULA would not comment on this.
Vulcan’s debut
Publicly, ULA has set a target date of May 4 for the Vulcan rocket’s debut launch. However, last month, even before the Centaur anomaly occurred, Ars reported that this date would likely fall into the summer based on the company’s internal timelines. The impact of the Centaur anomaly on the Vulcan schedule is not yet clear.
“We are conducting an investigation and will fly when we believe it is safe to launch,” ULA spokeswoman Jessica Rye told Ars this week. “We won’t know the impact on the launch date until we learn more information from the investigation.”
ULA asked the main customer for the Cert-1 mission, Astrobotic, to avoid sending its Peregrine lander to the launch site. The lunar lander remains at the company’s facilities in Pittsburgh, awaiting the green light from the rocket company.
After the accident, Bruno speculated on Twitter that this is “very likely” to have implications for the Centaur V upper stage currently in Florida and planned for use on Vulcan’s Cert-1 mission. However, any decision on this will have to wait until ULA completes its accident investigation and consults with the US Space Force, which will ultimately certify the rocket for a national security launch.
Time is running out for ULA to complete development of the Vulcan and fly two certification missions this year. This will allow the vehicle to begin flying national security payloads for the Space Force. ULA hopes to fly the first national security mission in 2023, but now that seems impossible.
