Tory Bruno Verified account @torybruno 5m5 minutes agoOrthogrid trial panel for Vulcan Rocket propellant tank. (Bigger than it looks...)
Great to see some hardware:Quote Tory Bruno Verified account @torybruno 5m5 minutes agoOrthogrid trial panel for Vulcan Rocket propellant tank. (Bigger than it looks...)https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/855031915270635522
Though I miss the old days when your first stage had stainless steel balloon tanks too...
Yup. Considered that pretty seriously for V. Highest possible performance. Same mfg tech as Centaur/ACES, But logistics are complicated
Yeah, having to keep it pressurized or stretched at all times has to be a bit of a drag.
hopefully you can find ways to lower manufacturing costs...
Have made big reductions so far. More to come. Time also matters. Can now build a rocket at Decatur in half the time
awesome..friction stir welding help?
Absolutely
abe to replace alot of current parts with "3-d printed" parts? quicker..cheaper i guess if you do?
Already flying additive mfg on Atlas. Continuing to phase in there while designing AM into Vulcan
Despite a delay of several months in the start of full-scale BE-4 testing, Bruno said the Vulcan rocket is still on track for a maiden flight by the end of 2019 if Blue Origin ends up the winner in ULA’s engine test-off.“Assuming we can make this decision in a reasonable span of time, yes,” Bruno told reporters on the sidelines of the Space Symposium. “If we’re on the BE-4, it’s a pretty clear schedule. If the BE-4 is not going to work out and we select AR1, they’re further behind, so that puts a little more pressure on that schedule … If we had to select the AR1, I cannot fly it by 2019.”
5m core stage, so 3-5 of those to make a core segment?
4
Why the change? Ease of manufacture?
Yes, and a more efficient structure. Analytical tools today make the switch easy. My fav is a new topo structure we've designed and built
Its ashame to throw all of that work away after a single launch. You need a winged reusable vehicle to carry payloads to LEO. Just saying
To everything, there is a season
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/20/2017 12:22 pmGreat to see some hardware:Quote Tory Bruno Verified account @torybruno 5m5 minutes agoOrthogrid trial panel for Vulcan Rocket propellant tank. (Bigger than it looks...)https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/855031915270635522Fortunately for ULA they already have most of the tooling (DIV) to do 5.1m tanks. The tanks will be different being liquid CH4 instead of LH2. So some reprogramming of the automated machinery is still needed. That is why the test panel.
Quote from: oldAtlas_Eguy on 04/20/2017 01:32 pmQuote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/20/2017 12:22 pmGreat to see some hardware:Quote Tory Bruno Verified account @torybruno 5m5 minutes agoOrthogrid trial panel for Vulcan Rocket propellant tank. (Bigger than it looks...)https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/855031915270635522Fortunately for ULA they already have most of the tooling (DIV) to do 5.1m tanks. The tanks will be different being liquid CH4 instead of LH2. So some reprogramming of the automated machinery is still needed. That is why the test panel.Bruno has tweeted about ULA getting new welding tooling for Vulcan, so it isn't clear to me that the company plans to use the Delta 4 CBC infrastructure for Vulcan. The panel shown, for example, is orthogrid rather than isogrid. - Ed Kyle
As to RocketBuilder, I put in a configuration for LEO with a 5m short fairing, and this is how they priced it:Unmatched Reliability = $12MSchedule Certainty = $23MOrbit Optimization = $30MCost after added value = $55MTotal = $120M
Quote from: edkyle99 on 04/20/2017 03:41 pmQuote from: oldAtlas_Eguy on 04/20/2017 01:32 pmQuote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/20/2017 12:22 pmGreat to see some hardware:Quote Tory Bruno Verified account @torybruno 5m5 minutes agoOrthogrid trial panel for Vulcan Rocket propellant tank. (Bigger than it looks...)https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/855031915270635522Fortunately for ULA they already have most of the tooling (DIV) to do 5.1m tanks. The tanks will be different being liquid CH4 instead of LH2. So some reprogramming of the automated machinery is still needed. That is why the test panel.Bruno has tweeted about ULA getting new welding tooling for Vulcan, so it isn't clear to me that the company plans to use the Delta 4 CBC infrastructure for Vulcan. The panel shown, for example, is orthogrid rather than isogrid. - Ed KyleBruno has said they plan to use Delta IV tooling for Vulcan. Iso vs Ortho grid is just a change in the CNC program - the tooling should be the same as long as the panel size and diameter are the same.
Anyway, it seems like all new tooling is being put in place for Vulcan.
The panel size is not the same. Bruno said that they are going to four panels, from the current five used to make a Delta 4 CBC. I remain to be convinced that the diameter is the same. There was talk at one point about making the tanks match the fairing diameter (5.2 meters I believe). The fairing is presumably metric (European-made) while CBC is Imperial units (200 inches). Will Vulcan be metric?
Quote from: edkyle99 on 04/20/2017 05:44 pmThe panel size is not the same. Bruno said that they are going to four panels, from the current five used to make a Delta 4 CBC. I remain to be convinced that the diameter is the same. There was talk at one point about making the tanks match the fairing diameter (5.2 meters I believe). The fairing is presumably metric (European-made) while CBC is Imperial units (200 inches). Will Vulcan be metric?Yes please. Them folks in the USA have been stuck with that silly US Customary System for far too long. ;)
Quote from: envy887 on 04/20/2017 04:27 pmQuote from: edkyle99 on 04/20/2017 03:41 pmQuote from: oldAtlas_Eguy on 04/20/2017 01:32 pmQuote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 04/20/2017 12:22 pmGreat to see some hardware:Quote Tory Bruno Verified account @torybruno 5m5 minutes agoOrthogrid trial panel for Vulcan Rocket propellant tank. (Bigger than it looks...)https://twitter.com/torybruno/status/855031915270635522Fortunately for ULA they already have most of the tooling (DIV) to do 5.1m tanks. The tanks will be different being liquid CH4 instead of LH2. So some reprogramming of the automated machinery is still needed. That is why the test panel.Bruno has tweeted about ULA getting new welding tooling for Vulcan, so it isn't clear to me that the company plans to use the Delta 4 CBC infrastructure for Vulcan. The panel shown, for example, is orthogrid rather than isogrid. - Ed KyleBruno has said they plan to use Delta IV tooling for Vulcan. Iso vs Ortho grid is just a change in the CNC program - the tooling should be the same as long as the panel size and diameter are the same.The panel size is not the same. Bruno said that they are going to four panels, from the current five used to make a Delta 4 CBC. I remain to be convinced that the diameter is the same. There was talk at one point about making the tanks match the fairing diameter (5.2 meters I believe). The fairing is presumably metric (European-made) while CBC is Imperial units (200 inches). Will Vulcan be metric? - Ed Kyle
Not sure about the re-usability of the AR-1.
And a final follow-up on (lack of) reusability:QuoteIts ashame to throw all of that work away after a single launch. You need a winged reusable vehicle to carry payloads to LEO. Just saying https://twitter.com/blkwooly/status/855050438797819904QuoteTo everything, there is a seasonhttps://twitter.com/torybruno/status/855051951578390528Make of that what you will
AR-1 was previously planned for use on a reusable flyback booster for the military, its reusable. Probably not as reusable as BE-4 because of coking and such, but still.