Innovation at ULA

摘要

Since the dawn of the space age, Rocket Science has been synonymous with innovation. United Launch Alliance (ULA) has revolutionized reliable, global space access with our Atlas V and Delta IV rockets. The long history of innovation that resulted in these vehicles continues today at ULA as we invest in product line innovation to provide increased performance, additional capability and flexibility, and open up new and exciting markets. At the core of innovation are the people involved. Enabling an innovation culture at ULA creates boundless opportunities for innovation throughout the enterprise. Focusing on the nearer term, our Vulcan booster incorporates numerous new technologies including Methane/Oxygen propulsion, efficient structures, and additive manufacturing to make launch services more affordable and accessible. Next comes our newest upper stage known as ACES (Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage). This revolutionary design will incorporate highly innovative concepts to generate power, provide tank pressurization and reaction control, and enable long term cryogenic commodities storage. The resulting capabilities significantly expand performance and mission duration from hours to days, even weeks and months. Future concepts for reusability, distributed lift, and on-orbit refueling enable growth in an entire Cis-Lunar Econoshere. Exciting new markets for propellent (ie water) and material mining and solar power can become science fact instead of science fiction. This paper will explore a variety of the newest technologies being implemented on our next generation of launch systems.