ULA Orders Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 Engines to Support Amazon Kuiper Launch
Hot-fire testing of a full-scale, additively manufactured thrust chamber assembly for the RL10 rocket engine at Aerojet Rocketdyne West Palm Beach, Florida facility. Photo: Aerojet Rocketdyne
Aerojet Rocketdyne secured its largest-ever RL10 engine contract to deliver 116 engines for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur Rocket. Aerojet announced the deal on Monday, financial terms were not disclosed. The RL10C-X engines will support ULA’s launch contract from Amazon for the Kuiper constellation.
Last week, Amazon announced contracts with ULA, Arianespace, and Blue Origin to provide a combined 83 launches for its Kuiper Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation. This includes 38 launches on ULA’s Vulcan rocket.
ULA CEO Tory Bruno said at the announcement that the contract will lead to increases in facilities and production capability at ULA and industry partners Beyond Gravity (formerly RUAG Space), Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blue Origin, and Northrop Grumman.
“We are going to essentially be doubling America’s launch industrial base. These additional launches will take [ULA] to about twice our flight rate, which means about twice our infrastructure,” Bruno said on April 5. “This is a big impact for our country, and for our Western alliances to be able to keep up with this truly amazing constellation. We’re pretty excited about what it means for the launch industry.”
The RL10C-X engine uses a 3D-printed main injector and main combustion chamber, as well as a 94-inch monolithic lightweight composite nozzle. The specific impulse, or Isp, of the RL10C-X is 461 seconds, which Aerojet says puts it near the very top of the RL10 engine family in terms of performance.
“The RL10 engine is the nation’s premier upper-stage engine and a true workhorse in the industry,” said Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and President Eileen Drake. “With the RL10C-X, we’ve leveraged our industry-leading 3D-printing technology to significantly reduce the cost of the engine while at the same time increasing its performance to provide our customer with enhanced mission capability.”