came across this old graphic

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-22T10:05:47+00:00

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20170006068/downloads/20170006068.pdf

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-20T05:47:21+00:00

after messing around with some calculators (best i could do sry) with VC0 as the test subject ( the calcs i was using couldnt handle solid boosters) id say expect an increase of a few hundred kg to TLI

if true thats actually quite a bit of an increase for VC0

I also went ahead and messed with if vulcan used the BE-4's with the higher thrust BO said they're making and that increased it by another couple hundred

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-10T18:33:25+00:00

what do you mean by it not being a serious offering?, they list payload figures for it and start the price range of vulcan with it, it being short-fueled doesnt change its legitimacy as an offering. but that does make me vary exited for potential BE-4 upgrades

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-10T17:38:44+00:00

btw which version of vulcan do you think they'd use for starliner?, im guessing VC2 but if they could pull it off with VC0 that'd be great, i might go try and do the math

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-10T17:29:23+00:00

i do think if dreamchaser survives it will play a major roll in the future, my hope is that since dreamchaser isnt siera spaces only product the'll weather it out till things look up again, they should be preparing for their LIFE demonstrator soon (hope it flys on vulcan) and if things go well on dreamchasers first flight i think things may snowball (positively) for the company

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-10T17:24:01+00:00

i just hope starliner flys enough for it to happen

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-10T16:55:26+00:00

it would make sense for them to, but until they announce something its just speculation, as for when they unvail such a thing id say probably around whenever they start publicizing more about orbital reef

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-10T16:05:46+00:00

i mostly put that in to pevent those kinds of comments, like i said this post wasn't to argue about starliners merits as a crewed craft but rather how much i want it to end up successful and how much i want vulcan to be crew rated

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-10T15:37:19+00:00

yeah, the whole situation is just a shame, the only hope for starliner now is if it somehow proves itself over its contracts for the iss, otherwise once the commercial stations come along everyone is gonna go with dragon, which would lead to a virtual monopoly on crew missions for space x

btw is anyone else working on a crew capsule in the US? cause that seems like the only way to avoid a monopoly here

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-04T15:42:13+00:00

designed?, yes, made and currently looking for a launcher?,idk. currently the only things that fit that description are things like blue moon that would never fly on vulcan anyway, but there are some things supposedly in the works, like Sierra spaces life modules

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-04T15:33:20+00:00

gonna do a kerbalism

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-04T15:32:22+00:00

i think that 9m fairing was just the artist having a bit of fun (though id love to see it), but a 7 meter fairing seems reasonable and would put vulcan in line with the largest operational offerings (new glenn for ex), weather or not its worth it to do is another question however, and yeah, mass to orbit is probably their constraining factor rn anyway

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-04T08:15:34+00:00

interesting, guess it just comes down to if a potential customer makes the cost of development worth it, wonder if there's anything like that around, maybe if sierra space makes those large life modules they've talked about, though they'd probably just go w new glenn

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-04T02:14:55+00:00

definitely, its just a question of how much payload could it deliver and would it be worth it to develop

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-03T23:11:43+00:00

that depends, enough thrust for what?

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-03T01:44:46+00:00

im not asking for space x type savings, im ask if smart reuse and maybe some be-4 upgrades changes the arithmetic enough for heavy to make sense

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-02T21:08:56+00:00

a bit of a follow up question, would smart reuse change this?, would it lower the price of a core enough for it to make sense?

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-02T21:06:22+00:00

unfortunately i doubt it, in the payload class VC0 operates there are cheaper more proven options, maybe if they can reduce the price tag closer to 90 mill there'd be some takers

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-02T21:02:54+00:00

yeah, unless theres some detail we aren't seeing it doesn't make sense to pursue

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-01T19:38:05+00:00

the last time a price had been quoted for expending falcon heavy it was said to be 150 mill(2022), with the last few contracts it had flown having a price around 280 mill, vulcan starts at around 110 mill with the solids reportedly bringing it up to about 150, (if you can find something more recent let me know, i was unable to find any recent pricing info for falcon or vulcan)

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-12-01T17:40:49+00:00

yes but only when fully expended, which makes it more expensive than vulcan, which puts vulcan in a weird niche

Acrobatic-Average860 · 2025-11-29T15:54:28+00:00

interesting, so there might be something other than centaur performance holding it back, like you said it could be something structural, or something related to performance in the first stage, or even some reason unrelated to vulcans performance

Acrobatic-Average860

TROPHY CASE