ULA spent 17 years developing the carrier. The launch was repeatedly delayed due to problems during the development of the two BE-4 methane-oxygen engines for Blue Origin’s first stage. The second stage is powered by two RL10 hydrogen-oxygen engines developed by Aerojet Rocketdyne.
The maximum lift capacity of the rocket is 7 tons for geostationary orbit and 27.2 tons for low Earth orbit. The payload capacity of the carrier can be modified by adding or removing side accelerators.
Vulcan Centaur was launched from Cape Canaveral on January 8 aboard private company Astrobotic Technologies’ Peregrine lunar lander. The module carries 20 payloads from different countries to conduct various studies on the Moon. These include 5 instruments from NASA needed on the Moon as part of the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) program.
Source: Ferra
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