NASA Shifts 6-Satellite SunRISE Launch to Falcon Heavy as Vulcan Faces 2nd Booster Anomaly
Updated
Updated · Space.com · Jul 23
NASA Shifts 6-Satellite SunRISE Launch to Falcon Heavy as Vulcan Faces 2nd Booster Anomaly
3 articles · Updated · Space.com · Jul 23
Summary
NASA reassigned the six-satellite SunRISE mission from ULA's Vulcan Centaur to SpaceX's Falcon Heavy for a launch later this year on a U.S. Space Force rideshare.
The switch follows Vulcan's latest booster anomaly on the USSF-87 mission — the second such issue in four launches — which led the Space Force to pause national security flights on the rocket.
No specific launch date or rideshare mission has been disclosed, leaving open whether SunRISE was moved to a different Space Systems Command flight or another SSC payload was shifted off Vulcan.
At about 22,000 miles above Earth, the mailbox-sized spacecraft will fly in a 10-mile X formation to detect solar radio bursts and improve models that forecast damaging space-weather events.
With its rival's rocket sidelined, will SpaceX's dominance make space launches more expensive?
Does a rocket failure reveal a deeper crisis in America's space industry supply chain?
Is an artificial planetary shield our best defense against increasingly powerful solar storms?
NASA’s SunRISE Mission Shifts to SpaceX Falcon Heavy After Vulcan Centaur Booster Failures: Impacts on Space Weather Science and Launch Industry
Overview
NASA's SunRISE mission, which uses a constellation of SmallSats assembled and stored at Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory, faced a major change due to repeated performance problems with United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket, especially its solid rocket boosters. After these anomalies led to the rocket being grounded by the U.S. Space Force, NASA decided to switch the SunRISE launch to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. This move ensures the mission can proceed on schedule and highlights NASA’s growing reliance on reliable commercial launch providers to achieve its scientific goals.