CAPE CANAVERAL - Boeing'sDelta 4 rocket is poised to return to flight this week for the first time in ayear and a half, and there's more riding on the launch than the weathersatellite on top.
"Much of our workloadis handled by the Delta fleet, and we've been down for a bit," said Col.Ed Bolton, who took over the Air Force's rocket-launching operations inDecember and is looking to get the over-budget and behind-schedule program backon track.
Job 1: the military needs aflightworthy Delta 4. One sure way to re-establish the rocket's reliability isto successfully launch and deliver to orbit the GOES-Nweather satellite this week.
Boeing'sDelta 4 is one of two rockets available to the government under the EvolvedExpendable Launch Vehicle program, and it's the one assigned to launch most ofthe U.S. military and spy satellites.
The only problem: therocket didn'tquite work.
A fuel-sensorglitch caused the rocket's three first-stage engines to stop running beforethey should have, and the upper stage could not make up the difference.
Two university sciencespacecraft were lost and the military's payload, a weight simulator calledDemoSat, was dropped off 10,000 miles short of orbit. Had it been a realspacecraft, it would have been rendered useless space junk.
Boeing and the Air Forcedeemed the launch a "success," despite the fact that it failed tomeet the fundamental goal of getting the payload to the targeted orbit.
Another problem with therocket's propellantsystem arose.
Then, batteries used topower the Deltas' safety-destruct system had to be replaced fleetwide.
In the case of almost everymission on Delta's manifest, work came to a screeching halt.
"That really hamperedour ability to get work done on the pads," Bolton said. "Boeing hasdone a good job getting that negotiation done."
First, Boeing faced abrewing scandal and federal investigations into its employees' illegallyobtaining secret Lockheed Martin documents to gain an unfair advantage in thebidding for early launches.
Moreover, the government'stotal investment in the two rockets has grown from an estimated $17 billion tomore than $32 billion since its inception.
The other rocket in themilitary's program, Atlas 5, has flown several commercial and NASA missionsduring the Delta's grounding.
Now, it's time to get theminto space so they'll be ready when needed in years to come, Bolton said.
"We look at it asreturn to flight," Bolton said.
The coming flights of theDelta 4 also take on added importance because of NASA's recentdecision to use the rocket's RS-68 engines (rather than the shuttles' mainengines) for the cargo launcher for missions to the moon and Mars.
Bolton's optimistic theDelta 4 flight pace is going to become more steady.
"We're going from alaunch rate of zero a month for more than a year" to five launches betweennow and July 20, he said.
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