United Launch Alliance (ULA) on Wednesday released its commercial pricing for Atlas V launches as part of its RocketBuilder.com online ordering system.
ULA is charging $109 million for a standard Atlas V 401 launch to 1800 meters/second geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) from the East Coast with a launch date of first quarter 2017. If $65 million in ULA add-ons, including reliability value, schedule certainty and orbit optimization, is subtracted from ULA’s $109 million, that brings an Atlas V launch to a “cost after added value” of $44 million per launch.
This price includes the core service option, or the minimum service package. The 401 in Atlas 401 represents four meter fairing, zero additional strap-on solid rocket boosters (SRB) and one Centaur upper stage. ULA CEO Tory Bruno told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that an Atlas V 401 launch sold for $184 million per launch a handful of years ago.
Customers can book flights through 2019 to a variety of orbits from both East and West Coast launch sites, ranging from GTO 1800 m/s and geostationary earth orbit (GEO) from the East Coast and sun synchronous and polar orbits from the West Coast. ULA’s online ordering system also adjusts prices according to payload weight and the number of strap on boosters needed for launch. Customers can also book add-on services like mission insight and marketing.
Bruno said national security launches on Atlas V would cost between an additional $30 million and $80 million to provide things like classified facilities, accounting systems and disclosures and data. Though RocketBuilder does not allow customers to buy national security launches online, Bruno believes allowing potential customers to make trades between architecture and requirements would make the website a good study tool.
RocketBuilder does not provide pricing options for Delta IV nor Vulcan, ULA’s next generation launch vehicle. Bruno said Vulcan pricing would be available in late 2017. ULA is also phasing out its expensive Delta IV rocket. In a Q&A posted on the RocketBuilder website, ULA said previous commercial contracts have been executed in less than two weeks and that RocketBuilder will only help streamline that process even further.
A pair of major commercial launch providers are not developing their own online ordering systems. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) spokesman John Taylor said the company is not developing its own online purchasing system. He declined to comment further. Arianespace spokesman Aaron Lewis said his company is not developing one, either.
Bruno said about one-third of ULA’s commercial revenues come from add-ons and added values. ULA spokeswoman Jessica Rye was unable to respond to a request for comment Thursday by press time.
ULA is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Boeing [BA].