Boeing pulls Delta IV from commercial launch market

"Kim Keller" wrote in message om...
Funny that I was just discussing this issue with a coworker yesterday. Were
you listening in? The end of the balloon tank hasn't occurred yet, but there
is a definite feeling that LM wants to migrate everything over to Atlas V in
the not-to-distant future, perhaps sooner than originally planned, just as
Boeing is doing with Delta IV. To me this indicates that LM's profit margin
on ELVs isn't as good as Rand seems to suggest elsewhere.

Why does it mean that?

Lockheed could be making money hand over fist with Atlas II/III, but
as long as they're making close to the same amount of money on Atlas V
now, they'll still come out ahead by moving everyone over and shutting
down the balloon tank infrastructure.

-jake

On Thu, 17 Jul 2003 18:25:42 GMT, in a place far, far away,
h (Rand Simberg) made the phosphor on my
monitor glow in such a way as to indicate that:

It's a reasonably natural decision for Boeing, given the lousy state of
the commercial launch market, Delta IV's considerable success (rather more
than Atlas V) at winning government business, and the presence within the
same company of Sea Launch (commercially very attractive but politically
forbidden to fly US-government payloads).

Actually, it's possible that this is also a game of brinksmanship with
the Air Force, because they're about to get sanctioned for military
contracts. They may figure if their only market looks like the DoD,
they'll relent to keep them from shutting down the line and only
having one provider.

Can I call 'em or what?

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030721/arms_boeing_1.html

--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org

"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
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"Jake McGuire" wrote in message
om...
"Kim Keller" wrote in message
om...
Funny that I was just discussing this issue with a coworker yesterday.
Were
you listening in? The end of the balloon tank hasn't occurred yet, but
there
is a definite feeling that LM wants to migrate everything over to Atlas
V in
the not-to-distant future, perhaps sooner than originally planned, just
as
Boeing is doing with Delta IV. To me this indicates that LM's profit
margin
on ELVs isn't as good as Rand seems to suggest elsewhere.

Why does it mean that?

Because LM is not exactly burning down the world with new launch orders.
That tells me they can't compete very well on price, hence the desire to
consolidate operations onto one booster assembly line.

Lockheed could be making money hand over fist with Atlas II/III, but
as long as they're making close to the same amount of money on Atlas V
now, they'll still come out ahead by moving everyone over and shutting
down the balloon tank infrastructure.

What does their annual report indicate for that section of the company?

-Kim-

(ed kyle) wrote in message . com...
"Kim Keller" wrote in message om...
"Mike Chan" wrote in message
m...
GOES-N was originally slated for a Delta III launch. However, neither
the KSC website ELV schedule or spaceflightnow.com upcoming launches
show a date or a new LV for GOES-N. ...

It's been shifted to a Delta IV M+2. I don't know if the paperwork has been
signed yet - the change was suggested by Boeing back around December.


Rats! We never even got to say goodby (to Delta III).

- Ed Kyle

Well, Boeing's website still has a product description page for Delta
III. I imagine that one day in the not-so-distant future, the page
will be gone. And like that, Delta III will have faded away.

From Delta III units that may have been built, the SRB's could be used
for Delta 2H, while the 1st stage LOX tank, 1st stage engines, and
avionics might be used for any Delta 2. The Delta III 2nd stage
engine could be used on Delta 4M second stages. The Delta III unique
components to be written off include the 1st stage fuel tank.

Henry Spencer wrote:

It's been clear for a while that Boeing would prefer to forget (and would
very much prefer that *customers* forget) that Delta III ever existed,
given its rather unsatisfactory early record.

Which is an odd reaction by customers, considering Delta III's early
record is about the same as Ariane V's.

MOST launched 1015 EDT 30 June, separated 1046, | Henry Spencer
first ground-station pass 1651, all nominal! |

Congratulations on this launch, by the way. You must be very proud.

Mike

-----
Michael Kent Apple II Forever!!
St. Peters, MO

In article ,
Michael Kent wrote:
MOST launched 1015 EDT 30 June, separated 1046, | Henry Spencer
first ground-station pass 1651, all nominal! |

Congratulations on this launch, by the way. You must be very proud.

Not to mention very relieved! We've got some ideas for nifty follow-on
missions, but if MOST had failed, there wouldn't have been much chance of
selling them. They're not out of the woods yet, but it's going to help.
--
MOST launched 1015 EDT 30 June, separated 1046, | Henry Spencer
first ground-station pass 1651, all nominal! |