DOD’s latest selected acquisition report (SAR) for Congress says the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program is running seven months late, moving full rate production approval from May to December. The culprit, per the Pentagon, is the time it took to investigate the anomaly that occurred during the Delta IV demo mission last December. An independent review found the root cause of the anomaly to be fluid cavitation—bubbles—in the oxygen feed line.
It’s often said commanders have an insatiable appetite for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. When it comes to space, commercial capabilities are helping to at least whet that appetite, Space Force commanders said at the Spacepower Conference this week.