ULA will use a new roro vessel to transport Vulkan rockets to support Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband initiative
A new roro vessel under construction in Louisiana will provide ‘special deliveries’ supporting a new Amazon venture. Those special deliveries will be high-value cargo: massive Vulkan rockets, which will be transported by water from United Launch Alliance’s Decatur, Alabama, manufacturing facility to launching pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The rockets are the next generation of heavy lift launch vehicles that will be used to launch low Earth orbit satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, the retailer’s satellite network that will provide the backbone for a new high-speed internet service.
United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, selected Bollinger Marine Fabricators (BMF) to build the steel vessel in December 2023. Last year, the Louisiana shipbuilder laid the keel for the 111-m long by 25-m wide vessel at its Amelia, Louisiana shipyard.
Called SpaceShip, the new roro vessel underpins ULA’s future launch plans. ULA vice president, Kuiper Program, Chris Ellerhorst, said his firm plans to double its launch rate capacity to support Amazon. As a result, ULA ordered a second vessel “to ensure timely deliveries of the rockets to the launch site.”
“A second vessel ensures timely deliveries of the rockets to the launch site”
Bristol Harbor Group, Bristol, Rhode, was selected by ULA to design the specialised transport vessel. This is not the first time that the Rhode Island naval architectural firm has supported the aerospace industry. Among its previous design experience is the 94.4-m NASA barge Pegasus, used to transport the Space Launch System core stage along rivers and open ocean.
Mr Ellerhorst said his firm’s first ship, RocketShip has been in service for decades. “With this second ship called SpaceShip our maritime fleet will enable enterprise transportation capacity of four Vulcan launch vehicles across two voyages to either the East or West Coast.”
