In brief

• A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket failed about ten minutes after its Florida launch on Sunday.
• The rocket was carrying 40 Amazon Leo satellites, all of which were lost.
• ULA has not yet identified the cause of the anomaly.
• The mission was the first of 38 launches Amazon purchased from ULA.

Launch ends in anomaly

The Vulcan Centaur rocket, operated by United Launch Alliance, lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday. About ten minutes into the flight it suffered an anomaly and did not reach orbit (Awaria rakiety Vulcan Centaur. Miała wynieść na orbitę satelity konkurenta Starlinka – Onet) (Vulcan rocket fails, destroying 40 Amazon Leo satellites – The Verge). The rocket was carrying 40 satellites for Amazon Leo, the broadband network Amazon is building as a competitor to SpaceX's Starlink (Vulcan rocket fails during return-to-flight launch, 40 Amazon satellites lost – Hacker News).

Cause still unknown

ULA said in a statement that it had no specific data yet that would explain what happened. The company said its launch director had received data confirming the anomaly, which occurred after the vehicle left Space Launch Complex 41. Live broadcast of the launch was cut before the failure became visible on screen, so no clear fault appeared on video.

Amazon's network at stake

The satellites were meant to enter low Earth orbit. Amazon Leo is planned to eventually comprise 3,200 satellites, and about 400 have been placed in orbit so far. The network was originally called Project Kuiper. Reports describe the mission as the first of 38 launches Amazon bought from ULA, and as the first mission failure in ULA's roughly 20-year history.

Context

The failure is the second setback for the Vulcan program in recent years, although the rocket had flown earlier test and certification missions. Amazon has struggled to keep its constellation on schedule, and the loss of 40 satellites removes a large share of the hardware it had planned to deploy in this campaign (Awaria rakiety Vulcan. Konkurent SpaceX stracił 40 satelitów – Wirtualna Polska).