United Launch Alliance

Aerospace industry titans Boeing and Lockheed Martin formed ULA in 2005, and the company currently relies on its Delta IV Heavy launcher to get the biggest payloads into space. But that rocket costs at least $350 million per launch — several times more expensive than SpaceX's new and reusable $90 million Falcon Heavy system. Plus, Delta IV Heavy can only lift half as much payload as the Falcon Heavy.

As an answer to SpaceX's new rocket, ULA is working on a more powerful and partly reusable launcher called Vulcan. That rocket will recycle the engines of its booster, which is the biggest and most costly part of a rocket. (And the engines make up about two-thirds of a booster's cost.)

According to ULA's plan, a system called SMART will pop the engines off, guide them through Earth's atmosphere behind an aeroshell, and parachute them toward the ground. A helicopter will then grab the parachute and engines.

A forthcoming system called ACES will also make the upper stage of the rocket reusable and refuel-able in orbit.

Tory Bruno, ULA's CEO, told Business Insider that a Vulcan launch will cost below $100 million to start.