Tory Bruno — chief executive of United Launch Alliance, a Boeing (
www.boeing.co.uk) and Lockheed Martin (
www.lockheedmartin.com) joint venture that undertakes satellite launches in the USA — has warned that current legislation is threatening the future of US space technology.
Mr Bruno made his comments on Twitter after a Senate hearing concerning the US Air Force’s latest budget bill. The hearing had debated the time-table for developing a new US-built alternative to the Russian RD180 rocket engine — currently powering the Atlas V rocket that handles many launches of US military satellites.
The Senate last year passed a law stopping the US military from either renewing or signing a new contract for satellite launches with any firm using Russian-designed or manufactured rocket engines, so ULA cannot buy RD180 engines beyond the 29 that it already has in storage or on order.
ULA subsequently signed an agreement with Blue Origin — a Seattle-based engine maker founded by Jeff Bezos, the head of Amazon — to design a new methane-powered engine: the BE4.
However, Mr Bruno warned that the limited number of Russian engines that ULA could use and the challenges of developing a new engine pose many risks.
“Even once it first flies, any new engine will need years of testing before it achieves certification to carry sensitive national security payloads into orbit. Developing an American engine by 2019, followed by certification in 2022-23, is an aggressive schedule. The existing law leaves us no flexibility.”
As well as signing the agreement with Blue Origin to develop the BE4 engine, ULA is commissioning US Aerojet Rocketdyne to design a back-up engine: the AR1.