Pentagon Seeks Easing of Ban on Russian Rockets for U.S. Space Missions
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/world/europe/pentagon-seeks-easing-of-ban-on-russian-rockets-for-us-space-missions.html
Only five months after the ban became law, the Pentagon is pressing Congress to ease it.
The Pentagon says that additional Russian engines will be needed for at least a few more years to ensure access to space for the country’s most delicate defense and intelligence technology.
Les sanctions affectent aussi la rivalité entre Boeing/Lockheed Martin et SpaceX.
The United Launch Alliance [a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin] has pledged to build a new rocket, called the Vulcan, without using the Russian engine, but its first test is not scheduled until 2019 and its certification is not expected until 2022. In their letter, Mr. Carter and Mr. Clapper said the ban on new acquisitions of the Russian engines would mean that the alliance could soon exhaust its supply of Atlas V rockets, leaving only the more expensive Delta IV, which is being phased out.
The debate now is over how many more missions the United Launch Alliance should be allowed to conduct with the Russian engines. The company has ordered 29 engines, 15 of which are paid for and planned for use. The Pentagon wants the company to be able to use the rest. The House legislation would do that, while the Senate version would allow the alliance to buy more engines only if it wins bids, presumably against SpaceX.
If the ban remains, SpaceX could end up as the sole company able to bid for some launches in the coming years. That would recreate the monopoly that the United Launch Alliance enjoyed and that the Pentagon, SpaceX and others have sought to end. Mr. Carter and Mr. Clapper said they wanted to maintain “an environment where price-based competition is possible.”
