USA space program

US' Reliance On Russian Engines "More Serious" Than Reliance On Spacecraft.

In an article for the Space Review (10/14), Space Review editor Jeff Foust wrote that the "most serious" reliance on the Russian space program is not transportation to the ISS, but the reliance on RD-180 engines for the Atlas V rocket. Speaking at last month's AIAA Space 2013 conference, Andrew Aldrin, a ULA executive, said Russian threats of cutting this supply off are not concerning because they have been made before. In the second half of his piece, Foust goes into how the "high performance" engine, with its oxygen-rich staged combustion, is so valued in the US. Jim Maser, vice president of corporate strategy and development at GenCorp, told the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) that the US has to make developing a new kerosene and liquid oxygen (kerolox) engine a high priority in order to not fall behind other countries. Maser said this would be part of "an integrated strategy and roadmap" that would be useful in several applications. Foust noted that because of the US' "poor track record" for this kind of strategy, the US may be relying on Russian engines "long after" its reliance on the Soyuz spacecraft.

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