Jul 30, 2024 11:31 PM
(This post was last modified: Jul 30, 2024 11:43 PM by C C.)
With a landmark launch, the Pentagon is finally free of Russian rocket engines
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/07/wi...t-engines/
EXCERPTS: United Launch Alliance delivered a classified US military payload to orbit Tuesday for the last time with an Atlas V rocket, ending the Pentagon's use of Russian rocket engines as national security missions transition to all-American launchers.
[...] The launch Tuesday morning was the end of an era born in the 1990s when US government policy allowed Lockheed Martin, the original developer of the Atlas V, to use Russian rocket engines during its first stage. There was a widespread sentiment in the first decade after the fall of the Soviet Union that the United States and other Western nations should partner with Russia to keep the country's aerospace workers employed and prevent "rogue states" like Iran or North Korea from hiring them.
[...] Boeing and Lockheed Martin merged their rocket divisions in 2006 to form a 50-50 joint venture named United Launch Alliance, which became the sole contractor certified to carry large US military satellites to orbit until SpaceX started launching national security missions in 2018.
SpaceX filed a lawsuit in 2014 to protest the Air Force's decision to award ULA a multibillion-dollar sole-source contract for 36 Atlas V and Delta IV rocket booster cores. The litigation started soon after Russia's military occupation and annexation of Crimea, which prompted US government sanctions on prominent Russian government officials, including Dmitry Rogozin, then Russia's deputy prime minister and later the head of Russia's space agency.
[...] Russia finally stopped engine exports to the United States in 2022, following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At that point, ULA already had all the engines it needed to fly out all of its remaining Atlas V rockets. This export ban had a larger effect on Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket, which also used Russian engines, forcing the development of a brand new first stage booster with US engines.
The SpaceX lawsuit, Russia's initial military incursions into Ukraine in 2014, and the resulting sanctions marked the beginning of the end for the Atlas V rocket and ULA's use of the Russian RD-180 engine... (MORE - missing details)
ULA's REPLACEMENT ROCKET FOR ATLAS V & DELTA IV: Vulcan Centaur
The launch plus diagram of spacecraft (4 1/2 minutes) ... https://youtu.be/VvL6ZS_X_rQ
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/VvL6ZS_X_rQ
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/07/wi...t-engines/
EXCERPTS: United Launch Alliance delivered a classified US military payload to orbit Tuesday for the last time with an Atlas V rocket, ending the Pentagon's use of Russian rocket engines as national security missions transition to all-American launchers.
[...] The launch Tuesday morning was the end of an era born in the 1990s when US government policy allowed Lockheed Martin, the original developer of the Atlas V, to use Russian rocket engines during its first stage. There was a widespread sentiment in the first decade after the fall of the Soviet Union that the United States and other Western nations should partner with Russia to keep the country's aerospace workers employed and prevent "rogue states" like Iran or North Korea from hiring them.
[...] Boeing and Lockheed Martin merged their rocket divisions in 2006 to form a 50-50 joint venture named United Launch Alliance, which became the sole contractor certified to carry large US military satellites to orbit until SpaceX started launching national security missions in 2018.
SpaceX filed a lawsuit in 2014 to protest the Air Force's decision to award ULA a multibillion-dollar sole-source contract for 36 Atlas V and Delta IV rocket booster cores. The litigation started soon after Russia's military occupation and annexation of Crimea, which prompted US government sanctions on prominent Russian government officials, including Dmitry Rogozin, then Russia's deputy prime minister and later the head of Russia's space agency.
[...] Russia finally stopped engine exports to the United States in 2022, following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At that point, ULA already had all the engines it needed to fly out all of its remaining Atlas V rockets. This export ban had a larger effect on Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket, which also used Russian engines, forcing the development of a brand new first stage booster with US engines.
The SpaceX lawsuit, Russia's initial military incursions into Ukraine in 2014, and the resulting sanctions marked the beginning of the end for the Atlas V rocket and ULA's use of the Russian RD-180 engine... (MORE - missing details)
ULA's REPLACEMENT ROCKET FOR ATLAS V & DELTA IV: Vulcan Centaur
The launch plus diagram of spacecraft (4 1/2 minutes) ... https://youtu.be/VvL6ZS_X_rQ