Russia has suspended supplies of rocket engines to the United States, but the space launch company, owned by Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. said it had enough of those engines for upcoming missions.
“In a situation like this, we simply can no longer supply our world-class rocket engines to the United States,” Dmitry Rogozin, director general of Russia’s space agency known as Roscosmos, told state television on Thursday when it announced the shutdown. export.
The United States has long planned to end its dependence on Russian rocket engines, but efforts have sunk into technical and financial challenges that have prompted the Pentagon to continue using Russian-made engines for several years longer than originally expected.
The United Launch Alliance, Boeing-Lockheed’s launch company, uses Russian RD-180 engines on its Atlas V rocket.
A spokeswoman for the joint venture said it had the necessary RD-180 engines to carry out Atlas V space missions for current customers. These engines are stored in a factory in Decatur, Alabama, she said.
“We have technical support agreements and spare parts, but if this support is not available, we will still be able to run our Atlas program safely and successfully,” she said. United Launch expects to continue using Atlas until at least 2024, she added.
The company has planned 22 launches of the Atlas V, according to Austin Moeller, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, although some could be transferred to the replacement rocket, Vulcan.
The Vulcan rocket is designed to be powered by engines developed by Blue Origin LLC, the space company backed by the founder of Amazon.com Inc. Jeff Bezos. Blue Origin has faced delays in the delivery of United Launch engines.
Blue Origin did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A United Launch spokeswoman said the Vulcan program was well under way to launch this year. Last month, Tori Bruno, CEO of United Launch, said on Twitter that Blue Origin was building the engines in a factory, with staff from his company available to monitor and assist.
On Tuesday, United Launch Atlas V launched a satellite for weather and environmental monitoring in space for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
United Launch also plans to use the rocket to detonate the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which is designed for human missions, to the International Space Station. Last year, United Launch said Amazon would use the Atlas V rocket for nine launches related to its Kuiper satellite internet project initiative.
Russia has supplied 122 of the US RD-180 engines since the 1990s, of which 98 have been used, Mr Rogozin said, adding that Russia would no longer service the other 24 engines.
Roscosmos also tweeted, citing an interview with Mr Rogozin, that it would cut off supplies of the RD-181 engine to the United States.
Northrop Grumman Corp., which uses this engine on its Antares rocket, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Northrop Grumman is using the Antares rocket to lift a spacecraft full of cargo to the International Space Station, which also houses Russian astronauts, for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The company last launched last month before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Kurt Eberley, director of space launch programs at the company’s launch and missile defense systems, told a briefing last month about the latest operation that the company has all the hardware it needs to complete cargo missions. contract with NASA. “The best mitigation we can have is to buy ahead,” he said at the time.
NASA also relies on Space Exploration Technologies Corp. of Elon Musk or SpaceX to handle the transport of cargo to the space station. SpaceX also launches satellites of the US government.