General Shelton versus Senator McCain.
They’re both wrong. We don’t need an RD-180 replacement; we need an Atlas replacement. And ULA wants to build one. They know that a re-engined Atlas isn’t going to be competitive with SpaceX. But there’s not enough graft in that for some on the Hill.
It’s like I said here before. Without the RD-180 replacement engine program Rocketdyne gets left in the lurch and ULA gets stuck using the engine of a future competitor (Blue Origin).
Just get throw some of the SLS money at this. God knows what its being used for so might as well get something out of it.
Why do you say ULA is *stuck* using Blue Origin’s engine? From everything I’ve read, ULA is pretty happy with their relationship with Blue Origin.
I read Shelton’s op-ed the other day and linked it on an earlier thread. Unfortunately, it’s behind a paywall.
I thought it was pretty well-balanced. While he correctly pointed out that Atlas V has a longer history (and now, a better success rate) than Falcon 9, I didn’t think he came across as anti-SpaceX. He said it is important to have multiple launch suppliers. I agree with his opposition to banning import of the RD-180. I think that is just political posturing, which Congress excels at.
But Rand is right, too, above.
No, neither McCain nor Shelton are anti-SpaceX. That would be the Huntsville gang.
I don’t understand, why should the government pay for ULA to make a rocket to compete with SpaceX? Boeing/LM has had decades to make themselves competitive, but instead they formed a monopoly and pocketed their profits. If they want to compete with SpaceX they should do it with private funding. It’s even obvious where that private funding could come from – he’ll be supplying their rocket engine.
Trent,
The government shouldn’t be paying for rocket work to keep ULA competitive with SpaceX. They should just let ULA pay for the rest of the RD-180s they’ve ordered but not paid for, and let ULA see if it can compete with SpaceX.
At least USAF took Congress’s attempted earmark to Aerojet and turned it into an open competition that SpaceX can compete for as well. We might get something useful out of it that way.
~Jon
“At least USAF took Congress’s attempted earmark to Aerojet and turned it into an open competition that SpaceX can compete for as well. We might get something useful out of it that way.”
Clever.
Trent, are you trying to suggest that using tax money to pick winners and losers is somehow not true capitalism? Back to the animal farm for you! Some animals are more equal!
I don’t understand, why should the government pay for ULA to make a rocket to compete with SpaceX?
Because that’s the way it has always been done, dagnabit! Cost-plus contracts to favored companies has been the American way since before WWII. You young whiper snappers with your fancy fixed price contracts and open competition are un-American, I tell you! Bunch of damned commies!
And just in case I wasn’t obvious enough: /sarc
I really don’t see the problem with the Atlas 5 if the RD-180 supply is cut off.
The Rd-180 costs about 10 million. So, 20 million per Atlas 5. If they can’t get RD-180’s, don’t install them. Just cut the Atlas 5 price by 20 million, rename the rocket SLS Jr., point out that it’s every bit as useful as SLS, and everybody’s happy.
What’s not to like?
The Atlas V uses a singe RD-180 engine. It only looks like two engines because it has dual nozzles.
“…this essentially means there is no more SpaceX.”
What a leap of logic!!!
It’s been obvious for about half a decade now that SpaceX could use some serious competition. They are going to monopolize things in the next few decades until real competition emerges.
Choosing to use Russian engines had known risks. The government waited far too long in encouraging ‘American made’ so now we are where we are. The good news is others are working to compete with SpaceX using ‘American made.’ We just have to wait and accept things as they are (not try to extend that which ultimately will be replaced.)
It’s so sad, the effect that ITAR has had on worldwide commercial space development. And the US government has to waive ITAR every time they fly an astronaut on a Soyuz or use an RD-180 engine.
So, the Russians get the business even though they supply Iran with weapons tech, and the rest of the world is shut out of the American market altogether.
How about scrapping ITAR, so that rocket engine manufacturers in Romania and Canada and elsewhere can compete for these contracts?
ITAR was never about Russia. The US got more out of the ex-Soviet space program than the Russians got out of the US’s. RD-180 and NK-33 LOX/Kerosene staged combustion engines, Fakel Hall effect thrusters, Al-Li construction, channel-wall nozzle, etc.
ITAR was always about denying China access to advanced space technology.
ITAR is about much more than space and rocket technology. It is a rigorously-enforced set of rules regulating international sales of weapons and related technologies. Even small arms, ammunition, computers, certain chemicals, and software can fall under ITAR. It’s a very big deal and violations are dealt with very harshly.