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I imagine the Antares launch explosion has something to do with it, since the Antares was using a refurbished Russian engine as the base stage. Plus, if the Pe
by ijk 12y ago
I imagine the Antares launch explosion has something to do with it, since the Antares was using a refurbished Russian engine as the base stage.
Plus, if the Pentagon's goal is independence from a Russian supply chain, buying parts from Russia kind of works against that.
- chaosphere2112 12y agoAlso, we do have sanctions in place against Russia that could cause issues with supply[1], though I guess that was resolved for the interim[2]. [1]: http://spacenews.com/40431court-bars-ula-from-buying-russian-made-engines-for-atlas-5/ http://spacenews.com/40431court-bars-ula-from-buying-russian... [2]: http://www.ulalaunch.com/preliminary-injunction-lifted--ula.aspx http://www.ulalaunch.com/preliminary-injunction-lifted--ula....
- rst 12y agoNot really -- the engines that USAF is using for launching spysats are new-build (RD-180, not the rebuilt NK-33s on Antares), and their supply was a political issue for months before the Antares launch failure. The politics got tense here when the US put trade sanctions on Russia in response to the trouble in Ukraine.