COLORADO SPRINGS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th April, 2019) The United Launch Alliance (ULA) currently does not know if there will be a need for more Russian-made RD-180 rocket engines after 2022, which is the congressional imposed date for ceasing the purchases of these engines, ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno told Sputnik on the sidelines of the 35th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.
"I don't know yet. I literally just don't know," Bruno said when asked whether the company will need RD-180 rocket engines after 2022.
"We are allowed a certain amount of engines for national security purposes , that was 18 ... We are also at the same time given a deadline that whatever those missions or they had to be ordered by our government before 2022, they could be flown whenever so once the missions were purchased before 2022. And there are no restrictions on the use of RD-180s for commercial or civil space applications," the ULA CEO added.
The US space program relies on the Russian-built and supplied RD-180 engines to power the first stage of the Atlas V rocket, the only US vehicle now capable of sending heavy payloads. RD-180 is developed and manufactured by the Russian company Energomash, and is designed for the use in US Atlas carrier rockets.
In 2014, the US Congress strictly limited future purchases of Russian RD-180 engines as part of the economic sanctions on Russia. US lawmakers passed a law requiring the United States to develop a domestically produced next-generation rocket propulsion system by 2019 in order to eliminate reliance on the RD-180s. However, in 2015, the ban was canceled and then, in 2016, the US Senate decided to continue purchasing the Russian RD-180 rocket engines to launch payloads into space until 2022.
