The Air Force is undecided about not only pursuing a next-generation liquid engine program but also the type of engine that could be developed, a top service official said Friday.
“A decision has not been made,” Air Force Assistant Secretary for Acquisition William LaPlante told an audience at the Atlantic Council think tank in downtown Washington. “I don’t think we know enough yet. But it’s not taken off the table.”
The Air Force is examining the future of national security space launches without the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine, a critical part in launch. A blue ribbon study committee in May found that impacts of an RD-180 loss are significant, near term options (fiscal years 2014-2017) to mitigate them are limited and near-term actions are required to mitigate a potential loss of the engines (Defense Daily, May 21).
Lawmakers are questioning why the United States relies on Russia for a critical national security capability while Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin reportedly threatened to cut off supplies of the engine if used in military launch. The Air Force has said they have not received official word of engine supplies ending.
LaPlante said the Air Force is examining the launch manifest to see if it can move missions and prioritize them as the engine panel summary said there are only 16 RD-180s in the stockpile. The summary also said changing the manifest will cost money, though it didn’t specify exactly how much. LaPlante also said the Air Force is performing integration studies and “movement” to take payloads that were planned for Atlas and possibly move them to Delta, which costs more to launch than Atlas.
The blue ribbon panel recommended developing a next-generation engine domestically and endorsed a liquid oxygen (LOX)/hydrocarbon engine. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) chief Gen. William Shelton also unofficially endorsed a LOX/hydrocarbon engine, but LaPlante said he wouldn’t limit the possibility of a next-generation engine to that type.
“I wouldn’t box it in at that,” LaPlante said. “I think there are enough interesting concepts out there.”
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Chief Designer and CEO Elon Musk earlier this week backed a LOX/methane engine for a next-generation engine. SpaceX is developing a methane engine called Raptor (Defense Daily, June 11). Other possible next-generation engine types include LOX/liquid hydrogen and LOX/kerosene, which is used by the RD-180. A third possibility is replicating the RD-180 itself, which is developed by NPO Energomash and distributed in the United States by RD AMROSS, a joint venture of Energomash and United Technologies Corp.- [UTX] subsidiary Pratt & Whitney.