COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The head of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) thinks a liquid oxygen (LOX)/hydrocarbon booster would be best if the United States chooses to pursue a next-generation engine project.
“I don’t think LOX kerosene is the way to go, certainly LOX hydrogen is a thing of the past,” AFSPC chief Gen. William Shelton told reporters Tuesday here at the 30th Space Symposium. “I think all signs point toward hydrocarbon boost, should we decide to do that.”
The United States is considering developing a next-generation rocket engine in light of its use of the Russian-made RD-180 booster in national security space launches. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin reportedly said he’d cut off supplying the RD-180 to the United States if it is used in military space launches. The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) in its version of the fiscal year 2015 authorization bill authorized $220 million to be spent on a next-generation liquid rocket engine. The bill language says Congress believes the Defense Department should develop an engine by 2019 (
Hydrocarbon is a family of fuels that includes liquid kerosene and methane. The RD-180 is a LOX/kerosene engine that can also be referred to as LOX/RP-1, known for the top class of rocket propellants. The LOX oxidizer is used because as a rocket passes out of earth’s atmosphere, it must provide its own oxygen to maintain the combustion process with the propellant.
Shelton is concerned where the money to develop a next-generation engine would come from in an era of declining budgets. He said it won’t come at the expense of something else, saying prioritization will come from a higher level, but, in the end, with tight budgets, it’s zero sum at some level.
“Where does the money come from? I don’t think it can come from the space portfolio, I’m on the ragged edge already”.
Reports have tagged the price tag of a new next-generation engine at around $1 billion, but Shelton downplayed these reports, saying DoD really won’t know until it enters a formal requirements process and receives responses to requests for proposals (RFP). Shelton also downplayed co-producing the RD-180 in the United States, because there would still be reliance on Russia for systems engineering and expertise. Shelton also said previous DoD studies showed a negligible price difference between co-producing the RD-180 and a new next-generation engine.
“So there’s not a financial savings and one of the major objectives is avoiding foreign reliance, you don’t get there with co-production,” Shelton said. “Until as a nation we decide what we’re going to do, I think we still have some open questions.”
RD AMROSS, the joint venture of Pratt & Whitney and RD-180 manufacturer NPO Energomash, owns the license to co-produce the engine, Pratt & Whitney spokesman Matthew Bates said last week. Bates said though Pratt could co-produce the engine itself, if required, partnering with NPO Energomash would be the most cost-effective approach. Pratt & Whitney is a division of United Technologies Corp. [UTX]
Aerojet Rocketdyne has a hydrocarbon boost technology demonstrator (HBTD) program that is maturing critical technologies to reduce the risk in developing a long-life liquid oxygen/kerosene oxygen-rich stage combustion booster engine. It’s part of an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) integrated high payoff rocket propulsion technologies (IHPRPT) program focused on long-term technical challenges. Aerojet Rocketdyne is a division of GenCorp [GY].
Shelton retires from the Air Force Sept. 1.