By Kathleen Caulderwood - Americans have been using Russian-made space equipment for decades, but amid growing tension in the Ukraine and a few subtle warnings, U.S. companies are vying to create a homegrown solution, though there are still a few years and billions of dollars in-between.
The largest space company in the United States said its Russian shipments are on time and won’t be cut off. But that doesn’t mean American companies aren’t racing to develop homegrown technology.
United Launch Alliance LLC is a joint venture between the Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT). On Wednesday, its Chief Executive Michael Gass said that he’s confident Russia will continue sending supplies, and expects two boosters in August, according to the Wall Street Journal.
He also hinted that ULA is collaborating with other American companies, looking into the possibility of building their own engines or even an entirely new launch system. However, Gass said this technology is probably five to seven years away, and will cost between $1 billion and $2 billion to develop.
American astronauts have been using Russian Soyuz capsules to get to and from the ISS since the U.S. Space Shuttle project was discontinued in 2011.
Last month, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Moscow would reject a U.S. request to keep using the International Space Station (ISS) after 2020, and barred Washington from using Russian-made rockets for military purposes.
“We are very concerned about continuing to develop high-tech projects with such an unreliable partner as the United States, which politicizes everything,” he told reporters, according to Reuters.
The U.S. government-funded, NASA-operated Commercial Crew Development Program is a grant program meant to foster research and development of human spaceflight technologies by American companies.
Meanwhile, the California-based Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, better known as SpaceX, is suing the Pentagon and ULA over their exclusive launch contracts, while pushing certification for its own, lower-cost Falcon rockets.
Last month, company head Elon Musk unveiled the company’s most recent designs for the Dragon V2 space shuttle, meant to replace the Russian Soyuz version.
Other players in the U.S. launch-rocket business are Aerojet Rocketdyne, of GenCorp Inc (NYSE:GY) Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE:ORB) and Alliant Techsystems Inc (NYSE:ATK) and the Sierra Nevada Corporation.