Fwd: So reliant on Russia, it's scary

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: May 4, 2014 10:17:49 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: So reliant on Russia, it's scary

 

Florida Today

 

Matt Reed: So reliant on Russia, it's scary

BrevardCounty 7:03 p.m. EDT May 3, 2014

 

Making the most of Soviet space technology once seemed like an economical way to keep peace with the Russians.

 

Today, the Space Coast's signature industry relies so much on Russian rockets and engines, the dependence has become a national security risk if not an embarrassment. And some actions last week by Congress and the military may only prolong that dependence.

 

Consider our predicament as U.S.-Russian relations worsen over the Ukraine:

 

• NASA must pay Russia $70 million per seat to launch U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station. We're still years away from launching crews on American rockets.

 

• United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket — the Ford F-150 of the space world — blasts off using a Russian engine built in the Ukraine. NASA and the Air Force have relied on the Atlas V to launch the Curiosity Mars probe and dozens of satellites for spying, communication and GPS.

 

• A successful space contractor, Blue Origin, relies on updated Soviet engines to launch cargo to the space station from Virginia.

 

• The Boeing Co. and Sierra Nevada Corp. plan to launch their next-generation crew vehicles — a capsule and small space plane, respectively — on the Atlas V.

 

To ease fears, United Launch Alliance says it stockpiled two years' worth of Russian RD-180 engines and could switch to all-American Delta rockets to fulfill its contracts.

 

But we're still stuck when it comes to launching Americans to the International Space Station, the engineering extravaganza that cost NASA $27 billion to build and run, not counting the cost of space shuttle flights.

 

That fact was not lost on Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees Russia's defense and space programs and is a target of U.S. sanctions.

 

"I suggest the U.S. delivers its astronauts to the ISS using a trampoline," Rogozin said Wednesday on his English-language Twitter account.

 

Uh-oh.

 

Why trust Russians?

 

Until recently, cooperating with Russia on space seemed like a good idea.

 

The Russians had expertise in alloys and a need for hard currency. Americans thought buying engines and supporting that country's space program would keep Russian rocket scientists working on peaceful business pursuits — not moving to Iran or North Korea.

 

Lockheed Martin capitalized development of the RD-180 engine by Russian company NPO Energomash in the 1990s. Today, Lockheed and the Boing Co. are partners in United Launch Alliance, with a near monopoly on U.S. defense launches.

 

I'll skip the retelling of what happened to the space shuttle and its replacement programs except to say that bad decisions spanned two presidencies, three NASA administrators and numerous committee chairmanships. Pick someone to blame. You'll be at least partly right.

 

So it was heartening last week to see Congress and the Pentagon take steps to regain American space programs' independence.

 

On Wednesday, U.S. House members authorized Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to spend $220 million on developing a "domestic alternative" rocket engine. The law calls for a "full and open competition" to build it — not something the Air Force is very good at. The engine could be ready in five years.

 

A key House Appropriations subcommittee also increased NASA's budget for its "commercial crew" program by $89 million in 2015. That's the most the Republican-led panel has ever endorsed, but short of the $848 million the Obama administration said it needed.

 

Congress and the Pentagon didn't exactly launch a new space race.

 

We need one.

 

Free the Dragon

 

The one entirely "Made in the USA" competitor for the program's contracts — SpaceX — responded to Rogozin's trampoline comment by promoting its Dragon MK2 spaceship for carrying astronauts. Space X has already delivered cargo to the station.

 

It also wants to compete for defense launches. But the Air Force didn't want to wait.

 

It awarded a no-bid contract to United Launch Alliance for 34 satellite launches over the next four years.

 

Never mind that SpaceX says it can launch satellites for a quarter of ULA's price of $400 million per launch. The long-term reliance on Russian technology makes the Air Force decision all the more questionable. A judge halted the deal Thursday.

 

It's time Congress, NASA and the Pentagon made independence a higher priority.

 

I don't want to live on the Trampoline Coast.

 

Contact Matt Reed at 321-242-3631 or mreed@floridatoday.com.

 

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