Elain Brown Tech 03.03.2022 21:Mar PM EST

Russia’s Space Agency Roscosmos Discontinues Supply of Rocket Engine to United Launch Alliance

Russia made a decision to discontinue the supply of rocket engines to the U.S.

It will cut off the supply of RD-180 space rocket engines to United Launch Alliance (ULA). This comes as a retaliation against the sanctions the U.S. gave to Russia.

Russia Discontinues Supply of Rocket Engine

ULA is an American-based company formed by Lockheed Martin and Boeing that manufactures rockets and launches spacecraft. The partnership of Roscosmos and ULA is supposed to launch a rocket mission to space for the Pentagon's national security missions.

The discontinued supply includes RD181 rocket engines known to be used in the Antares rocket of Northrop Grumman and NASA.

The Antares spacecraft is a collaborative effort of both NASA and Northrop Grumman. The spacecraft is used to launch resupply missions to the International Space Station.

According to Reuters, Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin stated that their agency has supplied a total of 122 RD-180 engines to the U.S. since the 1990s. Atlas spacecrafts in turn have so far used 98 engines to power their launch.

In addition to that, Roscosmos stated that they will also halt the supply of all the engines since there are still 24 engines that need technical assistance.

However, ULA's CEO Tory Bruno stated that this will not negatively impact the upcoming launches they plan. The company has been using the same engine for Atlas V for several years now.

Furthermore, any problems that may arise with the engine will be addressed by the company's in-house experts.

ULA spokesperson Jessica Rye also stated that even if the agreements for technical support and spares will be discontinued, they will do everything to successfully fly their Atlas program.

Russia's Space Partnership With the West

Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin has vocally warned the U.S. to cooperate if it wants to keep a good space relationship with Russia.

"It has been known for a long time that our reliance on Russian rocket engines was both a vulnerability and an inhibitor of innovation," said Joe Laurienti, the CEO of Ursa Major, a manufacturer of propulsion systems in the United States.

However, this situation demonstrates that, despite assurances from major defense contractors, the United States still has a long way to go in developing the robust and flexible industrial base that will allow it to maintain its position as the world's leading space power.

Rogozin also threatened the partnership that has allowed the space station to operate for more than two decades.

As reported by The Washington Post, he, speaking through an interpreter on Russia Today, a state-run English-language television station, stated that Russia "will closely monitor the actions of our American partners and, if they continue to be hostile, we will return to the question of the existence of the International Space Station."

In addition to this, the Roscosmos space agency just recently provided conditions on internet satellite service provider OneWeb before it will launch the latter's satellites. These demands were imposed abruptly before the supposed launch of 36 satellites aboard the Soyuz rocket on Friday.

The first demand of Roscosmos is for OneWeb to assure that the satellites will not be used for military purposes. The other demand is for the British government to withdraw as a major stakeholder of the company.

So far, the second demand was rejected. OneWeb is also unlikely to submit to the imposition against it, putting in peril the scheduled satellite launch.

OneWeb has regularly used the help of Roscosmos in launching their satellites to space using the Soyuz rocket.

Furthermore, even if the relationship of Roscosmos to other companies has been strained, NASA and Roscosmos are stated to still be in communication with one another.