Two large US space companies continue to quarrel over the Russian rocket engine RD-180, which is produced in the Moscow region at NPO Energomash and is designed for launch vehicles belonging to the middle class. US antitrust authorities suspect United Launch Alliance of preventing its competitor, Orbital Sciences, from purchasing these engines for its Antares rocket. The US Federal Trade Commission has already initiated an antitrust investigation into the United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which builds rockets and launches satellites for government purposes.
The United Launch Alliance is suspected of illegally denying its competitors access to critical components from contractor RD Amross. And this, in turn, deprives competitors of the opportunity to fully participate in tenders. It is reported by Reuters, which has at its disposal the documents of the US Federal Trade Commission. RD Amross is a Russian-American joint venture that brings together NPO Energomash and the American company Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. The first is engaged in the production of RD-180 engines, and the second is supplying them to ULA for their Atlas launch vehicle.
According to American experts, Russian-made RD-180 engines in terms of their aggregate characteristics are the only alternative for heavy launch vehicles that are able to launch American reconnaissance and military satellites into low-earth orbit, as well as satellites for NASA needs. At the same time, ULA is preventing RD Amross from selling RD-180 rocket engines to other manufacturers' launch vehicles, including Orbital Sciences, which is keen to enter the lucrative space launch market for the US government.
Orbital Sciences is currently a competitor to the United Launch Alliance. It notes that without the possibility of using the Russian RD-180, the only liquid-fueled rocket engine that is optimally suited for their Antares launch vehicle, they lose the opportunity to win government tenders, and therefore gain access to lucrative orders.
Currently, the 1st stage of the Antares medium-class launch vehicle is equipped with 2 Aerojet AJ-26 liquid-propellant engines. These engines are a modification of the NK-33 engines manufactured by SNTK im. Kuznetsov, which were also created during the Soviet era. These rocket engines were developed for the super-heavy rocket N-1, but this project was closed in the 70s of the last century along with the Soviet program for conquering the moon. Thus, both American companies use Russian rocket engines for their own purposes. Orbital Sciences for its Antares rocket (created with the participation of the Ukrainian design bureaus Yuzhmash and Yuzhnoye) - the Russian NK-33 engine, converted and renamed Aerojet AJ-26, and ULA uses RD-180 engines for its Atlas missiles collected by NPO Energomash (Khimki).
According to Reuters, US antitrust authorities have launched an investigation over Orbital Sciences' failed attempts to buy RD-180 engines for its new Antares mid-range missile. Earlier, Orbital Sciences created its own rocket with Russian engines for the implementation of the contract concluded with NASA for the delivery of goods to low-earth orbit. The total amount of the transaction is $ 1.9 billion. Until 2016, the company must carry out at least 8 space launches of Antares rockets to the ISS with various cargoes in the interests of NASA. The Antares launch vehicle will launch cargo weighing up to 7 tons into low orbits. The first demonstration launch of the Antares rocket and the Cygnus cargo spacecraft was performed in late April 2013 from the Wallops Island, Virginia launch site.
“The Aerojet AJ-26 engine is a reliable and very good rocket engine with only one problem. These engines are no longer produced. The available engines Aerojet AJ-26 Orbital Sciences should be enough to fulfill its obligations to secure NASA's contract for the delivery of cargo to the International Space Station. But after the end of this contract, the company, of course, would like to receive new orders for commercial launches. For this Orbital Sciences would be more suitable engine RD-180 ", - said in an interview with the newspaper" Vzglyad "Yuri Karash, who is a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics. Tsiolkovsky. At the same time, it is clear that the ULA alliance, which currently actively occupies the leading positions in the provision of launch services, is not very happy about the possible prospect of a competitor entering the market.
Industry experts at Reuters believe Orbital Sciences needs access to Russian RD-180 engines for its Antares missiles to simply survive in the market. Orbital Sciences has no plans to compete with the United Launch Alliance in launching heavy rockets into space, but the company expects to become a full-fledged player in the market for the delivery of medium cargoes into space using Antares launch vehicles. Moreover, for the American government, such cooperation could be beneficial, since the Antares rocket costs less than $ 100 million.
ULA spokeswoman Jessica Rye confirmed that an investigation is indeed underway and that the company is cooperating with US antitrust authorities. The same was confirmed by the press service of Pratt & Whitney. According to Jessica Rye, United Launch Alliance contracts for the purchase of RD-180 engines are absolutely legal and comply with all competition rules. In turn, the Federal Trade Commission declined to comment.
The Russian rocket engine RD-180, over which American companies are currently quarreling, in the mid-90s of the last century won a tender announced by the United States against two American and one European company. The RD-180 engine was designed on the basis of the RD-170 rocket engine used on Zenit and Energia launch vehicles. Complete assembly of the engine is carried out at NPO Energomash. The combustion chambers in Khimki are supplied from Samara, and special steels are supplied from Chelyabinsk. The technological cycle of assembling only one engine takes up to 16 months on average.
RD-180 is a two-chamber engine with afterburning of an oxidizing generator gas, with thrust vector control due to the rocking of each chamber in 2 planes, with the possibility of deep throttling of the rocket engine thrust in flight. The design of the engine is based on well-proven elements and assemblies of the RD-170/171 engines. The design of a new powerful engine for the 1st stage of the launch vehicle was carried out in a short time, and testing was done on a small amount of material.
Having signed a contract for the design of a rocket engine in the summer of 1996, the first firing test of the prototype engine was carried out in November of the same year, and in April of the following year, a firing test of the standard engine was carried out. In 1997-1998, a series of firing tests of the engine as part of a launch vehicle stage was carried out quite successfully in the United States. In the spring of 1999, the engine was certified for use in the Atlas 3 launch vehicle. The first launch of the Atlas 3 LV with the Russian RD-180 engine was carried out in May 2000. In the summer of 2001, the RD-180 certification was completed for use in the Atlas 5 launch vehicle. The first flight of the Atlas 5 LV with the Russian RD-180 engine took place in August 2002.
During the period from 2014 to 2017, the Khimki engine-building enterprise Energomash expects to export 29 RD-180 rocket engines to the United States, Vladimir Solntsev, the executive director of the enterprise, told reporters about this. “We are currently working on the issue of supplying another 29 rocket engines RD-180 from 2014 to 2017, respectively, the load for our enterprise will be 4-5 engines per year,” said Vladimir Solntsev.
Vladimir Solntsev reminded reporters that an option had already been signed to supply 101 RD-180 engines to the United States intended for US Atlas missiles, the option is valid until 2020. At the same time, 59 engines were delivered to the United States, of which 38 have already successfully launched the Atlas-5 rocket into orbit. Currently, work continues to expand further cooperation.
Solntsev added that until 2010, the RD-180s were sold to the Americans at a loss for the Russian enterprise, since the cost of their production increased at a faster rate than the price at which they could be sold. But, according to Vladimir Solntsev, in 2010-2011, a number of measures were taken to rectify this situation. Today the company sells engines in the United States at a price almost 3 times higher than in 2009. For this reason, the company has reached a positive profitability of sales, which allows part of the proceeds to be spent on the development of its own production base.
Main characteristics of the RD-180 rocket engine:
Thrust, earth / void, tf - 390, 2/423, 4
Specific impulse, ground / void, sec - 311, 9/338, 4
Pressure in the combustion chamber, kgf / cm2 - 261, 7
Weight, dry / filled, kg - 5480/5950
Dimensions, engine height / diameter, mm - 3600/3200
Years of development - 1994-1999
Purpose: for the first stages of the Atlas III and Atlas V launch vehicles of the US Lockheed Martin company.
