US receives two RD-181 rocket engines under latest $1bn contract with Russia

[Bukyanagandi]

Russia has delivered two RD-181 engines to the US Orbital Sciences Corporation for its Antares rocket under a $1bn contract, signed despite several rounds of Western-imposed sanctions and hot debates in Congress over US dependency on Russia for national security space launches.

"On July 16 the first two engines were delivered to the US," Russian rocket producer Energiya (NPO Energomash) said in a press release on Tuesday, RIA reported.

Energia which has been conducting activities in the rocket-space industry since 1946 did not mention when the next batch of RD-181 will be delivered to its American partners. Under a $1 billion contract with Orbital Sciences Corporation, signed in January, the Russian manufacturer is to eventually deliver 60 RD-181engines for the Antares rockets.

Orbital expects that the first deliveries of the newly built RD-181 engines will be ready to use for next Antares flight in early 2016.

Under the new RD-181 contract Russian crews will also conduct flight training with their American counterparts. The Russians will also be engaged in the installation of the engine on the rocket and engine tests. The RD-181 engine was developed specifically for Antares and it allows more cargo to be brought up to the International Space Station. The Russian company has cooperated with the US since 1990, delivering RD 180 engines for Atlas rockets.

Meanwhile until recently the US used the AJ-26 engines for Antares, which are based on the Soviet NK-33 modified by American manufacturer Aerojet. The first four Antares launch attempts were successful. During the fifth launch, last October, the rocket powered by AJ-26 engines failed catastrophically, exploding and falling back onto its launch pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Source: RT.com

 

[Nyani Ngabu]

We nawe usituletee fiksi zako hapa.

 

[yonga]

sasa hapo kuna fix gani au kila kitu lazima ubishe? na bila hizo engine USA hawezi kwenda ISS, ndo hata manned mission za ISS zinafanywa na Russia peke yake duniani kupitia baikonur cosmodrome, EU and USA lazima walipie for manned mission

 

[Kichuguu]

sasa hapo kuna fix gani au kila kitu lazima ubishe? na bila hizo engine USA hawezi kwenda ISS, ndo hata manned mission za ISS zinafanywa na Russia peke yake duniani kupitia baikonur cosmodrome, EU and USA lazima walipie for manned mission

Nafikiri hujui kuwa USA wali-retire kwa makusudi reusable space shuttles zilizokuwa zinakwenda ISS na kurudi kama safari ya kawaida badala ya kurudi na mwavuli kama Urusi inavyofanya sasa. Sasa hivi NASA iliacha hiyo shughuli ifanywe na wajasiliamali kusudi wao (NASA) washughulike na safari za masafa marefu ya kwenda Mars na anga za juu tu.

Mpaka sasa Urusi hata haijafikiria kuwa kuna uwezekano wa wao kwenda Mars wakati USA walishaweka beacons zao kule Mars na tayari wameanza kuvinjari sayari ya Pluto ambayo iko mbali sana kutoka duniani kuliko sayari nyingine yoyote ile; ni safari ya takriban miaka kumi!

 

[yonga]

Hapana hawaja retire mpaka leo wanaenda na hizo space shuttles iss,ila wanapeleka cargo na sio manned mission, mara ya mwisho ya mwisho cargo ship ili explode shortly after take off tatizo lilikuwa nikutumia engine ambayo wali develop from Russian made rd 180,NASA wakasema hawana budi kuendelea ku depend on russian engines

 

[yonga]

Unafikiri soviet union/ russia hawaja fanya mars mission, walifanya miaka ya 60,ila iliyo fanikiwa kufika orbit ni ile ya may 28,1971 inaitwa mars, sepa tu jamaa taarifa zao huwa hazitangazwi sana, kama sikokei soviet union ndio wa kwanza kufanya. mars mission

 

[Bantugbro]

Haya yule Mluo-cast wao alisema na nina-m-quote "Russia doesn't produce anything"😛hoto:

 

[NICK2275]

Back in 2004, President Bush announced that NASA's aging space shuttle program would be retired in 2010 and - eventually - replaced by a plan to return to the moon. At the time, NASA realized there would be a four-year gap between the space-shuttle retirement and when the new manned space transport system would be in place.

But at that point, it didn't seem like a big problem for NASA to ask Russia to transport US astronauts to and from the space station in the interim. Relations between the two countries were friendly - Bush was telling reporters that he'd looked into Putin's eyes and "got a sense of his soul." What's more, NASA had relied on Russian transport for 29 months after the Columbia disaster in 2003, when the shuttle program was put on hold.

Development of NASA's replacement vessels, however, has taken much longer than anticipated - the agency won't have a replacement for the shuttle until 2017. There are a few reasons for that. Bush's moon program was cancelled by Obama in 2010 and replaced with a plan for private companies to shuttle astronauts. Meanwhile, NASA's budget requests to pay for the new program were repeatedly underfunded by Congress.

"It's put us in a vulnerable position," says John Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute.
This isn't the only way that the US spaceflight program is dependent on Russia. The Atlas V rocket - built by Lockheed Martin and used to launch American military satellites and civilian payloads - runs on a Russian-built engine.

When the Atlas V was being designed in the 1990s, Lockheed Martin got a waiver from the usual Defense Department requirement that critical components be manufactured in the US, partly because the Russian engines were better and less expensive than American options, and partly because of political motivations.

"There was a fear that if we didn't find some way of keeping Russian rocket scientists employed, they would go off and work for Iran or North Korea," says James Lewis, a national security and space analyst.

 

[yonga]

america has to pay 20 million per person to get into ISS, believe kama Russia akiamua kuto peleka watu ISS then the 100 billion USD, the most expensive construction project ever undertaken will fall apart, Obama amemuomba Putin awe muungwana kupeleka watu ISS and he is a good guy, russia has a plan to build it's own ISS by 2024 itakuwa shida kwa america kama hawatapata alternative ya manned mission to ISS