Quote:
Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic
Some things to keep in mind, the US does not do a lot of trade with Russia so it can't get a lot of leverage from that but... if the US does try to enforce sanctions against Russia, we all better get use to not having GPS, satellite comms, restricted weather forecasting and other things.
NASA is wholly reliant on Russia for the supply of engines for it's main launch vehicle, the Atlas V rocket. The RD-180 engine is considered by some to be the best of its type in the world due to a combination of low cost and good efficiency and it's supplied by NPO Energomash in Russia.
Kick Putin hard enough, he might just ban the sale of RD-180 engines
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Wikipedia had this to say on the U.S. use of the RD-180 engine:
During the early 1990s General Dynamics Space Systems Division (later purchased by Lockheed Martin) acquired the rights to use the RD-180 in the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) and the Atlas program. As these programs were conceived to support United States government launches as well as commercial launches, it was also arranged for the RD-180 to be co-produced by Pratt & Whitney. However all production to date has taken place in Russia. The engine is currently sold by a joint venture between the Russian developer and producer of the engine NPO Energomash and Pratt & Whitney, called RD AMROSS.
Jerry Grey, a consultant to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Universities Space Research Association and a former professor of aerospace engineering at Princeton University, suggested using the RD-180 for a prospective NASA heavy-lift launch vehicle. For those who might be concerned about too much reliance on Russia, he pointed out that RD Amross was "very close to producing a U.S.-built version of the RD-180, and with some infusion of NASA funding could be manufacturing that engine (and perhaps even a 1,700,000 lbf or 7.6 MN thrust equivalent of the RD-170) in a few years."[4]
Despite the availability of necessary documentation and legal rights for producing RD-180 in the United States, NASA is considering development of an indigenous core stage engine that would be "capable of generating high levels of thrust approximately equal to or exceeding the performance of the Russian-built engine." NASA considered in 2010 to produce a fully operational engine by 2020 or sooner, depending an partnership with the U.S. Defense Department.[5]
My guess is that whatever work they're doing on producing a replacement engine just got accelerated...