Outer space

Banning Russian Rocket Engines Will Increase Costs And Risks

How confusing is the legislative process on Capitol Hill? Try this: Last week the House of Representatives cut the President’s emergency funding request for fighting the Zika virus by two-thirds to save money; this week the Senate will debate whether to waste all the money that was saved by forcing the Pentagon to use over-priced rockets when it launches satellites.

Senator McCain, who is pushing a ban on the use of Russian engines in U.S. launch vehicles, says the government should rely on American technology.  But there’s a problem with that approach.  One of the U.S. launch providers — SpaceX — can’t reach half of the orbits the military needs to get to, and the other would cost 35-40% more per launch if it can’t use rockets with Russian engines.