U.S. Satellite’s Russian Rocket Ride Decried : Space: Launch plan is depicted as a threat to struggling American commercial industry, much of it in the Southland.
A deal that permits the first launch of an American-made satellite on a Russian rocket could pose a threat to the struggling American commercial launch industry, according to spokesmen for McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Co. and other American rocket makers.
The decision on the Russian launch was one of a series of accords on space exploration reached last week by Russia and the United States during Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin’s visit to Washington.
The agreements are of particular interest in Southern California, home to two of the nation’s three major rocket builders--McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics Space Systems Division in San Diego, which makes the Atlas rocket.
“Frankly, the industry is somewhat disappointed in what happened,” said S. K. Mihara, who heads McDonnell Douglas’ commercial Delta rocket program, based in Huntington Beach.
U.S. launch companies believe that permission to launch a U.S. satellite should have been withheld until the Russians signed a specific trade agreement setting out criteria for launch pricing, Mihara said.
“I can compete with Ivan & Sons Launch Co.,” said Charlie Lloyd, vice president and director of General Dynamics Commercial Launch Services. “It’s difficult for General Dynamics or McDonnell Douglas to compete with the Russian Federation.”
During Yeltsin’s visit, Russian and U.S. officials agreed on a broad range of cooperative activities in space.
A renewal of a 1987 U.S.-Soviet space cooperation agreement calls for an exchange of astronauts in 1993 and a mission in 1994 or 1995 in which a U.S. space shuttle would dock with Russia’s MIR space station. In the exchange program, an American astronaut is to fly aboard the MIR, while a Russian cosmonaut is scheduled to participate in an American shuttle mission. All three ventures had been discussed previously.
In addition, Daniel S. Goldin, National Aeronautics and Space Administration administrator, signed a contract, initially valued at $1 million, with the Russian Space Agency that calls for a yearlong study of the exchange of space hardware. The contract could be extended for another two years at an additional cost of $9 million.
The first item of interest to U.S. officials is a Russian Soyuz TM space capsule that could be used as an “escape vehicle” on the planned U.S. Space Station Freedom, which is to be launched in pieces beginning in late 1995. McDonnell Douglas Space Systems is the largest single space station contractor, with work valued at $3.5 billion.
The purchase of advanced Russian docking technology and long-term use of the MIR for American biological experiments also are under consideration.
In the long term, the contract could provide the greatest opportunity for NASA and American aerospace companies to profit from the use of Russian hardware and technology, administration officials said.
“We need a number of things,” said Mihara of McDonnell Douglas. “We need ways to reduce the cost of our launch services. If they have unique materials, unique processes, unique things they’ve been working on, we should buy those, because it will help us survive better in the long run.”
But it was the decision of the U.S. government to permit the launch of an American-made satellite on a Russian rocket that attracted the most attention. Previously, the government had forbidden such launches.
State Department officials have been concerned that advanced satellite technology would fall into the wrong hands, and private American launch companies have argued that the state-subsidized Russian launch company would unfairly undercut their prices.
Specifically, the Bush Administration said it will not oppose the request of the International Marine Satellite Organization, or INMARSAT, a 64-nation consortium, to use a Russian Proton rocket sometime in 1996 to boost into orbit a satellite built by GE Astro Space Division of New Jersey.
“I think INMARSAT is probably the most significant thing that came out of this in terms of its overall implications . . . for a long-term relationship with the Russians,” said Susan E. Walker, editor of Space Station News, a Washington-based newsletter.
The decision gives a much-sought lift to the Russian commercial launch program, as about half the world’s satellites are built in the United States. However, Administration officials said future approvals will depend on the conclusion of a trade agreement that guarantees the Russians will not unfairly undercut prices charged by U.S. commercial launch companies.
Bush Administration officials applauded the agreement.
“I think we’re at the very beginning of an examination of Russian technology that could ultimately form a foundation on which much broader activities can be pursued,” said one senior Bush Administration official, who asked not to be named.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who has pushed the Bush Administration to move more quickly to acquire Russian space technology, also applauded the accords.
“I think we should be accelerating our efforts,” Rohrabacher said.
