Russia will no longer sell space rocket engines to the US: “to fly on the broomstick”

In the last week since the start of the war in Ukraine, Western countries have imposed various economic and diplomatic sanctions on Russia, but Russia has also begun to respond with sanctions. Russia, for example, will refuse to sell space rocket engines to the United States, Roscosmos reported.

The US will have to rely on the solutions of private companies

Dimitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, gave statements on the situation on Russian television:

“We let them fly with something else, on the broomstick, I don’t even know what.”

What he omits to mention, however, is that in the US, the private sector may already be beginning to cover the lack of Russian equipment.

The Rogozin engines in question are used to propel ULA Atlas V and Antares missiles, which are used in certain space launches. However, in recent years, the NASA agency and other private clients have resorted to other solutions, American, to put objects in orbit or even for transport to the International Space Station.

Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space company, and SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, are hired for private and state flights, and Blue Origin will develop the next generation of engines to propel Vulcan rockets into space. It also appears that there are currently enough stocks to cover the needs to overcome the transition period between Russian and Blue Origin engines.

In the US, other companies such as Rocket Lab, Relativity and Astra are becoming more and more popular, in addition to the two giants of the richest people in the world, who have already started offering both flights for state agencies on the ISS and space flights. While Blue Origin leads the crew for a few minutes over the Karman line, SpaceX is already putting civilians in space aboard the Crew Dragon capsules.

source: TechCrunch