Up In Space

The Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill includes language on a host of space issues, as Inside the Air Force reported this afternoon:

For space programs, the bill would prohibit further procurement of Russian-made rocket engines and provide the Pentagon with "$20 million in funding already appropriated in FY-14 and an additional $100 million to begin engineering design in FY-15" to develop a new engine, the summary said.

The resulting engine program would produce an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-class liquid rocket engine for production no later than 2019, the summary states. "There's also language to ensure as much competition as possible between the Untied Launch [Alliance] and SpaceX without breaking the current block buy [of EELVs] because that block buy contract saves us about $4 billion," Levin said.

Another provision in the bill would cut requested funding relating to the storage of the last defense meteorological satellite, DMSP-20, until the Pentagon "certifies to Congress" that it intends to launch that unit.

The committee would add $20 million to the Operationally Responsive Space program, headquartered at Kirtland Air Force Base, NM. That program is planning to launch its fifth satellite, ORS-5, in calendar year 2017, and the committee would require that the service compete the contract for that mission, which would likely involve ULA and SpaceX.