
The aerospace company Blue Origin has struck a deal to build a US-made rocket engine that aims to eliminate reliance on Russian engines for American satellite launches.
Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon.com and also owns the Washington Post, announced the deal to jointly fund a new BE-4 rocket engine with United Launch Alliance in the US capital on Wednesday.
ULA is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
"ULA has put a satellite into orbit almost every month for the past eight years –- they're the most reliable launch provider in history and their record of success is astonishing," Bezos said.
"With the new ULA partnership, we're accelerating commercial development of the next great US-made rocket engine."
The deal allows for a four-year development process, with full-scale testing in 2016 and first flight in 2019, Blue Origin said in a statement.
The BE-4 would not replace the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine that ULA uses to power its Atlas V rocket.
Rather, two BE-4s would be used to power both Blue Origin's and ULA's "next generation launch systems," it said.
The companies declined to say how much they were spending to develop and build the new rocket engine, which has already been three years in the making.
Another Internet entrepreneur and aerospace magnate, Elon Musk who runs SpaceX, has complained about US reliance on Russian-built engines for rocket launches.
In April, SpaceX also filed a legal challenge to the US Air Force's award of a major contract to ULA, saying it unfairly excluded other companies from competing for a share of national security satellite launches.
GMT 22:53 2018 Thursday ,13 December
Indian Minister of Trade meets with UAE Ambassador, Chairman of Emaar PropertiesGMT 13:41 2018 Thursday ,06 December
Tyre maker Continental opens lab to extract rubber from dandelionsGMT 15:23 2018 Friday ,30 November
Paper industry around famous Chinese lake to be shut down by 2019GMT 11:13 2018 Sunday ,18 November
Electricx 2018 kicks off with participation of over 20 countriesGMT 16:34 2018 Tuesday ,13 November
Amazon announces new headquarters in New York and WashingtonGMT 16:51 2018 Monday ,12 November
Egypt's exports to Nile basin countries reached EGP 19.9 bln in 2017: CAPMASGMT 08:11 2018 Friday ,09 November
Kaspersky Lab CEO suggests replacing cybersecurity with 'cyber-immunity'GMT 14:00 2018 Thursday ,08 November
Namibian enterprise endeavours to seize opportunities at China import expoMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2025 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor