SpaceX sees U.S. approval for rocket launches by June
By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Space Exploration Technologies expects the U.S. Air Force to certify it to compete to launch national security satellites by June, President Gwynne Shotwell told Reuters on Friday. Shotwell said the company's relationship with the Air Force was better than ever after the two sides in January settled a lawsuit filed by SpaceX. She said the U.S. military was increasingly open to innovation by commercial firms. SpaceX, founded by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, had accused the Air Force of dragging its feet in ending the current launch monopoly held by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co. Air Force and Pentagon officials credit SpaceX with energizing the government rocket launch market and pushing ULA to lower its prices, even before the privately held company has been certified to compete for rocket launches. The Air Force missed its December target for completing the certification process, but a top U.S. official told Reuters this week the process should be complete by June. "We are really close to getting the work done and getting the agreements made," Shotwell said. "I'm hoping it can be a little bit sooner, but we'll see." Shotwell also welcomed a request for information that the Air Force issued last month as it develops a plan to end U.S. reliance on the RD-180, a Russian-built engine that powers the Atlas 5, one of two rockets used by ULA. SpaceX plans to respond to the request, which indicated the Air Force might kick off a multibillion-dollar competition for 28 launches of government satellites, instead of focusing narrowly on development of a new rocket engine. Shotwell said it made sense to invest in U.S.-based propulsion systems instead of buying engines from Russia, but added that companies that design rockets should develop the engines since the two systems are so closely tied. "It's not like adding a component to your stereo system," she said. "That engine is integral to overall design and architecture of your rocket." Congress, concerned about Russia's annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine, last year passed a law requiring the Air Force to end reliance on the RD-180 engine by 2019. The Air Force is expected to finalize its acquisition strategy for the effort in coming months. Shotwell said SpaceX was not seeking Air Force "handouts" and was using its own funds for improvements. She blasted ULA for failing to lower the cost of its U.S. powered Delta 4 rocket, or develop a U.S.-built rocket engine, despite billions of dollars in government subsidies in recent years. Shotwell said she hoped the Air Force followed NASA's lead in pursuing a more collaborative approach that encouraged innovation instead of rigid adherence to protocols. She said Air Force officials were growing more flexible after SpaceX proved it could adjust rockets after every launch without mishaps. "Change is hard for the military," she said. "It’s a big culture clash, but it's becoming more and more apparent to folks in the (Department of Defense) that innovation is good, that change is good, and that stagnation ... is not good."For instance, she said, the Air Force approved adding hydraulic tanks to the first stage of the Falcon launcher used for the U.S. government's Deep Space Climate Observatory mission while it was on the launch site. The tanks were meant to boost the chances of landing the first stage on an ocean barge and reusing it. The attempt failed due to bad weather. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Dan Grebler, Lisa Von Ahn and Richard Chang)
