KYIV. March 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine and the U.S. plan to expand cooperation on the market of space services, the press service for the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU) has reported.
The SSAU reports that the meeting between SSAU Chairman Liubomyr Sabadosh and representatives of the American companies participating in the U.S. space services market and working on contracts with NASA, which took place in Kyiv last week, addressed the possibilities of expanding bilateral cooperation in the sector.
“The parties reached an agreement to sign a joint document for the purpose of expanding the possibilities for involving Ukrainian companies, establishments, research institutes and universities in joint projects with the U.S. on the space services market within the framework of cooperation with CRDF Global,” the report says.
The document is expected to be signed at the meeting of the Ukrainian-U.S. working group on cooperation in the sphere during the visit by Sabadosh to the U.S., which is scheduled for May, the press service has reported.
The U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation (CRDF Global) is a non-profit organization. It was founded in 1995 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) at the decision of the Congress for the purpose of promoting international technological cooperation.
Sabadosh has recently the parties will continue negotiations on bilateral cooperation in the sphere of rocket engine-building during the visit to the U.S. in May. Among the possible partnership formats is the creation of a joint venture.
According to earlier reports, the U.S. plans to fully stop using Russian RD-180 engines, which are now used by the rocket Atlas 5 of the U.S. United Launch Alliance (ULA)., by 2019 due to the restrictions imposed on military-technical cooperation with Russia by the Congress in 2014. The supply of RD 180 engines, which are installed on new rocket Antares for the ISS, is now limited to the civilian sphere. Among the participants in the tender fort the development of engines to replace the Russian RD 190, which the U.S. Air Force announced in June 2015, was Ukraine’s design and construction bureau Pivdenne (Dnipropetrovsk) with its new liquid RD 815.
The U.S. is now intensifying the implementation of the program to create the new generation rocket Vulcan for the U.S. Air Force. Under the contract that ULA and the Pentagon have recently signed, the project is to be implemented by the end of 2019. Under the contract, the U.S. Aerojet Rocketdyne is to ensure the development of a new AR1 to replace the RD 180 before the end of 2019.
