Apparently Aerojet is getting into the responsive reusable engine business (albeit with Air Force funding). I think that’s great, but I have to wonder if the reporter has been paying attention to what has been going on in the industry:
The last US-designed and produced hydrocarbon engine was the Rocketdyne RS-27, based on 1960s technology and now out of production.
There may be some qualifying adjectives that would make that statement true (of thrust greater than X? Used in an orbital launch system?), but folks like XCOR and Armadillo, and Masten, and several contenders for the LLC would be surprised to learn that they haven’t been designing and producing hydrocarbon engines for the past few years.
Heh, I missed that. I bet they meant to say LOX/Kerosene. But even then, I bet SpaceX would take umbrage at being left out…
~Jon
On the other hand, as far as I know, none of those companies have an engine in regular PRODUCTION…
TGV Rockets claims to have an engine that runs on JP-8, the RT-30:
http://www.tgv-rockets.com/Products_RT30.html
This is similar to way many journalists, politicians, etc. keep saying that without the Shuttle or Orion, American spaceflight will come to an end.
For example, Mark Whittington wrote about American spaceflight coming to an end right after Mike Melvill flew SpaceShip One.
It doesn’t matter how often private enterprise does something in space because unless you work for NASA, you’re not an American.
Or even human, according to the Aldridge Commission. The week after Mike Melvill flew SpaceShip One, they issued their report proclaiming that “humans spaceflight will remain the province of government.”