FARNBOROUGH, England — The relaxation of U.S. space-export technology regulations coming this fall should enable Aerojet Rocketdyne’s wholly owned European Space Propulsion (ESP) subsidiary to perform more work in the United Kingdom and Europe, a senior Aerojet Rocketdyne official said.
Warren Yasuhara, vice president for space systems at Aerojet Rocketdyne and chairman of Belfast, Northern Ireland-based ESP, said the changes to the current International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) will help ESP build and sell more satellite-propulsion equipment in Europe.
Yasuhara was one of several industry representatives invited to outline their plans to Britain’s new space minister, Greg Clark, at Farnborough July 16. Rockwell Collins and Lockheed Martin of the United States, and Com Dev International of Canada, also outlined their plans.
Many satellite components now on the ITAR list overseen by the U.S. State Department will move to the Commerce Department Nov. 10. Once that happens, the presumption of export approval becomes greater for a given satellite system.
Yasuhara said that will enable Sacramento, California-based Aerojet Rocketdyne to introduce technologies to the ESP site for production and later sale to European and other customers.
Among these products are electric propulsion for satellites, a technology that is now being adopted by commercial telecommunications satellite fleet owners. Yasuhara said both chemical and electric propulsion systems would be tested at the Belfast site.
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