Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tweets About Imaginary New Space Station
http://t.co/jOamlzabNf Roscosmos and NASA will create a new orbital station The Russian Govt will examine (cont) http://t.co/pZPLBw4pcG
— Dmitry Rogozin (@DRogozin) March 28, 2015
I think what is clear is that Russia finally sort of sees the light, at least when it comes to spaceflight. It doesn’t seem like too long ago, Russia was determined to take its toys and build its own station after 2020/cut the US off from Russian engines and prove it self as the space power it hasn’t been since the 1980’s.
So its good that they’re warming to the idea of a successor to ISS, and to extending the station beyond 2020 but its very weird that they haven’t even talked to NASA about this yet. Obviously the economic troubles in Russia have been key to the change in tone, but still it would make sense to talk to NASA rather than make up a space station deal out of thin air and passing it along as a fact. o.o
Especially when NASA has been very clear that they are willing to continue that partnership in the first place. Weird.
Bolden has just been (is?) in Russia and did, in fact, have some general words on the subject of the extension of ISS and future collaboration.
Where Dear Dima jumps off into the deep end, in his inimitable way, is to suddenly declare to all and sundry that a project has been agreed. There are many steps yet to take between here and there.
His strategic error is in revealing his hand. By jumping the gun on a declaration, he reveals that Russia needs the US for its manned space program to be feasible. With commercialization barreling forward in the US, we have no reciprocal dependency upon Russia as a partner going forward post-ISS.
Yes, it would make it cheaper, but Putin’s moves in recent years have made his country much less attractive to a broad range of potential partners in scientific, economic, and military spheres.
You know, Russia is just now turning back to government to manage their rockets, after that 2013 proton launch where it cart wheeled into the ground.
If a Russian were thinking that U.S. space flight was barreling in a “commercial” direction, they would associate the trend with disaster. Being that that’s their recent experience.
It’s possible the Russians are just freaked out at the prospect of conflict with the U.S. That is one of the points behind this international collaboration on stations and what not… to chill out the whole war thing.
The point is that the Russians wouldn’t look at commercial effort as a good thing at this point in their history.
Because commercial there means something different outside that failed state.
Well, it doesn’t mean: government is running our rocket stuff. I say that because the Proton went up, flipped over, and treated observers to a shock wave. Then the government said, to somebody: we’re taking control of this mess. I assume that they weren’t saying that to themselves, so we’ll call it a non-government entity.
Poor Dimtry might get lonely bouncing on his @TrampolinRocket all by himself.
What the linked Russian news item says is,
Роскосмос и NASA начнут работу над новой орбитальной станцией, заявил глава компании Игорь Комаров. “Это будет открытый проект: в нем примут участие не только нынешние участники МКС”, — рассказал Комаров во время пресс-конференции на Байконуре. Он также сообщил, что срок работы
существующей МКС продлен до 2024 года, однако, цифра может меняться в зависимости от хода работ над новой станцией.
That is,
Roskosmos and NASA will begin work on a new orbital station, announced the company’s head Igor Komarov. “This will be an open project: not only the present ISS participants will take part in it”, Komarov said during a press conference at Baykonur. He also said that the lifetime of the existing ISS has been prolonged to 2024 but the date could change depending on how the work on the new station goes.
Probably hype about the Nem/ plea for funding? Looks like a slip to the right to 2018 (according to Anatoly) 🙁
http://www.russianspaceweb….
The best thing that could happen is that Russia would go off and build their own space station, and the U.S. could maintain the current one. If Russia wants their modules back – they can have them. Hopefully, with commercial participation, the world will have a space station that excludes Russia from providing any essential components.
Why would that be best?
@Michael Spencer The Russians have taken advantage of the U.S. since we partnered with them; we have adopted the Russian casual attitude towards safety, etc. A European/U.S./Japanese space station (if we could convince our allies to join us!!) would be far more productive. We worked with the Japanese and Europeans very well on SpaceLab as an example.
True HSF of deep space will not happen without multinational cooperation (or a stunningly cheap way out of the gravity well with a very cheap energy source; take your pick). Lots to learn from the current space station, some of it good, some of it not so good. Importantly though it is/was a start.
Moreover, I always hoped that space and trade would create unbreakable ties with the Russians and by extension the Chinese. I’m not alone in this dream: it was central to much of Clarke’s work.
On the other hand, just finished Benford’s yarn about a $30B prize to the first team to land and return from Mars. “The Martian Race” is plausible and fun.
I always hoped that space and trade would create unbreakable ties with the Russians and by extension the Chinese.
I always hoped that Carmen Electra would invite me to Las
Vegas for a weekend of erotic abandon. My hope has dimmed with age, but I still think I’ve got a better shot at a payoff than you do.
I love his Twitter picture. He looks like he’s having a great time. What a guy.