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Russia

Russian Space Follies

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
December 30, 2015
Filed under , ,
Russian Space Follies

Vladimir Putin dissolved Roscosmos, Russia’s federal space agency, Engadget
“With the flourish of a pen earlier today, Russian president Vladimir Putin officially put an end to Roscosmos, the country’s federal space agency. That decree capped off over a year’s worth of organizational despair as the agency saw its ten-year budget cut (again), the loss of a handful of spacecraft and the misuse of over 92 billion rubles (or $1.8 billion) in part thanks to a pervasive culture of corruption. Don’t worry about the country’s spacebound ambitions, though Roscosmos will be reborn as a state-run corporation on January 1.”
Russia Postpones Plans on Extensive Moon Exploration Until 2025
“According to the FSP for years 2016-2025, the Russian space industry will refrain from creating a lunar landing complex, a lunar orbital station, a lunar space suit and the system of robotic software for Moon flights, the newspaper said.”
Russia Plans Permanent Moon Base, KTRH (7 Dec)
“The plan sounds ambitious–too ambitious for space experts here in America, like Keith Cowing with NASA Watch. He tells KTRH the Russians are talking big, but don’t have nearly the funding nor the ability to pull something like this off. “They don’t have the money to do a lot of the things they’ve already pledged to do, and when you push for the details you find out the translator said we are not going to actually do this, we are thinking of planning to do it,” says Cowing. “(The Russians) are masters in the art of lofting trial balloons, and like the old saying ‘show me the money’… I don’t see it.”
Keith’s note: Three weeks ago I was interviewed about some story out of Russia about big plans for the Moon. I was … suspicious. Now Russia has changed its mind (again). Meanwhile, Putin just nuked Roscosmos and is going to create some company to replace it – as if that will dampen the efforts of the kleptocracy. Meanwhile their new cosmodrome is simply not happening – indeed, employees are so comfortable with the rampant graft that one guy drove to work in a diamond-covered Mercedes.
There is another issue of sorts that no one seems to be paying attention to: if Roscosmos has been dissolved, are the agreements (unilateral and multilateral) with other countries – including the U.S. – still valid? If Roscosmos no longer exists how can it have agreements?
Man Driving Diamond-encrusted Mercedes Caught Embezzling Cosmodrome Funds earlier post
Russia Built Its New Cosmodrome Wrong, earlier post
Putin’s Favorite Paramilitary Biker Gang Flies Flag in Space, earlier post
earlier posts about Russia

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

10 responses to “Russian Space Follies”

  1. richard_schumacher says:
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    No doubt the Great Reformer gazed upon the pervasive culture of corruption and wondered why it wasn’t more directly benefiting him and his cronies. We can be sure that the replacement entity will correct that mistake.

    • sunman42 says:
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      Exactly. The only time anything is shut down for corruption in Russia is when the proceeds are not going to Vlad (“What a guy!”) Putin’s pals’ pockets.

  2. Shaw_Bob says:
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    The King is dead! Long live the King!

  3. Todd Austin says:
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    They’re doing a marvelous job of shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. Their space budget has been slashed, in part due to the decline in the price of oil and in part due to sanctions against Russia for its invasion of part of Ukraine and open annexation of part of the invaded land.

    Ironically, Rogozin crowed awhile back how the West was shooting itself in the foot with its sanctions, sanctions that are now causing Russia to defer its plans for a station on the Moon. And, to top it all, Rogozin has literally shot himself in the foot in a gun accident.

    You can’t make this stuff up!

  4. Arthur Hamilton says:
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    Well, I guess the RD-180 money is going to Putin’s cronies. Putin waited until Shelby and his cronies lifted the ban on the RD-180 before he made his move.

  5. dbooker says:
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    Isn’t this the agency that NASA has all its agreements with? Who is supporting the ISS?

    • Michael Spencer says:
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      Same players, different letterhead.

      • fcrary says:
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        It could still cause some problems, but probably not big ones. Even if it’s just letterhead, the correct points of contact will have new email addresses, and conceivably new phone numbers and snail mail addresses. If it’s a more significant reorganization, but no change in staffing, people’s responsibilities will be shuffled around and there would probably be some confusion about who the correct points of contact are. They might even need to rewrite inter-government memorandums of understanding, which is a fine way to assure full employment for lawyers.

  6. SouthwestExGOP says:
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    Do I see reflex reactions to all things that happen in Russia? i worked with the Russians personally and extensively on Shuttle/Mir and ISS and am very skeptical myself – but I would like to see who is in charge there now. Does the military (or retired military) have a larger role? Who are the most reliably “Russian or no one” managers over there? Many Russians did NOT like the Japanese, the Europeans, or the North Americans (Canadians and the U.S.). Are they in charge or is a more moderate voice being heard?

  7. Todd Austin says:
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    Small point of fact – the sparkly Mercedes to which Keith refers in his Note was actually covered in Swarovski crystals, not bits of crystalized carbon. This widespread misunderstanding comes from errors that crept into translations from the original Russian reports.