Rogozin Dials Up The Complaints And Makes Threats
Rogozin told on what conditions the United States handed over Sea Launch to Russia, RIA Novosti (auto translation)
“The United States agreed to transfer Russian space rocket complex “Sea Launch” under the condition that it will not compete with the US company SpaceX Elon Musk , said General Director of ” Roscosmos ” Dmitry Rogozin. “Specific strict restrictions were introduced when signing this contract for the transfer of two Sea Launch vessels to a Russian company (S7 – ed.) – an obligation that we do not have the right to use this Sea Launch in competition with Elon Musk,” he said during parliamentary hearings in the State Duma. “Okay? That is, the US government, government lawyers act as a client of, in fact, a private company (SpaceX – ed.). Or maybe it is not a private company in this case, if with the help of state sanctions we are limited to compete with SpaceX?” “- added Rogozin.”
Russia’s space chief threatens to leave International Space Station program unless U.S. lifts sanctions
“Russia’s space chief threatened Monday to withdraw from the International Space Station program if U.S. sanctions against Moscow’s space entities are “not lifted in the near future.” “If the sanctions against Progress and TsNIIMash remain and are not lifted in the near future, the issue of Russia’s withdrawal from the ISS will be the responsibility of the American partners,” Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin said during a Russian parliament hearing on Monday, according to an NBC translation. “Either we work together, in which case the sanctions are lifted immediately, or we will not work together and we will deploy our own station,” he added.”
Roscosmos unable to launch some satellites due to sanctions — Rogozin, TASS
“Russian space corporation Roscosmos will be unable to launch some satellites due to the lack of microchips that cannot be imported due to sanctions. “We have more than enough rockets, but there is nothing to put in space,” Rogozin told the State Duma during hearings on Western sanctions and measures being taken to minimize their effects on the Russian economy and politics.”
Issuance of a new Ukraine-related Executive Order; Ukraine-related Designations, U.S. Department of the Treasury
“ROGOZIN, Dmitry Olegovich (a.k.a. ROGOZIN, Dmitriy; a.k.a. ROGOZIN, Dmitry); DOB 21 Dec 1963; POB Moscow, Russia; Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation (individual) [UKRAINE2].”
– Can Sanctioned Roscosmos Chief Rogozin Visit The U.S.?, earlier post
LOL, like Russia doesn’t do the same with its space companies.
How could you say that some operation of Sea Launch competed with SpaceX (and other US space efforts ?) and others didn’t ?
I’d call BS on this and say “show me”.
But it’s been said, and reported, and that makes it a fact … these days.
Aside from this incident there is the recent withdrawal of a cosmonaut on a Space X flight.
Russian seems to believe that if they are rude and demanding the United
States will give in because they are desperate to please.
This is no longer true. We no longer need them for access to the ISS and both republicans and democrats seem to earn political points by standing up to Russia. Further Russia’s space program is declining and they cannot seem to concentrate on one project.they might succeed at.
Russia may well have a point that they should be allowed to compete with Space X, but this strategy will not work. The United States could further increase pressure on Russia by minimally cooperating with China on space activities.
Who’s not allowing Russia to compete with SpaceX?
It seems to me they are just not up to it.
Seems like our “partner” has been actively working to undermine our government for some time.
The complaints about Sea Launch aside, as I have no knowledge of that, his points about our behavior after SpaceX began launching humans is well taken. There wasn’t exactly a sense of thanks that they saved our bacon for years as we moved to a new human launch system. Soyuz is a workhorse and deserves respect. (Try launching Falcon 9 in a blizzard and see what you get.) Clearly, there could be better behavior on both sides, on the ground. I’m thankful that the crews in orbit do not let that get in the way of their selfless support for one another.
Is launching a Falcon 9 in a blizzard even relevant? And a sense of thanks? Russia, Roscosmos, et al got billions of dollars in thanks via all those seats that the US had to buy on Soyuz at inflated prices.
For years the US paid Russia cash for launching US astronauts to ISS. Isn’t that thanks enough?
Bye Felicia…
Do we really need to worry about Russia competing with SpaceX?
Fortunately Space X could probably be relied upon to provide propulsion in place of Russia in order to keep the ISS in orbit. But until Space X, Russia pretty much had the US over the proverbial barrel. All in all the Russians have been far more reliable than NASA on ISS.
I’d think that a Cygnus would be more appropriate for that purpose (compared to a Cargo Dragon).
A modded Dragon XL should beat both.
Agreed, but Dragon XL has not flown yet. Still, should be coming soon enough that Russia ought to consider that.
I think reliable may not be the best description. Looking at just the one facet of delivering crew to ISS yes the U.S. had a gap of several years. But if looking at say improving the station with additional modules, solar arrays, etc. the U.S., along with of course the international partners, has done quite a lot, whereas Russia’s additions have been pretty glacial. And we don’t hear too much about the science going on on the Russian side of the station, compared to on the U.S. side (again including the international partners).
A properly outfitted Dragon XL should carry enough propellant for the job.
As far as being unable to launch due to an embargo on microchips, has he looked at production slowdowns of Ford F150 trucks and a lot of other products, all due to a shortage of microchips worldwide? How about if Russia cracks down on the rogue cyber criminals?
Tell Dmitri that I know a guy who knows a guy that can come in under the sanctions and deliver him a brand new Trampoline .
Rogozin’s unsubstantiated and ridiculous comments were published in TASS (Russia’s official propaganda newspaper). Jeff Foust at Space News reported on April 24th 2020 that the SeaLaunch sale to the S7 group closed in April 2018. That’s over 3 years ago! Since SeaLaunch used a now retired Ukrainian rocket, SeaLaunch has no rocket to launch from its floating platform. I think the most likely outcome is SeaLaunch slowly and sadly rusts to oblivion. It is hard to imagine a Western rocket company partnering up considering ITAR, sanctions, Russian corruption, and the specific launch vehicle requirements that SeaLaunch needs (you can’t just stick any rocket on it without modifications). Nor is it easy to see a Russian company developing a new Sealaunch friendly rocket anytime soon.