Some tidbits from NK news.
Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №707:
3/6/2008/18:00 – Russia and the United States are finalizing negotiations on the delivery of American astronauts to the ISS aboard the Soyuz Russian spacecraft
The outcome of the negotiations between Russia and the United States on the use of Russian spacecraft for the delivery of NASA astronauts on the International Space Station during the period from 2011 till 2013, will be known this week, Mark Bouman, Deputy Head of NASA manned programs in Russia, told journalists on Monday. “The results will be known in meetings this week. The decision of the U.S. Congress concerning this matter will be known towards the end of summer,” said the NASA representative.
According to him, the Russian delegation is now in Houston, “and is negotiating on the matter.” From 2010, the U.S. shuttles will cease their flights. The new manned spacecraft which will replace them, according to reports by NASA, may not appear before 2015, From 2009 to 2011 NASA astronauts will have to fly to the ISS on the Russian Soyuz spaceship. To deliver astronauts to the Station after the deadline, the U.S. Congress this year should allow NASA to purchase seats from Russia on the manned Soyuz.
4/6/2008/13:40 – RAN Academicians are concerned about the state of the Russian scientific space program
The academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences are concerned about the state of Russia’s scientific space program. Leading national experts in the field of space research expressed this opinion in an interview with an ITAR-TASS correspondent.
Thus, the director of the Institute for Space Studies academician Lev Zelenyi, in particular, said: “We certainly are waiting for a new, clear, ambitious program. And I – and particularly our young scientists,” added the academician, “want it to be bold, ambitious and to again put Russia at the forefront of world space science.”
For his part, Academician Anatoly Grigoryev, the director of the Institute of Medico-Biological Problems, expressed hope that “we will better exploit the International Space Station. When in the near future it will support a crew of six people,” added the scientist, “ the opportunities will be greater and it is thus most important that our Russian modules are completed on time and that they are replete with science. Then we will be on parity with the rest of the world community,” stressed Academician Grigoryev. “Look, the Europeans have launched their module, the Japanese module is launched, the Americans launch module, but we remain behind. But I hope that we will launch soon.” According to him, “we understand it is necessary to fly to get new knowledge.” Talking about the work of his institute, Grigoriev, in particular, said that “our dream is, of course, to fly far and long. Unfortunately,” he said “for objective reasons the Mars-500 experiment has been delayed a little, but I hope that next year [2009] we'll begin. This will be a small step in the understanding of how people live in an isolated environment with life-support systems that can adequately maintain the necessary conditions.”
“We are now rapidly losing position in the scientific space, although the country had been No. 1,” noted Yuri Osipov, the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “After the failed launch of the 1996 Mars-96 space probe, we were able to subsequently launch only two scientific apparatus. Many of our projects are postponed from year to year and this has resulted in the international participants of our projects simply leaving. A clear example is the absolutely original project ‘Radioastron’, in which the Americans invested nearly 100 million dollars, but because we have delayed the launch of the facility from year to year because of lack of funds, the Americans withdrew from the project.”
As another example, the “Spectra” program of space observatories where we were absolute leaders, too, was canceled, because the Europeans left it. Again, we are violating the timing of launches,” stressed Yuri Osipov, “this is an acute problem.”
Novosti Kosmonavtiki news №708:
6/6/2008/00:20 – Russia has spent 30 times less on the ISS than the USA
Russia has spent about $ 3.5 billion to construct its segment of the International Space Station (ISS) and the implementation of scientific programmes, said Vitalii Lopota, the President of the Rocket and Space Corporation Energiya, in an article posted on the Roscosmos site on Wednesday.
“For 10 years the Russian budget (Roscosmos) spent for this purpose (ISS creation and implementation of scientific programmes – IF-AVN) in the order of U.S. $2 billion, and there is already about $100 billion invested in this project.” In addition, said V. Lopota, in providing a range of services, RSC Energiya earned and sent to the ISS development of $1.3 billion, that is “40% of all funds invested by Russia.” This, according to the head of the corporation, “allowed domestic cooperation to survive in the difficult years and save the Russian space industry from collapse.”
He also said that the market of space services today ranges from 170 to 200 billion dollars a year. “And unfortunately, the share of Russia, including all services, is less than 1%,” said V. Lopota.
He added that the United States spends 12-13 times greater on space programmes, and China spends three times more than Russia. According to him, the United States spent up to 95% of its budget on space development in Earth orbit, primarily geostationary, and to meet the challenges on the Exploration and Development of deep space it allocated no more than 5% of the budget. In addition, the head of RKK Energia said that the cost of shipping into orbit 1 kg is $10-12 thousand, and each astronaut used in their daily life about 10 kg of cargo, including water, food, etc.
6/6/2008/00:20 – By 2015, in the Russian segment of the International Space Station will be nine modules for various purposes
RSC Energiya is implementing the program for the development of the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS), said Vitalii Lopota, the president of RSC Energiya. “At the Russian segment of the ISS based on the anticipated government funding, work should be allocated in two stages: the building of the Station’s infrastructure and its functional capacity. In doing so, by 2015 must work nine modules,” said V. Lopota, the text of which is posted on the official Roscosmos site.
Now the ISS RS is composed of three modules. Among them, there is are no scientific modules. V. Lopota reported that in 2009 and 2010 there is planned to add two small research modules in the Russian segment of the Station. In 2011, a multi-laboratory module is planned to be constructed, which will add 12 working places to the segment. “This module is a key in expanding our scientific program,” he said.
In addition, he said, in 2012 a new docking module with a few ports and gateways will be added to the ISS Russian segment. According to V. Lopota, an important task is boosting the energy capabilities of the ISS Russian segment. “We will need to provide full energy resources in the years 2014-2015,” said the head of RSC Energiya.
He said that the termination of American shuttle flights in the coming years will increase pressure on the Russian “Progress” transport cargo spacecraft. “The number of launches will increase. Virtually every two months we will be undocking a cargo ship from the Station.” Today, Russia launches three or four Progress ships to the ISS each year.
From a Roskosmos news item:
7/6/2008: Russia may send ships to Mars and the Moon after 2020
Russia is considering the possibility of manned flights to the Moon and Mars after 2020. This was stated today by Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos), in a broadcast by the “Russia” TV channel.
“We are considering the possibility of manned flights to the Moon and Mars after 2020, making use of the cosmodrome Vostochnyi (Восточный, East) (Amur Region),” the head of Roscosmos said. “By this time new manned ships will be introduced.”
He also said that if the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) increases to six people, Russia will be forced to suspend the flights of space tourists. “If in 2009 the leaders of heads of national space agencies will come to an agreement to increase the ISS crew to six people, Russia will be forced to suspend flights of space tourists,” said the Roscosmos head.
“Siberian Tiger” at the Orbiter Forum posted Vladimir Soloviev’s report on the RS/ISS development, with some cellphone photos of diagrams – more at the NK forum: Перспективные ракетно-космические системы РКК Энергия (“RKK Energiya’s projected rocket & space systems”) (lot of images on the page).
