Loss of dignity

“Past and future of ‘New Space’ ”, Cosmic Log, 21/5. This entry concerns a documentary, Orphans of Apollo, on the attempts to privatize the Mir space station.

An earlier article from the New York Times, “American Megamillionaire Gets Russki Space Heap!”, 23 July 2000, is a curious and somewhat discomforting article on the eccentric millionaire who founded the short-lived MirCorp.

According to the Russian philosopher Grigori Pomerants, his country has slipped into “a state of mass disorientation” since the collapse of the Soviet empire. MirCorp’s presence here, surely, does not help. Anderson’s company comes with its fat wallets, its precocious grandmasters of capitalism, buying at deep discount the detritus of the space race, the Soviet Union, the cold war.

Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov gets a brief mention:

In Korolev, the morning of the docking, television crews trail muddy tracks as they push through the command-and-control center’s drab marble foyer. Everyone’s in a hurry – who are these rich investors? – and no one is wiping his feet. Upstairs, the control room proper resembles an aging 1950’s college lecture hall – rows of concentric half-circles, a projection screen up front. Old men fill the back landing, clasping hands and taking pictures. The engineers and cosmonauts of years past are on hand: Boris Chertok, 89 years old, who commanded the first space docking ever; Sergei Krikalev, still young and mustached [?], who in 1991 orbited overhead in Mir while the Soviet Union dissolved below, asking, “Is it true that Russia is going to sell the Mir space station, together with us?’’ All have seen communism, perestroika and failed capitalism; all regard Anderson’s impassioned, impertinent largess with irresolute, blank stares.

My own feelings on these attempts at privatization: has the Russian space program really come to this? Yurii Gagarin and Sergei Korolyov (if they were still alive) would have an apoplectic fit.

“Russia ‘to save its ISS modules’ ”, BBC News, 22/5. This report by Anatoly Zak says that Russian officials are speculating on the possibility of detaching the ISS Russian segment and keeping it going as an independent station/launching port for 20 or 30 years. Is it possible the detached Russian modules could be utilized as a basic spaceship to Mars, say with a module containing a nuclear reactor on the end added (to power electric engines)? This page from a 1987 book at Astronaut.ru features a spaceship design that looks a little like the Russian ISS segment, with a propulsion module and lander added.

Past glories

“Can a Space Museum Help Russia Get Its Glory Back?”, TIME, 17/5. The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow reopened after 3 years of renovations. (Its website still is not online yet, though.) There is a relevant thread at NASASpaceflight.com. I found this comment by a visitor insightful:

Wandering past model rockets, orange cosmonaut suits emblazoned with red U.S.S.R. emblems and a diorama of happy cosmonaut mannequins sitting around a campfire next to a crashed space capsule waiting for pickup, Lynn Nordstrom of Albuquerque, N.M., and her two sons – in Moscow for the Eurovision song contest – say they are enjoying their visit. But “after looking at this, I’m afraid of the Egypt syndrome, where all you do is talk about how great you used to be,” Nordstrom says. “The museum is terrific, but you need to look to the future. My whole youth was spent hearing about the U.S.S.R. making advances in science and us always feeling like we were behind.” Now, with a revamped museum, a new rocket program and possibly a new space base, it’s Russia that’s trying to catch up.

This comment, in a scene from a story I’m writing, makes much the same point:

“Our space program has endured much since the Fall,” the General Designer continued with passion – they all knew what he referred to: the disastrous and traumatizing collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. “Our once-great space program is now reduced to providing Soyuz taxi rides for foreign astronauts and bored wealthy space tourists! The first General Designer, Sergei Korolyov, would be horrified. We get little mention in the foreign media – all attention is on NASA, and also China as the next upcoming space power.” The others nodded and murmured in agreement.

“This is our chance to regain some of that glory before we fade into obscurity, looking back nostalgically at the greatness that once was.”

From NK №782 – another assertion that the Phobos-Grunt, «Фобос-Грунт» probe really will launch this year:

12/05/2009/20:15 – There are no doubts as regards the date of the launch of the “Fobos-Grunt” probe, says Roskosmos

There are no doubts as regards the date of the launch of the “Fobos-Grunt” probe. The assistant to the head of the Federal Space Agency Roskosmos, Anatoly Shilov, asserted this today at a press conference.

He has reminded that according to the plan, Fobos-Grunt should start in the second half of October 2009. Another similar launch window will open only in 2011. Earlier, some in the mass-media reported about possibility of carrying over of the launch date to then.

“We are making all efforts to ensure that this launch will take place according to plan,” Shilov said. “While all turns out. Today such fears are not present.”

The Russian automatic interplanetary station is intended for researching Phobos, the companion of Mars , and delivery of soil samples back to Earth.

Some in the NSF.com Phobos-Grunt thread feel that it is better for the launch to be delayed and thus ensure everything is working right, rather than rush for a launch this year. It would be extremely disheartening for the first Russian probe launch in 13 years to end up like Mars-96!

Future Russian spacesuit

A selection of items from Novosti Kosmonavtiki №781, including details of the spacesuit to follow the Orlan-MK: the Orlan-MKS.

08/05/2009/00:05 – Cosmonaut Romanenko is happy with the new Orlan-MK spacesuit

Hereditary Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, flight engineer of the ISS-20/21 crew, was satisfied with NPP Zvezda’s new computerized spacesuit Orlan-MK while training in it in the Hydrolab at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

“It is different from the previous model – in fact, somewhere in between the American EMU and Russian Orlan-M.” The main innovation is its full computerization – the suit itself “suggests” actions for the cosmonaut to take in case of emergencies. It is important that the computer tips can be disabled if you want; the cosmonaut himself can decide which mode of operation is preferable,” said Romanenko at a preflight press conference on Thursday at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

07/05/2009/00:05 Participants in the Mars-105 experiment have been “in flight” already more than a month

The participants in the 105-day scientific experiment in which a flight to Mars is being simulated, have been in ground “Mars flight” already more than a month, said the Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences.

“A third path shall be taken. The six testers ‘fly’ on. The most difficult stage is behind us: the creation of this team,” said the representative of the Russian Academy of Sciences IMBP, Paul Morgunov.

According to him, despite the fact that the crew was formed and tested in advance, the work in isolation brought about changes. “But the scientists were lucky: the crew harmonized. According to the reports of the participants, time dragged slowly at first, but now they are accustomed to, and have not even noticed as more than a month has passed in “flight”.

“Scientific data, and material already has been gathered for the next flight to Mars, but the most complex experiments are yet to come,” said the IMBP representative.

07.05.2009 / 00:05 In 2012, Russian cosmonauts will have a new survival suit

A new Russian survival suit for work in free space will be created in a few years, Sergei Pozdnyakov, the general director and the main designer of the research and production enterprise (NPP) Zvezda, said. “The first models will appear in 2012, and the definitive variant should be ready by 2015,” he said.

According to S. Pozdnyakov, the following series of survival suits will be called “Orlan-MKS” (modified, with a computer and a synthetic cover – модифицированный, с компьютером и синтетической оболочкой). For the survival suit’s cover, polyurethane will be used instead of rubber. “Polyurethane is a very reliable and durable material. Its structure is such, that even when damaged by a sharp object, the material does not tear open. Such reliability will allow us to use a double cover for modern survival suits, to make the new Orlan more mobile and comfortable,” he explained.

Use of the new cover will positively affect the survival suit’s service life. This will increase from 4-5 years to 6-7. At the same time the quantity of exits in which it will be possible to use the new Orlan will be increased. “The Orlan-M is calculated to last for 12 extravehicular activity of a duration of about 6 hours, the Orlan-MK for 15 EVAs, and the Orlan-MKS for 20 EVAs,” noted S. Pozdnyakov.

07/05/2009/00:05 – Cosmonauts of the new Russian spaceship Rus’ will not wear survival suits, being placed in tight capsules

In the new Russian piloted ship Rus’, «Русь», whose design outline is planned to be finished next year, instead of flight survival suits there may be individual tight capsules.

“There are ideas to place cosmonauts who do not take part in piloting the ship, in tight capsules instead of survival suits. The cosmonaut enters into such capsule, closes the hatch and sits in it like an egg at the dangerous stages of flight,” the general director and the main designer of the research and production enterprise Zvezda, Sergei Pozdnyakov, said.

However this is only an idea. As often in reality, this idea will become clear after requirements for the systems of protection and life-support of the new ship’s crew arrive at NPP Zvezda. “We wait for the initial data on the ship: the sizes, parametres of overloads, time of flight in case of cabin depressurization,” S. Pozdnjakov said.

The general director of the enterprise hopes that NPP Zvezda, together with Rocket & Space Corporation Energiya, will work together on designing new seats, a life-support system and waste-disposal for the ship.

07/05/2009/00:05 – A survival suit for work on the Moon’s surface can be created in a short time, says the General Director of NPP Zvezda

The Russian Orlan spacesuit, in which the Russian astronauts go into outer space, can, with little refinement, be used for walking on the moon. “We should start thinking now about creating the suit to work on the lunar surface. In principle, we can create a suit based on the Orlan – which, in turn, evolved from the Krechet spacesuit created for a Soviet lunar expedition,” said Sergei Pozdnyakov, Сергей Поздняков, the director and chief designer of the Scientific-Production Enterprise Zvezda. As he said, for a cosmonaut to work in the Orlan on the Moon, the design of the foot coverings needs to be changed.

“If such a task is assigned to us, we are ready to execute it quickly,” noted S. Pozdnyakov. According to him, for a cosmonaut to work in the Orlan on the Moon, the design of the shell toe needs to be changed.

“New dinner table top priority as ISS expands”, Space Daily, 7/5. An ISS crew of 6 means a new dinner table will need to be constructed.

Orlan for Mars on Earth

On the IMBP Mars-500 site there is a photo gallery showing a modified Orlan spacesuit to be used by the participants when they do their simulated excursion onto the Mars surface. I am curious as to what spacesuit designs Russia is planning to use for future Mars missions – the spacesuit will need to be worn in ⅓ Earth gravity, so the current Orlan won’t be suitable as it weighs 120 kg. I can’t find any information online about this, though!

“How Diverting! The Entertainment Aboard the Space Station”, Popvox blog, 5/5. A year ago, NASA Watch made a Freedom of Information request to NASA for a list of films on the ISS, and this PDF (1.8 MB) was the result, listing films and books (mostly from the USA side – the only Russian film mentioned is Хочу в Тюрму). The list has undoubtedly been added to by then. (Annoyingly, the list was scanned in as images, so I do not feel like typing them all out!)

Off topic: Rather oddly, I received an email from Blogger saying my blog had been identified as a potential spam blog! So if the blog has been inaccessible, that’s the reason! (I have already responded to the request to verify it, and the blog seems to have been approved.) Wonder what triggered that alert? There’s certainly nothing offensive on the blog (it’s G-rated!), though I do have a lot of links – but that’s necessary to comment on news articles and such.

MIM-2 update

Expedition 20 is to launch at the end of this month on Soyuz TMA-15; they will join Expedition 19 to make the first 6-person crew. Keeping track of comings and goings will be much more complicated from this year!

There is a NASA preflight interview with cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, who will be making his first flight. He, like Sergei Volkov (Expedition 17) is a second-generation cosmonaut (son of Yurii Romanenko). He gave some details about the next Russian module to be launched this year, MIM-2, МИМ-2:

Q: According to the plan currently, shortly after your arrival there is a pair of spacewalks planned for Gennady and Mike to make. Tell me about what they’ll be doing outside the station, and what you will be doing inside to support that work.

A: Yes, during our increment there will be a lot of EVA activities; in other words, spacewalks. In addition to two Russian scheduled EVAs, there will be seven or eight EVAs by the shuttle crew members. They will need to perform a lot of tasks. However, the main objective for all EVAs is to outfit the ISS with all those elements and modules and hardware units that will ensure successful operation of a six-person crew on board the ISS. EVAs that will be performed by Gennady and Mike Barratt, those EVAs will also address the tasks of outfitting the Russian segment with the new Mini Research Module #2, delivery of which is scheduled for this year. We’re hoping that we will receive this module during our mission; it is scheduled for delivery at the end of summer, beginning of the fall. It will dock to the Russian segment and Gennady, during his EVA with his U.S. colleague, will have to route cables in order to ensure docking of this module.

[…]

Q: Another new component for the Russian segment of the space station is due to arrive before the end of the year. It’s called the Mini Research Module 2. Can you describe what that is for us and what that will add to Russian segment operations?

A: I think that this new module will be slightly larger than the Docking Compartment. However, it will provide additional vole for various experiments on the Russian segment. It may also be used as the additional airlock for EVAs, or a connecting module for subsequent addition of a larger, another larger module to the Russian segment. The reason why the name of this new module is Mini Research Module is due to the fact that this new addition to the station will house a number of scientific experiments that will be performed under the Russian space agency science program.

Progress M-66 undocked yesterday at 15:18 UTC, and will deorbit on 18/5 after performing the Plazma-Progress geophysical experiment this week.

Phobos-Grunt: launching or not?

Contrary to the article mentioned in my 12/4/2009 entry, more media reports have surfaced that the Phobos-Grunt («Фобос-Грунт», Photos-Soil) probe to the Martian moon will launch later this year after all, as noted in this month’s FP Space posts, but it is hard to know what to believe! The article below is from a post at NASASpaceflight.com:

Preparations For Launch Of Phobos-Grunt Probe Proceed As Planned

Moscow ITAR-TASS in English 1307 GMT 05 May 09

Moscow, May 5 (Itar-Tass) – All preparations for launching the Phobos-Grunt space probe, expected to deliver to the Earth samples of Martian soil, proceed strictly as planned, the general director and general designer of the Lavochkin research and production association (the probe’s manufacturer), Georgy Polishchuk, told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

“The work schedule is tight, but everything is on time and the question of shifting the launch from 2009 to 2001 has not been discussed anywhere,” Polishchuk told Itar-Tass in the wake of media rumors the probe’s launch had to be delayed due to a shortage of personnel.

Polishchuk said the Phobos-Grunt probe, which is on the list of the federal space program extending till 2015, is a number one priority for the Lavochkin Association.

“At the launch site and at the head office work is in full swing. Cooperation with the Chinese partners proceeds well,” he said.

The Lavochkin Association has already integrated a test sample of the Chinese micro-satellite with the Russian probe, and the flight sample will be delivered to Russia on June 17.

The probe’s Wikipedia page has more information.

“Focused On Phobos”, Space Daily/Astrobiology Magazine, 4/5. Describes planned missions to the Martian moon.

From Novosti Kosmonavtiki №779:

05/05/2009/11:45 – The waiting period for cosmonaut flight in Russia will be reduced by half

Russian cosmonauts, who are now waiting for their turn to fly more than a decade, will no longer have to wait so long. Starting this year, the ISS will be expanded to a crew of six people.

“This year we will send four Soyuz ships to the ISS, and the queue will move much faster,” said Yuri Gidzenko, the first deputy head of cosmonauts.

In turn, the first hereditary cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, the acting commander of the cosmonaut detachment at TsPK (Star City), said that in his opinion, the younger cosmonauts will “sit on the bench” only half as long as his generation. “If there will be four launches a year, they will have to wait five years for a flight, not eleven as we did,” he said.

Progress M-02M is to launch from Baikonur on 8/5, carrying the third Orlan-MK #6 (#1080006) with blue stripes. Progress M-66 is to undock from the ISS (Pirs DC) today at 15:15 UTC.

Spaceship name change

The PPTS future Russian spacecraft proposal is renamed the PTK NP (ПТК НП, пилотируемый транспортный корабль нового поколения) – New Generation Crew Transport Spaceship by Energiya.

“Russia mulls rocket power ‘first’ ”, BBC News, 29/4. The landing system for the PTK NP might be a rocket-powered landing system, the first in history (the Soyuz uses parachutes, with retro-rocket engines to cushion the landing, and the Shuttle uses wings). The PTK NP return vehicle, at around 8 tonnes, would be too heavy to land safely with parachutes alone (though one could be carried for a backup).

Star City meeting

Roskosmos news: “Anatoly Perminov, Head of the Federal Space Agency, Held a Meeting with GCTC Management” concerning the reorganization of the Center from military to civilian control. Sergei Krikalyov, the new civilian chief of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, appears in two of the photos.

On April 27, Anatoly Perminov, Head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, held a meeting with the management of Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

The meeting was attended by Alexey Panteleev, Vice Governor of the Moscow region, Valery Chernov, Territorial Settlement Minister of Government of the Moscow region, Vitaly Davyidov, State-Secretary-Deputy Head of Roscosmos, and the heads of Roscosmos Directorates.

Anatoly Perminov opened the meeting. In particular, he said:

“…GCTC history is linked tightly with foundation and evolution of the Russian and world human space programs. GCTC has everything required for crew training: modern unique labs and simulators, validated methods, high-quality expertise. The renewed Center will face more achievements in space exploration.

“Following the Order of the Russian Government, Roscosmos and Ministry of Defense now carry out the reorganization work to establish a Federal State Budget Entity under Roscosmos. There are some problems connected with GCTC hand-over to Roscosmos, and we discussed those with D.A. Medvedev, Russian President, at the meeting devoted to the Cosmonautics Day.

“The Act of the Russian President dated Jan. 19 also defines reorganization of the military city into a Restricted Administrative Territorial Settlement. Here, we appreciate the support provided by the Governor and the Government of the Moscow region a lot…

“Roscosmos and Ministry of Defence still have to do much to finalize liquidation process until July 2009. All the assets are to be handed over to Roscosmos, personnel is to get new appointments in the Federal State Entity, etc.

“All the issues regarding social protection of GCTC personnel will be solved.

“We have to work hard to establish a renewed Center, and to found a new City, which deserves its name of the Cosmonaut Training Center.

“I am sure that the personnel will support implementation of all current and future tasks related to cosmonaut training, and add more pages to the history book of the Russian space exploration.”

I wonder what this means for military cosmonauts – will they still be in the Russian Air Force, as NASA military astronauts are on assignment to NASA from their military services?

Cosmonaut recruiting changes

“US Astronauts will Learn Russian. Talent for Science will Take High Priority in Russian Cosmonaut Selection”, Roskosmos, 15/4. NASA astronauts will be required to learn Russian and study the Soyuz spacecraft as this will be their only means of transport to the ISS after the Space Shuttle is retired (and there is much controversy over that!). Also, when recruiting future cosmonauts, those who are researchers will be more emphasized:

Selection process of the future cosmonauts is intended to be based on their abilities to implement scientific and research programs. The Commission also discussed additional recruitment of test cosmonauts and research cosmonauts in 2009 for the ISS program (until 2015). The meeting was led by Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov, chairman of the Inter-Agency Commission.

A.N. Perminov proposed to introduce some changes into the Commission Protocol. He stated that “not only pilots, but researchers from the universities shall be hired to become cosmonauts”. The main emphasis should be made on the talented young people, who study prospective scientific topics. These people would continue their work during the space mission, and after it.

“Baikonur: Progress M-02M Prelaunch Operations”, Roskosmos, 16/4. This features some photos of the Orlan-MK spacesuit (№6) being tested at Baikonur; it is to be launched on the next Progress cargo ship.

Grim City

“Russia’s cosmonauts prepare for letdown”, LA Times, 10/4. A rather gloomy account by a reporter who was given a (paid) tour of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, portraying it as a mordant and run-down place. Cosmonaut Yurii Baturin had some pointed remarks about the space program:

Yuri Baturin is the only cosmonaut authorized to speak with reporters. He has cotton-white hair, tinted glasses and the calm presence of a man who, after two voyages into space, has lost the capacity to worry over details. You ask him about the Russian program and prepare yourself for exuberance.

Instead, Baturin pauses and sighs.

“This is a very difficult and painful question, because it’s not very proper to criticize your own government, especially in a foreign newspaper,” he says. “But our politicians who talk about the space program don’t understand a thing about it. I state today that Russia does not have a real space program.”

You remember when you’d just gotten to Moscow and your Russian-language teacher mentioned Yuri Gagarin. She stared, stupefied, at your blank face, as if contemplating whether she could teach her language to a cretin who didn’t recognize the name of the first man to soar into space.

And now here you are, eyeball to eyeball with an heir to Gagarin’s heroic legacy, and the more he talks, the more disappointed he sounds.

“Our space agency for several years is not calling the tender for a new ship,” he says. “They don’t know what for and where to fly.”

And: “The politicians don’t understand the complexity of the task. They announce Russia will land on Mars by 2030, which creates the illusion that Russia has a mission to Mars… [but] the government should not just try to be the first to put a flag on Mars.”

Finally: “Space tourism is only harmful to the Russian space program, in my opinion. In the corridors here you can find dozens of cosmonauts who would have accompanied a flight in the past seven years but didn’t because their seat was occupied by a tourist. It leads us into a dead end.”

[…]

Later, you’ll try to figure out whether what he said was true: whether, behind the screen of extravagant political statements, high-rolling space tourism junkets and U.S. dependence on Russia for lifts to the space station, there is a vacuum of purpose and projects. You ask around, and others agree.

“Unfortunately, we can’t say right now that Russia has a powerful space program,” Igor Marinin, editor in chief of Space News magazine, says when you call. “For a very long time we simply lived on the verge of extinction.”

“Russia to start flight-testing new cargo spacecraft in 2016-17”, 13/4, RIAN/Space Daily. Announcement by Energiya chief Vitalii Lopota on the spacecraft-rocket transport system to be designed by Energiya for Roskosmos’ Advanced Crew Transport System (PPTS). The spacecraft is to be launched at the Vostochnyi, Восточный space center (near Uglegorsk in the Amur region of eastern Russia), this to be completed in 5 years and operational in 2015.