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posted by martyb on Wednesday August 12 2020, @01:56AM   Printer-friendly
from the trampolines-are-reusable dept.

Russia's space leader blusters about Mars in the face of stiff budget cuts

The leader of Russia's civil space program appears to be increasingly disengaged from reality. In recent months Dmitry Rogozin, the chief of Roscosmos, has given a series of interviews in which he has made all manner of big promises about the supposedly bright future of Russia's space program.

For example, in an interview published just today, Rogozin made the fantastical claim that his country's space program has the technical means to reach Mars and land cosmonauts there within eight to 10 years. If Russia is ready to finance such a plan, Rogozin guaranteed that Roscosmos stands ready to deliver.

Russia, Rogozin also recently said, is ready to do reuse better than SpaceX and the United States. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, he said, is only "semi-reusable," and Russia aspires to build a 21st-century rocket capable of 100 flights. He then reiterated that Russia would like to develop a version of its Soyuz rocket that has a methane-fueled engine.

SpaceX has flown its Falcon 9 first-stage rockets five times, and it plans to push toward reusing each booster 10 times. It is not clear what, if any, steps Russia has taken toward reuse. The reality is that Russia depends on reliable but decades-old technology to get into space. And while Rogozin talks a good game about sending his cosmonauts to the Moon or to Mars, and about competing with SpaceX on reusable rockets, this appears to be mostly bluster.

If you are still under any illusions about the state of Russia's space program, now is the time to dispel them.

Previously: Russian Space Agency Abolished and Replaced Following Financial Violations
Price War Between SpaceX and Russia
Russian Rocket Builder May Have Replaced Special Alloys With Cheap Metals
NASA and Roscosmos Release Joint Statement on ISS Leak Amid Rumors
Head of Russian Space Agency Roscosmos Wavers on Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway
Russia Space Chief Spars with Elon Musk Over Launch Pricing


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  • (Score: 2) by legont on Thursday August 13 2020, @12:23PM (1 child)

    by legont (4179) on Thursday August 13 2020, @12:23PM (#1036099)

    I did not realize that a word "better" would produce such a storm, including flamebaits left and right. Let me go into more details.
    Gliding back home is better for many reasons the main ones being obviously fuel and stability of approach. Gliding is also tested for a hundred years and known technology that can be easily implemented.
    The issue with gliding is infrastructure costs. One needs a network of landing strips and friendly regulators. Even Musk can't reliably achive this in reasonable time so he went with worse solution. The one that is less enviroment friendly, mind you, and more dangerous.
    This story rhymes aviation. PanAm was created on similar to Musk's idea - use free seas. Large boats land in international waters screw you governments. PanAm succeeded, but eventually infrastructure was built and it died.
    The same will happen to Musk's rockets. We will glide back home while Musk's dyno's will stay in museums. Nothing is wrong with that, mind you.
    That's why I said that Soviet technology designed back in 40's is "probably better". In 50s Russians were flying rockets under bellies of aircraft that would go on ballistic trajectory and glide back home. This technology exists. Yes, there are difficulties, but yes, Rogosin is probably right - given the budget he will fly them in no time.

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  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by khallow on Friday August 14 2020, @04:37PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 14 2020, @04:37PM (#1036596) Journal

    Even Musk can't reliably achive this in reasonable time so he went with worse solution.

    Then it wasn't a worse solution.

    The same will happen to Musk's rockets. We will glide back home while Musk's dyno's will stay in museums. Nothing is wrong with that, mind you.

    Who is "we"? It's certainly not Russia today. And nobody is expecting the Falcon series or vertical landing to be the final word in launch systems.