Space station on the moon as a super goal for Russia
11 September 2012, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, spoke in favor of building a station on the Moon’s surface, which should become a super-goal for the Russian space industry and help solve problems in the industry. According to Dmitry Rogozin, the project of such a station will be able to pull Russian science and technology along with itself and become an incentive for Russia's further achievements in the space field. According to the vice-premier of the Russian government in charge of the defense industry, the series of cosmic accidents in Russia of the last 2 years is related to the “over-dimensioning” of the industry and the vagueness of its goals and objectives.
According to Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian space industry is “oversized” and this factor complicates quality control at work. With such a wide range of products, it is not possible to control its quality, the vice-premier believes. He also mentioned that the Russian space industry needs to be put in order, and for this, first of all, it is necessary to set clear goals for it in space exploration. Also, the Deputy Prime Minister highlighted the fact that in the Russian space industry it is not completely clear who is the customer and who is the performer. This situation needs correction. At the same time, he once again noted that the situation in the Russian space industry is not as critical as it might seem at first glance. There is no systemic crisis in the Russian space industry, he noted.
According to Rogozin, in order to restore order in the industry, it is necessary to solve a number of problems in individual enterprises. In his opinion, today the main trouble for Russian space is a large percentage of manual labor at some enterprises and their low equipment with modern equipment, as well as a high percentage of age specialists. All this together leads to various kinds of errors. According to Rogozin, Russia should take technology to a higher level and, if possible, replace manual labor in this industry. At the same time, Rogozin noted that after 4's years of work at NATO, problems in the Russian space industry do not frighten him.
To bring the Russian space program to a new level, to give impetus to technical and scientific development, Dmitry Rogozin proposed work on a manned space program under low gravity conditions on the lunar surface. He proposed to put the scientific station directly on the surface of the Earth satellite and from there to conduct experiments, study the physics of the Sun, the Earth. According to the vice-premier, the successful solution of this task can significantly improve the image of Russian cosmonautics. The industry needs a task that, like a barge on the Volga, would pull several ships along the water, said Dmitry Rogozin.
For this, Russia has all the conditions. Today, our astronauts are able to be in space for a rather long time in near-Earth orbit as part of the cooperation on the ISS, where they work with their astronaut colleagues from the United States and other countries. Today, Russia has the technology of air circulation, water, and the delivery of necessary cargo to the orbital station, while the ISS orbit is constantly rising, changing in height relative to the Earth. "We can continue to pull this strap, and we can do differently, for example, why don't we podlunit the ISS?", Said Dmitry Rogozin.
In this simple way, Dmitry Rogozin once again became a media hero, giving them, as well as representatives of the space industry, many reasons for reflection. The space super-goal proposed by him is more or less clear, but the very necessity of this goal and the means to achieve it so far raise a lot of questions. According to Rogozin, the construction of the lunar station would be a big task for the Russian cosmonautics. According to him, today in the space industry there is a big competition between countries, which is why Roskosmos needs to put a big super-goal, the implementation of which would give impetus to the development of science and industry, which would allow Russia to escape from captivity of the problems in which the country is already 20 years. According to him, the construction of the lunar base is a big political and prestigious task.
Announcing the international competition in space exploration, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister opposes the official opinion of Roskosmos, which has long stated that there is no space competition, that is, a race in space. If we talk about the Moon, as a possible panacea for all the recent Russian failures, problems, then any precedent throughout the Soviet-Russian storiesin which the ambitious super-task “stretched” the whole economy behind itself, which is not observed.
The statements of the vice-premier in charge of the military-industrial complex and the space industry are contrasted with the opinion of the Roscosmos leadership and on other issues. Indeed, the Roskosmos board approved a strategy for the development of space activities up to 2012 in the spring of 2030, which contains information about the need to "operate the lunar orbital base in a visited mode, repair and maintain large spacecraft, as well as interorbital tugs in near-earth orbits." This document also contains information about more ambitious plans of Roscosmos, for example, to create a whole network of research stations on Mars. According to the forecasts of the head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, the financing of this strategy may be about 150-200 billion rubles annually. After 2030, the Roscosmos planned further exploration of the moon.
However, at the beginning of July, the 2012 of Roscosmos’s thoughts underwent a significant transformation, at least in the minds of the main person in the industry, Vladimir Popovkin. According to him, the Russian manned flight to a natural satellite of the Earth will occur only if the presence of water is confirmed on the moon. He also stated that the human presence on the Moon is a necessary condition for scientific activity, but he did not mention a single word about the statements made earlier about the astronauts landing on the Moon without fail.
It is worth noting that the lunar topic has been present for a long time in the plans of officials from Roskosmos, and the Russian media even provide information on the stages of the development of an artificial Earth satellite. At the first stage, which will begin in 2015, it is planned to explore the Moon using Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource probes. ” One of them should study the South Pole of the Moon, where in the future it is planned to land a Russian landing probe with an Indian mini-rover on board.
Already at the second stage, after 2020, lunar rovers, Lunokhod-3 and Lunokhod-4, should start work on the surface of the earth satellite. It is assumed that they will differ from their Soviet namesakes by significantly smaller sizes and a much larger work resource. It is assumed that the new Russian lunar rovers will be able to work in the polar regions of the moon to 5 years and move away from their landing sites to a distance of 30 km. Further, already in 2023, a descent capsule with a returnable rocket is planned to be sent to the moon. The device will have to sit close to the Russian moon rovers. After that, 6-7 capsules containing lunar matter will be loaded from the lunar rovers into the return chamber, which will deliver the research material to Earth.
At the same time, the landing station and moon rovers remaining on the lunar surface will have to become the first elements of the space infrastructure of the future lunar test site, with the prospect of a full-fledged Russian lunar base on this site in the future. We have to admit that these plans are quite ambitious, but, unfortunately, they today lack any material and technical basis that would allow to successfully implement this program.
The lunar theme from the lips of Russian space officials sounds loud enough, but unlike the Americans or Europeans in the last 15 years, Russia has nothing to boast. During this time we have not had a single successful interplanetary mission. At the same time, all our launch vehicles in terms of technology are outdated by 20. That is why the decision to plan the lunar missi seems strange to many experts who see it as more of a political aspect. Creating a positive background in order to somehow correct Russia's image in the field of space exploration.
Observer authoritative Russian magazine "News cosmonautics ”Igor Lisov believes that the ideas of manned flights today are completely unjustified. In his opinion, the crisis of manned spaceflight today is fairly obvious, and the presence of man in space is a bad choice. According to Igor Marinin, the Chief Editor of Cosmonautics News, in order to create an orbiting station on the moon, the Roscosmos budget should be increased 3 times, and in order to create a full-fledged long-term base on the Moon, 6 times.
Finally, I would like to note that at the meeting the day before the emergence of serhtsels, voiced by Dmitry Rogozin, the meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev spoke only about specific measures aimed at overcoming the disastrous state of affairs in the Russian cosmonautics. A large number of recent accidents, personnel shortages, depreciation of equipment, an inefficient production management system, a perceptible shortage of the entire nomenclature of spacecraft — this is a fairly large list of all the tasks that Russia will need to solve in the near future. How the big super goal gets on with this is not yet completely clear.
Information sources:
-http: //www.aex.ru/news/2012/9/11/98154/
-http: //www.aex.ru/news/2012/9/11/98153/
-http: //www.ng.ru/politics/2012-09-13/3_kartblansh.html
According to Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian space industry is “oversized” and this factor complicates quality control at work. With such a wide range of products, it is not possible to control its quality, the vice-premier believes. He also mentioned that the Russian space industry needs to be put in order, and for this, first of all, it is necessary to set clear goals for it in space exploration. Also, the Deputy Prime Minister highlighted the fact that in the Russian space industry it is not completely clear who is the customer and who is the performer. This situation needs correction. At the same time, he once again noted that the situation in the Russian space industry is not as critical as it might seem at first glance. There is no systemic crisis in the Russian space industry, he noted.
According to Rogozin, in order to restore order in the industry, it is necessary to solve a number of problems in individual enterprises. In his opinion, today the main trouble for Russian space is a large percentage of manual labor at some enterprises and their low equipment with modern equipment, as well as a high percentage of age specialists. All this together leads to various kinds of errors. According to Rogozin, Russia should take technology to a higher level and, if possible, replace manual labor in this industry. At the same time, Rogozin noted that after 4's years of work at NATO, problems in the Russian space industry do not frighten him.
To bring the Russian space program to a new level, to give impetus to technical and scientific development, Dmitry Rogozin proposed work on a manned space program under low gravity conditions on the lunar surface. He proposed to put the scientific station directly on the surface of the Earth satellite and from there to conduct experiments, study the physics of the Sun, the Earth. According to the vice-premier, the successful solution of this task can significantly improve the image of Russian cosmonautics. The industry needs a task that, like a barge on the Volga, would pull several ships along the water, said Dmitry Rogozin.
For this, Russia has all the conditions. Today, our astronauts are able to be in space for a rather long time in near-Earth orbit as part of the cooperation on the ISS, where they work with their astronaut colleagues from the United States and other countries. Today, Russia has the technology of air circulation, water, and the delivery of necessary cargo to the orbital station, while the ISS orbit is constantly rising, changing in height relative to the Earth. "We can continue to pull this strap, and we can do differently, for example, why don't we podlunit the ISS?", Said Dmitry Rogozin.
In this simple way, Dmitry Rogozin once again became a media hero, giving them, as well as representatives of the space industry, many reasons for reflection. The space super-goal proposed by him is more or less clear, but the very necessity of this goal and the means to achieve it so far raise a lot of questions. According to Rogozin, the construction of the lunar station would be a big task for the Russian cosmonautics. According to him, today in the space industry there is a big competition between countries, which is why Roskosmos needs to put a big super-goal, the implementation of which would give impetus to the development of science and industry, which would allow Russia to escape from captivity of the problems in which the country is already 20 years. According to him, the construction of the lunar base is a big political and prestigious task.
Announcing the international competition in space exploration, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister opposes the official opinion of Roskosmos, which has long stated that there is no space competition, that is, a race in space. If we talk about the Moon, as a possible panacea for all the recent Russian failures, problems, then any precedent throughout the Soviet-Russian storiesin which the ambitious super-task “stretched” the whole economy behind itself, which is not observed.
The statements of the vice-premier in charge of the military-industrial complex and the space industry are contrasted with the opinion of the Roscosmos leadership and on other issues. Indeed, the Roskosmos board approved a strategy for the development of space activities up to 2012 in the spring of 2030, which contains information about the need to "operate the lunar orbital base in a visited mode, repair and maintain large spacecraft, as well as interorbital tugs in near-earth orbits." This document also contains information about more ambitious plans of Roscosmos, for example, to create a whole network of research stations on Mars. According to the forecasts of the head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, the financing of this strategy may be about 150-200 billion rubles annually. After 2030, the Roscosmos planned further exploration of the moon.
However, at the beginning of July, the 2012 of Roscosmos’s thoughts underwent a significant transformation, at least in the minds of the main person in the industry, Vladimir Popovkin. According to him, the Russian manned flight to a natural satellite of the Earth will occur only if the presence of water is confirmed on the moon. He also stated that the human presence on the Moon is a necessary condition for scientific activity, but he did not mention a single word about the statements made earlier about the astronauts landing on the Moon without fail.
It is worth noting that the lunar topic has been present for a long time in the plans of officials from Roskosmos, and the Russian media even provide information on the stages of the development of an artificial Earth satellite. At the first stage, which will begin in 2015, it is planned to explore the Moon using Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource probes. ” One of them should study the South Pole of the Moon, where in the future it is planned to land a Russian landing probe with an Indian mini-rover on board.
Already at the second stage, after 2020, lunar rovers, Lunokhod-3 and Lunokhod-4, should start work on the surface of the earth satellite. It is assumed that they will differ from their Soviet namesakes by significantly smaller sizes and a much larger work resource. It is assumed that the new Russian lunar rovers will be able to work in the polar regions of the moon to 5 years and move away from their landing sites to a distance of 30 km. Further, already in 2023, a descent capsule with a returnable rocket is planned to be sent to the moon. The device will have to sit close to the Russian moon rovers. After that, 6-7 capsules containing lunar matter will be loaded from the lunar rovers into the return chamber, which will deliver the research material to Earth.
At the same time, the landing station and moon rovers remaining on the lunar surface will have to become the first elements of the space infrastructure of the future lunar test site, with the prospect of a full-fledged Russian lunar base on this site in the future. We have to admit that these plans are quite ambitious, but, unfortunately, they today lack any material and technical basis that would allow to successfully implement this program.
The lunar theme from the lips of Russian space officials sounds loud enough, but unlike the Americans or Europeans in the last 15 years, Russia has nothing to boast. During this time we have not had a single successful interplanetary mission. At the same time, all our launch vehicles in terms of technology are outdated by 20. That is why the decision to plan the lunar missi seems strange to many experts who see it as more of a political aspect. Creating a positive background in order to somehow correct Russia's image in the field of space exploration.
Observer authoritative Russian magazine "News cosmonautics ”Igor Lisov believes that the ideas of manned flights today are completely unjustified. In his opinion, the crisis of manned spaceflight today is fairly obvious, and the presence of man in space is a bad choice. According to Igor Marinin, the Chief Editor of Cosmonautics News, in order to create an orbiting station on the moon, the Roscosmos budget should be increased 3 times, and in order to create a full-fledged long-term base on the Moon, 6 times.
Finally, I would like to note that at the meeting the day before the emergence of serhtsels, voiced by Dmitry Rogozin, the meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev spoke only about specific measures aimed at overcoming the disastrous state of affairs in the Russian cosmonautics. A large number of recent accidents, personnel shortages, depreciation of equipment, an inefficient production management system, a perceptible shortage of the entire nomenclature of spacecraft — this is a fairly large list of all the tasks that Russia will need to solve in the near future. How the big super goal gets on with this is not yet completely clear.
Information sources:
-http: //www.aex.ru/news/2012/9/11/98154/
-http: //www.aex.ru/news/2012/9/11/98153/
-http: //www.ng.ru/politics/2012-09-13/3_kartblansh.html
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