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Russia Working on Soyuz Replacement
Buran writes "The Associated Press is reporting that RKK Energia is starting design work on a new manned spacecraft able to carry a crew of six (or more) to the International Space Station. The vehicle may have a reusable crew module (current Soyuz TMA and Progress vehicles are disposable) and would theoretically finally allow ISS crew size to increase, as the current limiting factor is the capacity of the Soyuz spacecraft, designed in the early 1960s for manned lunar flights. (While Soyuz never flew to the Moon, its Zond circumlunar variant did so several times, and Soyuz and Progress craft have been resupplying various space stations for over three decades.) It will be interesting to see how this develops, as at present ISS crews spend more time maintaining the station than they do performing research, due to the fact that the station wasn't designed to operate with a crew as small as two or three people."
Didn't the Russians report earlier that they wanted to send nuclear reactors to Mars? Now they want to develop a new space vehicle? Their economy is in a slum right now; how are they paying?
I know for a fact that DVD bootlegs do not produce that much capital.
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Isn't NASA a major player in the ISS Project? Don't throw rocks from your glass house, Mir was doing better at this stage in its life then the ISS is doing right now.
Whereas the US ended up with the expensive and dangerous Space Shuttle - now grounded indefinately - the USSR managed to design the simple, usable and much cheaper Soyuz.
Maybe this is because under capitalism every decision is a compromise between rival power structures, while good engineering is an open discource between co-operating equals? (Compare Windows vs. Open Source)
Good luck to the Russians! Maybe they can keep the dream of space alive until we get our act together and join them again - in the spirit of human expansion and scientific discovery.
It should in any case be in a higher orbit, and it should be expanded so that it can be used to assemble large interplanetary spacecrafts. Also, build a station on the lunar surface and one in the L1 (between earth and the moon). Not a bad first step towards a good infrastructure in space.
I believe they will pay for this by rewriting the ISS contract and making sure they will be the supplier of astronaut transport when the space shuttles retire. Not a bad move I must say. The other 14 nations in the ISS group may be able to get the US to agree to this.
If I point out that you are incorrect, making me a foe does not make you any more correct.
Politics aside, there is enormous opportunity for economizing by applying the recent success of the Chinese manned space program. In a way, it would be the homecoming of an evolved technology as the Chinese Shenzhou is an improved conventional design based largely on studying russian crew return capsules. Last I heard, no new cash has been found for Russian space missions. I'd be very excited if they can even afford to pay for major design work. A shame really. Less I be moderated down as an idealogical loudmouth, I do recognize that such levels of interaction is unrealistic. Assuming Energia is willing to ask, the Chinese will likely refuse. Thus far, the Shenzhou program has too much domestic significance for the Chinese for them to consider sharing it with the rest of the world just yet. I really wish the Chinese leadership have not decided to try and leapfrog their manned space program by establishing the narrow goals they have. Given the cash and other resources, Energia is likely to elegantly pull off any design job for replacing the Soyuz because the Russians have a sturdy tradition and a rich legacy that has been hard earned by developing their own space program. China, on the other hand, is relying on too much borrowed technology with too little home-grown experience. While admirable achievements have been made in the near term, I don't believe Chinese arospace engineers will make any real breakthroughs in space technology because have gotten their hands dirty enough yet by mucking around. God knows there is a large potential for embarassment if the result of Energia's efforts end up obsoleting the Shenzhou. If China contributes now, there might be bragging rights at least in claiming progony. *sigh* Nationalism and politics can be such a drag on inovation.
Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
Interesting, what this project is based on ? Existing projects like Energiya/Buran ? buran, MAKS , spaceplane RAKS(Igla) , Zarya Or something new ?
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``There is no explanation whatsoever where the money needed to implement the declared program would come from,'' Koptev said.
With their past experience and track record of Soyuz, this is definitely possible...but I really have my doubts about funding
Nevertheless, together which this Soyuz successor it makes sense - ESA will provide an enhanced replacement for Progress, Russia is developing a new crew capsule.
I hope that way Europe and Russia can provide a replacement for the aging Shuttle fleet.
It would be interesting to know if ESA does transfer technology from ARD to the new russian project....
Didn't they make a shuttle a few years back? Before the wall came down.
I seem to remember them launching something which looked a LOT like the US shuttle, orbiting a few times and returning it safely to earth. The big shouting point for USSR (at the time) was that it was capable of doing all of this unmanned, which the US shuttle still cannot do.
I also remember seeing more recently that it was currently sitting in a playground being a tourist attraction, not unlike the US shuttle Enterprise.
I resisted the urge to put USS Enterprise :-)
I've never shoed a horse, but I once told a donkey to piss off!
It could be useful if we want to come up with a plan similar to this one for colonizing Mars. Due to Earth's immense gravity, weight and aerodynamics are critical in spaceship construction. However, once the ship is in low gravity these considerations are totally irrelevant. Given a good space station we could have three sets of spacecraft: a true space shuttle for lifting things up to the station; transportation craft designed to move things between planets and moons, and explore new areas; and landers designed to reach planetary surfaces. Assuming we'd be establishing actual colonies on the moon and eventually Mars, this is probably the only cost-effective way of doing it.
In space you can do a lot of cool things with something as simple as a piece of string - provided, of course, that your "string" is made of high-tech materials, has an electrically conductive core, and measures many kilometers long. Tethers have electrodynamic applications - for example, a tether in Earth orbit to which electricity is applied will interact with Earth's magnetic field and climb to a higher orbit without using propellant. Allowing ionospheric electrons to move through the tether via plasma contactors at both ends causes the tether to slow down and drop to a lower orbit. Tethers also have momentum-exchange applications. Physically linking high- and low-orbit objects with a tether forces the object in lower orbit (for example, a spacecraft) to travel slower than dictated by orbital mechanics, while the higher-orbit object (for example, a payload) travels faster. If the tether is cut, the payload will jump to a higher orbit while the spacecraft will drop to a lower one. Hoyt and Uphoff propose a Cislunar Tether Transport System for shipping cargo between low-Earth orbit (LEO) and the lunar surface using minimal propellants. Their work is described by "Cislunar Tether Transport System," AIAA 99-2690, R. Hoyt & C. Uphoff; paper presented at the 35th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, Los Angeles, California, June 20-24, 1999.
That's just one example of the stuff we could try if we had a serious space program with good infrastructure. Once a moon colony starts to have practical value (mining, manufacture in decreased gravity, science, and of course, the all-important military applications) we'll start to see progress down this road. Unfortunately, it will be a long time before that happens. The military, our best bet to kick-start the process, won't bother until rival nations start building fleets of armed satellites.
Once the military faces the prospect of a space-based war all these ideas are no longer just cool, they may be essential to survival. So, the best-funded operation in the world will be determined to create a moon base capable of controlling space near Earth. Once that's done it will be paid for and justified by tacking on scientific and industrial components. Yes, that's how we're most likely to begin our grand and heroic journey into the destiny of man-for the purpose of being able to kill each other more effectively. Human nature, right?
But don't worry, recent history shows us that the best deterrent to war is mutual assured destruction, and we'll be fairly safe until we have a large enough moon base to become self sufficient and declare independence from Earth. In Soviet Russia, the moon colonizes YOU!
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Buran still is the most advanced manned spacecraft that humans have made.
The production version was able to take off, fly to orbit, orbit, de-burn and go through re-entry, land on a runway and come to a complete stop - entirely unmanned and on autopilot. (And it did exactly this on it's one and only flight).
It's an absolute crying shame that there was no money for it, but hopefully the technology and lessons learned will still be around for the next generation of spacecraft (that actually get funded).
Put another docking module on the ISS, and simply have two Soyuz craft on the station at one time to allow a complete evacuation of a full complement?