Slashdot Mirror
Russia Says Next-Gen Spacecraft Design Ready
The next generation of Russian spacecraft will be ready for test flights by 2017, according to Energia President Vitaly Lopota. 'We have completed the technical design project taking into account the fact that the new spaceship is to fly to the Moon, among other places,' he said. Federal Space Agency Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin says the new ship would be built by 2018 and would be able to conduct missions to the International Space Station and the Moon.
At least they're trying - NASA can't even make it to the ISS since the shuttle got decommisioned.
"XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, use more." - Anonymous Coward
'We have completed the technical design project taking into account the fact that the new spaceship is to fly to the Moon, among other places,'
ISS and where? The Bahamas? Restaurant at the end of the universe? Not a lotta stops within breathing time.
. Maybe near-earth asteroids?
I've lost count of how many "next generation" the Russians have announced as being "practically ready" or terms amounting to the same thing.
Not to mention the article is silent on whether this is actually a new design or a new iteration of the Soyuz. If it's the former, then we're likely looking at yet more Russian vaporware. The latter actually might come to pass.
Paper (or Powerpoint) spacecraft and launch systems are a dime a dozen.
Even when they DO tool up their factories and begin production, they need to get on top of their industries' QA issues as well. I would think that the somewhat less-than-stellar track record of their newer systems (e.g. Briz-M), suggests that they have a lot of work to do.
I'm guessing it's a Giant Putin Head with frickin lasers. Amirite?
Some poor folk would rather see no progress in space exploration than have Russians get us there. I pity those folks from the bottom of my heart - and fingers crossed for Russians, and anyone else willing to invest money, knowledge, experience and time into these projects. Good luck!
No shit Sherlock! Maybe they'll inspect a Legrange.
I could have thrown in Baker Street, Watson, and maybe a Hound wrapped in Scarlet, but I thought the bad pun about L5 (or others) and Sherlock Holmes was obvious enough as it was.
Not really.
You have to understand the Russian process. They announce things like this at least twice a year.
This is not a program, it's a proposal. Every year they trot out a couple of proposals (remember klipr?) and see if they can get interest and funding.
If not (and so far "not" has always been the case) then they go back to the drawing board and make another proposal in 8 or 12 months.
Over and over.
And each time Slashdot and others announce what the Russians "are building," never stopping to notice that all of the previous plans that were "nearing completion" never even resulted in a single piece of flight hardware.
Just watch. This will go nowhere, and next year there will be a different plan for a different vehicle.
This space available.
This is not a program, it's a proposal. Every year they trot out a couple of proposals (remember klipr?) and see if they can get interest and funding.
If not (and so far "not" has always been the case) then they go back to the drawing board and make another proposal in 8 or 12 months.
Over and over
Pretty much everything you just said could be said about NASA too. How many times have they promised return trips to the moon and men on Mars over the decades?
Just watch. This will go nowhere, and next year there will be a different plan for a different vehicle.
Again, ditto for NASA's moon and Mars programs.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
After all, their current-gen Soyuz capsule and R-7 rocket were designed in the 1950's (by their legendary Chief Designer Korolev)
If the Russians built game consoles, they'd still be running Super NES.
You fail to understand what I said.
We had the capability to go to the Moon more than 40 years ago. That capability did not atrophy through lack of use. The Saturn and Apollo programs were cancelled and defunded by Congress with the approval of President Nixon. That was a conscious political decision to eliminate that capability.
Ditto the Shuttle program: The program was cancelled and defunded.
We never, obviously, developed a Mars capability. NASA, however, had post-Apollo plans for Mars that were not funded.
The director of NASA does not wake up in the morning and decide, unilaterally, to start a program to put people in orbit, on the Moon, or anyplace else. The decisions to do those things come from the White House and the enabling legislation and the money comes from Congress.
We currently lack Government-operated manned space capability because the government does not want to do it, not because the nation lacks the capability.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"