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Russia Adding $50 Billion To Space Effort
An anonymous reader sends news that Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled today a new $50 billion effort to maintain and extend the country's space capabilities. Part of this initiative is a new spaceport located in Russia, which will lead to the first manned launches from Russian soil in 2018. Manned launches currently originate from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
"The Russian space programme has been hurt in recent years by a string of launch failures of unmanned probes and satellites, but Putin vowed Moscow would continue to ramp up spending. He said that from 2013-2020, Russia would be spending 1.6 trillion rubles ($51.8 billion, 38 million euros) on its space sector, a growth far greater than any other space power. 'Developing our potential in space will be one of the priorities of state policy,' Putin said at a meeting in the regional capital Blagoveshchensk. ... speaking to Canadian spaceman Chris Hadfield, currently commander of the ISS, Putin hailed cooperation in space which meant world powers could forget about the problems of international relations and think 'about the future of mankind.'"
I read the headline like some anonymous oligarch pledged the money out of its own pocket...
Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
($51.8 billion, 38 million euros)
Am I missing something, or has the exchange rate really gotten that bad for the dollar?
It sure would be nice if this served as a wake up call to Congress. Our space program could use some attention too (...the good kind).
I do not undestand how much money is being spent.
"($51.8 billion, 38 million euros)" - These are not equivelant, has someone made the age old million/billion error?
Funny how broke-ass Russia can afford to spend 50B next year on their space program but the much richer USA pleads poverty and will spend less than 1/3 of that. No wonder Russia/USSR has consistently had a better space program than the Americans.
Enigma
Wow, I knew the euro was doing better than the dollar but I had no idea that $51.8 billion == 38 million euros...
-SaNo
$51.8 billion = 38 million euros
Wow, the Euro has really shot up in value!
"hurt in recent years by a string of launch failures of unmanned probes" This ought to be good.
Russian GDP is $2T. 50B/2T = 2.5% of GDP for this project.
Maybe a decimal place is off somewhere?
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2001.html#rs
Currently allocated budget for 2013 is $5.6 bn
Considering $51.8bn is going to be spent during 7 years then it is less than 5% growth per year.
Keeping in mind the inflation, there is no groowth at all!
At least one manned launch a year for next four years. One more to their current space station. Then a new, larger three part space station.
Hey, its one more launch a year than the Americans who will have no more this decade.
Perhpas the Russians are competing with the Chinese now. I think they are more concerned about the possible lost of Baikanor.
The Russian space programme has been hurt in recent years by the catastrophic collapse of the USSR
Fact: the USSR basically owned space lock, stock, and barrel.
For perspective: the USSR was the first to put a person in space, the first to launch a satellite and the first to place an autonomous rover on the moon. they also invented the ion engine, the space suit, space food, the space station salyut 1, the luna 1 space probe, and quixotically the baikonur cosmodrome. they landed a rover on mars 30 years ago. the USSR was, for lack of more appropriate descriptor, the swinging dick of technology and science. at least until america decided with the truman doctrine to embark on a 45 year mission to shit all over it.
but hey. at least theyre not communist anymore.
Good people go to bed earlier.
The spotless Democrat Putin plays with space planes instead of fixing his country.
"Funny how broke-ass Russia can afford to spend 50B next year ..."
Priorities... you have your national budget and you decide how you want to spend it. Most people think their government should spend more on X (the thing they are passionate about) and less on Y (the thing they don't care about). I guess you have to decide how to slice up the cake.
...Space program funds YOU fund Space program funds YOU fund Space program funds YOU fund - ...
?OUT OF MEMORY
READY
_
Putin his money where his mouth is.
Nice grand announcement but seems like it could have been done earlier, or later to iron out pesky details. However, Putin faced with same problems as USA. It's one thing to make plans, it's another to keep the multi-year funding rolling. But then Russia always announces some grand plans every few years or so but nothing ever gets beyond the artwork. One thing certain, Soyuz on its R7 derived booster will continue (Korolev lives on).
mfwright@batnet.com
30 years ago, if they'd been told that the Russians were how Americans got into space, the GOP would have gone out, en masse, and hung the folks who thought this was ok from the nearest phone poles.
Now, they're all ok with it, and NASA should just do more with less... but as a number of columnists have noted lately in the media, the GOP is actively running a war on science.
mark
Take your pick - which would you rather have running your society?
Or, our day traders can beat up your day traders. We don't have rocket scientists any more.
[signed] A Dejected US Techie Anonymous Coward
"Russia would be spending 1.6 trillion rubles ($51.8 billion, 38 million euros)"
That makes $1363.15 to the Euro, I missed that somehow!
1.6 trillion rubles ($51.8 billion, 38 million euros)
So you're telling me the exchange rate of dollars to euro's is 136.32 : 1 ?
80% will go to fundamental aspects such as research and development, training, administration, etc. The remaining 20% will go to ensure that any manned space craft will have exotic tiled floors, gold encrusted hardware, and a well stocked mini-bar.
When I went to high school in the 1950s, we were were in an arms race and a space race with the Soviet Union.
A bunch of clever educators -- here and in the USSR -- used the the arms race to get broad support for science education. That was the easiest time I can think of to get a good education without too much money. Some of the best colleges, like CCNY, were free. The state university systems and land-grant colleges were almost free. They had to be. We were competing with Moscow University.
None of this bullshit about going into debt for the rest of your life to pay for college tuition. I got scholarships. Go read the autobiographies on the Nobel Prize web sites. Lots of scientists say they never could have afforded to go to college if it wasn't free.
They were spending money on basic science then like they're spending money on the military today. And there was a lot of spillover into the rest of education.
The Democrats and Republicans were competing with each other to see who could spend more for scientific research. They put a lot of money into basic research -- and it worked.
The one thing the Soviet Union did well was their education system. Talk about German rocket scientists. How many Soviet scientists and engineers came here during the 1980s? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Brin
If competition is good, the Soviets were the best competitors we could have had. America would probably be better off if they were still here.
it is my duty to state that the only way to properly address Russian initiative this is to invade another country.
- Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
The math is WAAAAYYY off.
Not to mention MIR... which holds many records to this day.
Canada and Russia, Comrades!
Bent metal... or STFU
USA - national debt for 2011: 102.5% and spiraling out of control. Much higher now.
Russia - national debt for 2011: 9.6%
Yeah, Russia is mob run and loots its own people but so does America actually. Russia has the money. Virtually no debt, with the vast resources, and engineering base they have. 50 billion is no problem for them.
i know the dollar's been down but.. HOLY FUCK.