Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #5

They should leave the NASA astronaut up there

You know the US would do that if they were the ones with the delivery vehicle

Boeing torpedoed the US space programme, by Evgeniy Balakin for RiaNovosti. 09.25.2024.

Two days ago, on September 23, the Soyuz-25 spacecraft landed near the city of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. On board were Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko, as well as NASA astronaut Tracy K. Dyson. Two other astronauts were less fortunate: Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are still on the International Space Station (ISS) due to problems with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner. They will be forced to remain on the ISS until February 2025 (instead of the planned 9 days), awaiting the arrival of SpaceX's Crew-9 Dragon, which NASA management considered more suitable for such a responsible task.

There are many hidden meanings in this seemingly ordinary news item. First of all, it is worth pointing out the problems of Boeing, which have now affected its space industry. The corporation is shaken by large-scale strikes and layoffs: on September 13, 33 thousand people took part in one of them, and on September 16, Boeing management announced that it was sending tens of thousands of workers on unpaid leave and stopping hiring new employees in order to stabilize its financial situation. The company's debts amount to almost 60 billion dollars, and it is forced to suspend production of its most popular 737 Max aircraft, which have been experiencing significant quality problems in recent years. And if you take into account that several experts who exposed the corporation's problems have already died under mysterious circumstances, the picture becomes truly ominous.

The company had high hopes for the launch of the first manned reusable transport spacecraft CST-100 Starliner, but due to technical problems (such as a helium leak and engine failure) it is likely that NASA will stop considering it as an option for transportation to the ISS, finally settling on the Crew-9 Dragon. This failure cost Boeing almost one and a half billion dollars. Thus, one of the two largest players in the US aerospace industry has shown its incompetence. It is not surprising that the landing of Tracy K. Dyson on the Soyuz-25 spacecraft causes bitter irony in the West: "Unlike Boeing, Russian spacecraft actually work."

SpaceX, Boeing's main competitor (the relationship between the two is described by some commentators as "hate"), has fared much better. However, its vehicles have been plagued by engine problems — and the most reliable is still the Russian RD-180 , which the US abandoned in 2021.

It is also necessary to take into account the political context of what is happening. While relations between the US and Russia can be called a "hybrid conflict" without exaggeration, the delivery of a NASA astronaut on a Russian spacecraft raises the question of the advisability of such peacefulness. And we are not talking about breaking signed contracts or throwing a highly qualified specialist (even a foreign one) to the ISS. The question is precisely in the perception of what is happening. On the one hand, the interaction of specialists takes place on a station created specifically for international cooperation. On the other, the ISS itself arose as a replacement for the Mir orbital scientific station, which until the collapse of the USSR was a sovereign project ensuring our country's superiority in space.

So we are at a point where our space sovereignty is lower than it was before - while America's has increased significantly (including at our expense). That's why the US is trying to describe what is happening from a neutral position, stating that: "this partnership highlights how space exploration often transcends political conflicts, putting scientific achievements above diplomatic disagreements."

And here we should consider the situation from the point of view of geopolitics. As a maritime power, the USA professes the idea of ​​"free spaces" - starting with freedom of the seas (which is reflected in the concept of "free navigation") and ending with freedom of space (reflected in the idea of ​​"demilitarization of outer space"). It is no coincidence that the German lawyer and geopolitician Carl Schmitt introduces the concept of "etherocracy", extending the laws of geopolitics to the cosmic dimension. In essence, Schmitt predicts a conflict in space (ether) - and whoever first takes control of the orbit will gain the upper hand (just as whoever takes control of the ports and straits will establish dominance at sea).

Considering that the US only observes signed treaties if they are in its interests (otherwise they grossly violate them, as can be seen, for example, during NATO expansion ), a conflict in space is a matter of time. As soon as the United States can achieve decisive superiority over a potential enemy (primarily Russia and China ), we can forget about the "demilitarization of space". Therefore, the large-scale crisis of the Boeing Corporation and the frequent failures of SpaceX, along with the reliability of the Russian space program, postpone the inevitable conflict. But they do not remove it completely. The laws of geopolitics are immutable, so Russia (alone or with allies) must maintain an advantage in the space industry - this is the only way to avoid "star wars", which the US has been preparing for a long time. Just as the Soviet cities were able to avoid the fate of Hiroshima and Nagasaki thanks to the super-fast creation of sovereign nuclear weapons.

And let the dreamers, looking up to the stars, see a corner of the universe free from war. Everyone else must see there the immutable laws of geopolitics.

https://ria.ru/20240925/kosmos-1974529039.html

Russia has begun assembling the first fully domestic communications satellite, 10.07.2024.

At the Satcomrus 2024 conference, the head of Kosmicheskaya Svyaz, Alexey Volin, announced the start of assembly of the Express-AMU4 satellite. This is the first Russian communications device entirely made up of domestic components.

The project involves 30 Russian enterprises producing 1,100 elements for the satellite. Currently, work is underway to assemble the satellite, including the installation of the payload, engines and fuel tanks on a special platform.

The launch of Express-AMU4 is scheduled for December 2026, and commissioning is scheduled for March 2027. The device will operate in geostationary orbit and will be able to provide communications to territories from Latin America to Europe. The project demonstrates the progress of the domestic space industry and strengthens Russia's technological independence in the field of satellite communications.

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/163307/