A new Russian heavy lift rocket amid Russian budget woes
The competition heats up: Even as Russia today successfully placed a commercial satellite in orbit on the 400th successful Proton rocket launch, Russian sources indicate that — despite budget woes fueled by the drop in oil prices — Russia is moving ahead with the design and construction of a heavy-lift rocket capable of competing with NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS).
From the last link above:
By 2013, Roskosmos drafted a very preliminary roadmap toward the development of heavy and super-heavy launch vehicles. Not surprisingly, it matched closely the strategy that NASA had followed since 2011 within the Space Launch System, SLS, project.
…As the American SLS project, Russian super-heavy launcher plans envisioned building a rocket with a payload of 80-85 tons in the first phase of the program. A pair of such rockets would be enough to mount a lunar expedition. In the second phase of development, the rocket would be upgraded to carry unprecedented 130-180 tons of payload in order to support, permanent lunar bases, missions to asteroids and expeditions to Mars.
As much as I remain a skeptic of SLS, it has apparently struck so much competitive fear in the Russian leadership that they are now willing to try to copy it. Much like the 1980s, when the Soviet rulers bankrupted their nation trying to duplicate American projects like the Strategic Defense Initiative and the Space Shuttle, Putin is now repeating that error all over again. His country has experienced almost a quarter-century of strong economic growth since the fall of communism because, during that time, they focused on capitalism, private enterprise, freedom, and a bottom-up economic structure. Now, they are beginning to abandon that approach and return to the top-down, centralized system of government planning.
As it did in previous century, it will bankrupt them again in this century. Though the Russian government is denying the reports that they are going to trim their space budget, their government’s budget is going to suffer from the drop in the price of oil. Something will have to give.
Update: This review of a book about modern Russia is definitely pertinent: The Land of Magical Thinking: Inside Putin’s Russia
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Q: Who hates Russians more, R or D? A: It’s bipartisan feeling. Anyone who traveled 30 miles away from Moscow can testify that Russia is a poor country populated by poor people. This poor country is trying to SAVE money by moving spaceport from foreign Kazakhstan and by replacing toxic and carcinogen UDMH in Proton by kerosene in Angara. Yet, it drives Mr. R. Zimmerman insane.
“Yet, it drives Mr. R. Zimmerman insane.”
Gee, I hadn’t noticed insanity in my behavior recently. Anyone else see it?
The Russians are a competitor. I wish them well, as long as they don’t drive their fist down the throats of anyone that stands in their way. I, as an American, also want the U.S. and private American citizens to beat them in the competition. It is as simple as that. If they succeed ahead of us, however, I will not be crushed. I will merely see it as a landmark that future Americans will have to strive for.
Having spent a lot of time in both Russia and the Ukraine, both in and around Moscow as well as in and around Kiev and the Crimea, your assessment of Russia is essentially right: It is a poor country struggling to learn how to become wealthy. For the past two decades they flirted with freedom and capitalism and saw wonderful yearly GDP, generally the highest numbers in the world. Now, with Putin, they want to return to top-down, Soviet-style leadership. This will not serve them well. It is a shame. One would have thought they would have learned something from the failure of the Soviet Union and the subsequent economic success.