Billions on the "Federation": for the Russian ship there are no real goals
After several years of procrastination, Roscosmos moved from the protracted stage of the drawings to the assembly of the reusable spacecraft, called the Federation. The Samara enterprise, which is part of the structure of the state corporation, has received an order for the manufacture of the body of the aggregate compartment and the returned apparatus. It would seem that we should rejoice, but a number of experts reacted to this news with great restraint. What is wrong with our "Federation", let's try to figure it out.
The development of the reusable ship, which should replace the reliable, but outdated and cramped "Unions", began in 2009. The official tasks of the Federation are to ensure the independence of Russia in access to space from its own territory, flights to orbit, delivery of goods and passengers to orbital stations, flights to the moon for the purpose of landing and its study. The domestic ship is very spacious and designed for six crew members. In the future, the "Federation" can be used for flights to the asteroid belt and even to Mars.
However, the fate of the project was not easy. Construction was supposed to begin in 2016, and the first flight took place in 2023, but the start of work was constantly postponed. The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, explained this by the activities of certain "negligent comrades" whom he "had to dismiss." Note that the "Federation" is somewhat simplified, leaving the stage of the drawings: previously it was assumed that the ship would be 80% composed of composite materials to reduce its weight, but now it will be all aluminum.
Consequently, our space breakthrough has nevertheless occurred, and in a few years the country will receive a modern reusable spacecraft that will provide us with a reliable path to the ISS and open us the way to the Moon, asteroids and Mars? Not certainly in that way. Federation will not fly to the ISS. A few months ago, Dmitry Rogozin said that the ship was not for the ISS, but for the moon and deep space. It turns out that on commercial launches we will still have triple "Unions", and a six-seater unit worth 57,56 billion rubles - for more global tasks.
But with flights to the Moon, and even more so to Mars, it is still more complicated. Russia does not have a superheavy rocket of the corresponding class. According to the most optimistic forecasts, it may appear no earlier than 2028. And big problems are also planned with this, said Ivan Moiseev, an expert at the Space Institute. policy:
Moiseev recalls that there are questions in time for the “efficiency” of spending Roskosmos funds. The fact that everything is not very smooth inside the state corporation may also be evidenced by the massive transfer to S7 Space of a part of the RSC Energia team that had previously worked on the Federation.
Test cosmonaut Mark Serov, who voluntarily left the structure of Roskosmos, explains that the work on the project is not carried out seriously enough. For example, the crew of a spacecraft should be formed and prepared now, but this does not happen. The development team tried to defend their position, but was not heard, and then wrote a letter of resignation of their own free will.
In the most unfavorable outcome, Russia may remain with the ship, on which tens of billions of budget rubles will be spent, and it will stand on the ground for a long time, since there are no real tasks for it yet.
The development of the reusable ship, which should replace the reliable, but outdated and cramped "Unions", began in 2009. The official tasks of the Federation are to ensure the independence of Russia in access to space from its own territory, flights to orbit, delivery of goods and passengers to orbital stations, flights to the moon for the purpose of landing and its study. The domestic ship is very spacious and designed for six crew members. In the future, the "Federation" can be used for flights to the asteroid belt and even to Mars.
However, the fate of the project was not easy. Construction was supposed to begin in 2016, and the first flight took place in 2023, but the start of work was constantly postponed. The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, explained this by the activities of certain "negligent comrades" whom he "had to dismiss." Note that the "Federation" is somewhat simplified, leaving the stage of the drawings: previously it was assumed that the ship would be 80% composed of composite materials to reduce its weight, but now it will be all aluminum.
Consequently, our space breakthrough has nevertheless occurred, and in a few years the country will receive a modern reusable spacecraft that will provide us with a reliable path to the ISS and open us the way to the Moon, asteroids and Mars? Not certainly in that way. Federation will not fly to the ISS. A few months ago, Dmitry Rogozin said that the ship was not for the ISS, but for the moon and deep space. It turns out that on commercial launches we will still have triple "Unions", and a six-seater unit worth 57,56 billion rubles - for more global tasks.
But with flights to the Moon, and even more so to Mars, it is still more complicated. Russia does not have a superheavy rocket of the corresponding class. According to the most optimistic forecasts, it may appear no earlier than 2028. And big problems are also planned with this, said Ivan Moiseev, an expert at the Space Institute. policy:
The most approximate estimates of the cost of launching a person to the moon go beyond the Russian budget. Of course, if you throw all the money into the space program, then you can meet it.
Moiseev recalls that there are questions in time for the “efficiency” of spending Roskosmos funds. The fact that everything is not very smooth inside the state corporation may also be evidenced by the massive transfer to S7 Space of a part of the RSC Energia team that had previously worked on the Federation.
Test cosmonaut Mark Serov, who voluntarily left the structure of Roskosmos, explains that the work on the project is not carried out seriously enough. For example, the crew of a spacecraft should be formed and prepared now, but this does not happen. The development team tried to defend their position, but was not heard, and then wrote a letter of resignation of their own free will.
In the most unfavorable outcome, Russia may remain with the ship, on which tens of billions of budget rubles will be spent, and it will stand on the ground for a long time, since there are no real tasks for it yet.
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