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>can’t get a replacement station Ok, let’s break this down from the start. Russia has launched 10 space stations. The ISS was built using modules that were bui
by vGPU 3y ago
>can’t get a replacement station
Ok, let’s break this down from the start. Russia has launched 10 space stations. The ISS was built using modules that were built for the Mir-2 station. The ISS was built on top of Russian modules.
Meanwhile, NASA wasn’t even able to fly their own astronauts to the ISS for a decade until Musk stepped in.
Russia has also demonstrated that they continue to have this capability as they added the first expansion to the ISS in over two decades recently.
I would hazard a guess that Russia’s capability in this area is much more… capable than the US at this time. They are also far more likely to be able to come to a collaboration agreement with china than the US is at this time. They also helped india kickstart their space program recently.
In conclusion: Russia bad? Maybe. But they weren’t stupid enough to outsource their manufacturing and allow the loss of institutional knowledge that the US has.
- dotnet00 3y agoRussia added a module that had been sitting around for 13 years and was only finally launched because warranties on some parts would've begun expiring. Then the first thing that module did was flip the station. While yes, they have a history of doing better than the US on space stations, the point is that their space industry is a shadow of what it used to be. This can be seen from how many next generation rockets, rocket engines and crewed vehicles they've announced over the years which have never really ended up amounting to much. For instance, the timeline on Orel makes Orion seem like a speedy development. Finally, while the US did make that mistake at first, they've very obviously more than recovered that knowledge considering how many different engines, launch vehicles, spacecraft etc are in actual (as in having working hardware to show and not just mockups and promises) development by several different American companies. Plus, much of the former Soviet space program can be attributed just as much to Ukraine, where a lot of the R&D happened ;)
- vGPU 3y agoIndeed. Though Rogozin was a net benefit to Roscosmos over the past decade, as can be seen by their current launch record, with 100 successful launches in a row over the past few years. However, he is definitely not a Musk type visionary. From what I know of him, he's a "fixer", that was sent in to clean up the ridiculous amounts of waste and corruption in the system. Under Borisov's management there are rumors that they are building a new satellite factory that should be starting production soon. And realistically, let's not forget that the US has always significantly lagged Russia in this field. If it wasn't for Operation Paperclip they would not have been competitive at all. >Ukraine Let's be honest here: Ukraine has existed as a state for less than 40 years in it's entire history. The geographic location of current Ukraine has nothing to do with the accomplishments of the former USSR. This is evidenced by the complete and utter lack of any accomplishment in the field by Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR. Side note: Gotta love this tweet threatening Musk for praising the Russian space program: https://twitter.com/KristiTalmadge/status/1103751764409495556?s=20 https://twitter.com/KristiTalmadge/status/110375176440949555...
- roelschroeven 3y agoI'm not holding my breath for Russia collaborating with China on a space station. China already has a space station. Before it launched there were talks of a collaboration with Russia, but China put their station in an orbit with quite a low inclination, which makes it practically impossible to reach from Russian launch sites. That indicates that China is not at all interested in working together with the Russians.
- vGPU 3y agoRussian and China signed a deal collaborating on the creation of a new station last year.