Russia aerospace da

links – mars

With the ISS slated to go out of business in 2020 the world needs to decide exactly where manned cosmonautics is going from there. Speaking at a professional roundtable, held on the fringes of the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, the new head ofRoscosmos space agency, Vladimir Popovkin, outlined what he described as a two-pronged future of manned space flights. "First, we need to continue our exploration of the Moon. Secondly, we need a better picture of how our solar system actually came about and for this we’ll have to fly to Mars and its satellites… This year we are going to send a probe to get rock samples from one of the Red Planet’s satellites," Popovkin said. The US, Russia, the European Space Agency, India, China and even Iran have long unveiled their plans of manned missions to the Moon. Some of these plans seem to have changed a tad over the past few years though with NASA setting its sights on a mission to an incoming asteroid  and Russia focusing on unmanned flights to the Moon and the creation of a permanent base there. A manned flight to Mars still remains an overarching priority though, Vladimir Popovkin said. "Man has already walked on the Moon, so doing it again makes no sense… Mars is a different… It’s a whole new objective calling for new breakthrough technology and a whole new exploration track too," Popovkin said. In November NASA will be sending a science lab to Mars with Russian and European instruments on board and here the ISS could  serve as an orbital training center for  future manned flights to the Red Planet. Lang-haul space missions require new sources of energy and new engines too, said Vitaly Lapota, the head of Russia’s Energiyaspace rocket corporation: "There is one thing we all need to know and that is Mars is the farthest we can possibly go on a manned mission. To go beyond this limit we need a new sourse of energy…" "Nuclear energy could answer this question, the participants agreed, but  viable nuclear jet engines are still a thing of the future…" Vladimir Popovkin then reminded that the Russian space industry is one of the few competitive  sectors around and here Russia is ready for equal-footed cooperation with everyone and has everything it needs to take up between 10% and 12% of the global space exploration market.

Ilya Arkipov and Lyubov Pronina, reporters for Bloomberg News, “Russia Speeds Up Space Mission Plans as U.S. May Cut Spending”, April 5^th, 2011, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-04/russia-speeds-up-moon-mars-plans-as-u-s-may-cut-space-funds.html, accessed on June 22, 2011, CJJ

Mars Mission Russia may be able to complete a Mars mission within 12 years if it is included in the new federal space program, Karash said. Roscosmos is working on a plan that will start in 2015, focusing more on outer space than before, Perminov said in the interview. A flight to Mars is more likely in cooperation with other space programs, according to the Roscosmos plan. Roscosmos last June began a Mars flight simulation program, locking three Russians, two Europeans and a Chinese astronaut in 1,750 square-meter (18,800-square-foot), five-module complex to live there in isolation for 17 months. Russia will need a new rocket, a new manned spacecraft for crews of between four and six members and a new launch site to operate manned flights as early as in 2018, Perminov said. The new rocket, Rus-M, which is to become Russia’s main vehicle for manned spaceflights, should be ready for the 2015 start of Russia’s new space program, he said. Cosmodrome Vostochny in Russia’s Far East will launch unmanned craft from the end of 2015, in line with the Roscosmos plan. The country will continue to use Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome until 2050. Russia is also considering building a new-generation orbital station, according to Roscosmos. Space Tourism The need to accommodate expanded crews has halted travel by paying space tourists 2009, Perminov said, adding that space tourism may resume in 2013. Astronauts from other countries have to wait in line as demand for flights to the ISS is growing and Russia’s capacity is limited by the number of spacecraft, Perminov said. Russia would be able to earn $1 billion a year if it could carry out all requested launches, including commercial flights on its Proton and Soyuz rockets, he said. “It would be good to have two, three or more tourists a year,” Perminov said. Roscosmos is in talks with Russian spacecraft maker RKK Energia to increase production, he said.

links – space tourism

William Harwood, staff writer for CBS News, “Resumption of Soyuz tourist flights announced, January 12^th, 2011, http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1101/12soyuz/, accessed on June 23, 2011, CJJ