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https://www.interfax.ru/world/921090

Soyuz MS-24 has docked to the ISS.

Crew: Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Choob, Loral O'Hara.

***

https://www.interfax.ru/world/921095

NASA is interested in the US-RU flights continuation till the end of the ISS project, whenever it happens, said Kenneth Bowersocks, the director of the NASA piloted flights program.

***

https://www.interfax.ru/russia/921098

The cause of the Luna-25 fall will be published at the end of September.

***

https://www.interfax.ru/russia/921100

Russia is ready to learn and launch a cosmonaut from DPRK, but the details were not yet discussed, said the Roscosmos director Yuri Borisov.

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16 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

https://www.interfax.ru/world/921090

Soyuz MS-24 has docked to the ISS.

Crew: Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Choob, Loral O'Hara.

***

https://www.interfax.ru/world/921095

NASA is interested in the US-RU flights continuation till the end of the ISS project, whenever it happens, said Kenneth Bowersocks, the director of the NASA piloted flights program.

***

https://www.interfax.ru/russia/921098

The cause of the Luna-25 fall will be published at the end of September.

***

https://www.interfax.ru/russia/921100

Russia is ready to learn and launch a cosmonaut from DPRK, but the details were not yet discussed, said the Roscosmos director Yuri Borisov.

That was an fast from launch to docking.  

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On 9/15/2023 at 11:20 PM, kerbiloid said:

https://www.interfax.ru/russia/921098

The cause of the Luna-25 fall will be published at the end of September.

Nevertheless, Borisov is already blaming the accelerometer: https://t.me/space78125/2027

KazSat-3, a Reshetnev-made TV satellite, almost bought the farm after ending up in a combination of Earth's and Moon's shadows.

https://www.zakon.kz/proisshestviia/6407011-efir-vsekh-telekanalov-propal-pochti-na-vsey-territorii-strany.html

A lot of my KSP sats went the same way...

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Interesting take: replicating Luna-25 is more difficult than building another Luna-27 due to all foreign equipment, so that's the option being considered (source: trust me bro)

https://t.me/frnved/1602

Given that they haven't started cutting metal for Luna-27, it's a very useful way to pass the buck

Edit: ...on the other hand, we're back to Luna-Resurs-1 and Luna-Resurs-2, as the program was before one of the innumerable budget cuts.

Edited by DDE
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  • 2 weeks later...

Ars Technica relays some news from the Russian space program:

https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/10/russia-talks-a-big-future-in-space-while-its-overall-budget-is-quietly-cut/

Politics aside, some key figures of its funding in the years to come:

Quote

According to an article in Lenta.Ru, translated by Rob Mitchell, the proposed Russian space activity budget for 2024 will comprise 285.95 billion rubles ($2.88 billion), followed by 271.91 billion rubles ($2.74 billion) in 2025 and 258.1 billion rubles ($2.6 billion US) in 2026. The article says that "the budget allocations will be aimed in particular to advance financing of investment projects for the Russian space and rocket industry and for the functions of the Roscosmos State Corporation."

They also present a shiny new PowerPoint presentation with a few new missions, some new rockets, and other assorted stuff that might generously be called "aspirational" at this stage in time.

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1 hour ago, Codraroll said:

Ars Technica relays some news from the Russian space program:

https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/10/russia-talks-a-big-future-in-space-while-its-overall-budget-is-quietly-cut/

Politics aside, some key figures of its funding in the years to come:

They also present a shiny new PowerPoint presentation with a few new missions, some new rockets, and other assorted stuff that might generously be called "aspirational" at this stage in time.

The ultra positive side of me wants to say Borisov realized how corrupt Roscosmos was, and thus learned they were overstating the needed amount previously.

So the bloat has been cut and things are getting set straight.

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24 minutes ago, SunlitZelkova said:

The ultra positive side of me wants to say Borisov realized how corrupt Roscosmos was, and thus learned they were overstating the needed amount previously.

So the bloat has been cut and things are getting set straight.

A slightly less ultra-positive interpretation is that they're finally getting stuff finished at Vostochny, leaving less need for construction money and more room for rockets in the budget, despite the total sums of money being the same.

Still, two billion dollars is hardly a fortune considering how expensive space stuff is. I would presume it is also subject to further budget cuts or inflation due to currency devaluation. It could buy some nice yachts, apartments in Dubai, and convenient foreign citizenship for the upper management, though.

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A question for @DDE or @kerbiloid. What was Russia’s plan for space exploration if the ISS did not go through? Would they have built a reduced Mir-2 on their own?

I’m writing a story where the US decided to go forward with the First Lunar Outpost project because the New Union Treaty is signed and there is one less political reason to motivate an ISS. So what does Russia/Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics do?

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The Russian ISS modules are the Mir-2 and backup Mir ones.

There were various designs of Mir-2, but to the date of the ISS building, the economics was making them look uncertain.

The Mir itself, afair, originally had 3 year long planned lifespan, later prolonged to 5.
Nauka is officially till 2027, may be prolonged till 2030 (actually, while it's breathing).
Mir was actually working for 15, and without the Progress crash probably could fly for several years more.

So, probably an improvised Mir-like station, made of ready-to-use and/or easy-to-finish modules: Zarya, Zvezda, Nauka, and the bunch of 2-meter small ones which are currently at ISS.

Which would live for 20 years, because it's less room to clean for the crew.

Also, as Soyuz was having a crew of 2 until the Soyuz-TMA (the 3rd one was added, and the room was expanded, for the price of various tricks and US money, to let an American astronaut fit the seat).

So, the post-Mir station would have a crew of 2(+2), like Mir.

P.S.
Technically, Mir was self-assembling, if the autodocking system had been finally debugged, as the docking and re-berthing procedure was automated.
The Proton launch complex was designed as automated ICBM launch position from the very beginning. Tower and etc. were added for civil usage.
This means, that a ready Mir station could be launched and assembled in several days, and the only limiting factor was the purpose and money.

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9 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

The ultra positive side of me wants to say Borisov realized how corrupt Roscosmos was, and thus learned they were overstating the needed amount previously.

Tonight in things that've never happened at government agencies...

2 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

A question for @DDE or @kerbiloid. What was Russia’s plan for space exploration if the ISS did not go through? Would they have built a reduced Mir-2 on their own?

You're assuming there was a plan. Mir was literally saved from a much earlier conversion to submarine by a shareholders' meeting of Energia.

A hypothetical (i.e. Gorbachev-Sakharov) USSR reboot would likely see a program that is still Russian-dominated and cash-strapped. There would not be a Vostochnyi, because it would be in an almost-enclave as Siberian republics would be elevated to the same status as Kazakhstan.

One interesting thing to keep in mind when considering the above scenario is Leonid Kuchma, chief designer and later CEO of Yuzhmash, and then the Ukrainian president in 1994-2005.

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https://www.reuters.com/world/nuclear-test-ban-body-concerning-if-russia-considering-quitting-treaty-2023-10-06/

Reuters says that Russia may start stopping the nuka-test banning treaty,

Spoiler

which is what is stopping the Orion Project development.
Not the antimatter one, but still...

 

 

On 10/6/2023 at 9:54 AM, DDE said:

There would not be a Vostochnyi

The former Svobodnyi, a ballistic rocket polygon at the rocket division site. Was functioning for years.

On 10/6/2023 at 9:54 AM, DDE said:

Gorbachev-Sakharov

Two clowns: Gorby - a tea cosy put by his pre-predecessor on the boiling kettle of party management and economic model.
Being licked around by the loving Western community, actually he was ruling the USSR during the Riga/Vilnius (and the gas-stopping play), Tbilisi, Sumghait, etc. performance, which the same community is same strongly hating, and was doing everything to prevent the USSR splitting. Electorate is such electorate, lol....
Actually, even the January'85 Plenum was obviously impossible for the Gorby team alone, let alone the April'87 Plenum.
Gorby was just a frontman speaker. Speaking a lot without doing anything was what he was strong in.

Sakharov - a former scientist, a fruit grown in his academician father's family greenhouse and since childhood having not much common touch with reality, one of the fusion nuke team, popped up by Solzhenitsin propaganda while others were secret. After being hen-pecked by his second wife (a daughter of a big Soviet propagandist) and leaving his three children from the first marriage, had gotten obsessed by her idea of the USSR destruction (after taking his part in making bombs to destroy the USA, and developing a nuclear tsunami).
His very first performances as the state council deputy shocked everyone, were treated in "he is not a traitor, just an idiot" way, and after that he became a reversed Scarecrow (from Oz), i.e. previously was wise, then became scary and stupid, so became a political nothing, used as a banner by his political colleagues.

The Siberian separatism was running after Gorbachev, and looks being digested by a stronger force since 2000s.
And since then the Vostochnyi became even more important than previously was.

Also, some strange things make to think that until ISS a no-station was (and still is) not an option, regardless of the shareholders' decisions.
Let's recall that Mir has been visited by several times more US astronauts than SU/RU cosmonauts, and that the so-called "Roerich Banner" was established onboard twice.
First before Priroda had docked, then for several years until the diving.
https://roerich-kz.translate.goog/publication/raxkosmos.htm?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=ru&_x_tr_hl=ru&_x_tr_pto=wapp
This kinda says that it's not clear who was interested in the USSR station more, the Russians or the Americans.
Idk, why. Maybe they grow a Philosopher's Stone onboard.

Edited by kerbiloid
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17 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Reuters says that Russia may start stopping the nuka-test banning treaty,

The Partial Test Ban Treaty is still in full effect, meaning no atmospheric nuclear explosions. So no Orion/PK-5000.

We can journey deeper/lower though, because underground stuff is allowed once dropped.

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On 10/7/2023 at 5:03 PM, SunlitZelkova said:

The Partial Test Ban Treaty is still in full effect, meaning no atmospheric nuclear explosions. So no Orion/PK-5000.

We can journey deeper/lower though, because underground stuff is allowed once dropped.

Just strap enough Protons to it to get it out of the atmosphere before lighting that nuclear candle. Simple. -_-

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2 hours ago, DDE said:

Confirmed coolant leak from Nauka's secondary radiator (sent up all the way back in 2010).

https://t.me/roscosmos_gk/11130

So this dates back to when Roscosmos was an agency and not a corporation, and was carried alongside the Rassvet by a Shuttle.

The big question is, was it the same subcontractor that supplied the radiator?

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