Russian/Georgia conflict affect ISS operations?

[Brolan]

TheMasterOfOrion wrote:

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I feel both might need at least 5 years of funding, research and testing. Japan had a nice looking spaceplane but they binned it and don't seem to be motivated on developing a new one. I imagine the European's could do it quicker than 5 because they have more people, new unmanned supply ships and their space program has been on a roll lately challenging NASA dominance with the robot Rosetta, Ariane launches etc


Here's some food for thought

[SIZE=-1]Japan's HOPE-X[/SIZE]
(has been trashed due to low funding and the Japanese prototype crashing in Sweden)

ESA ATV
(The ATV currently in orbit with the ISS has life support for astronauts but this is UNMANNED)

If NASA were smart it would have continued funding projects like the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle but politicians have been slowly chipping away at NASA's budget ever since Apollo was over.

I've read this years budget report for NASA and its not good space telescopes like TPF have been cut while the new spacecraft replacement won't fly until 2014, so considering potential delays I take that as 2015. The Bush vision for exploration and landing American people on Mars has been postponed to 2037 according to a statement Administrator Griffin made while traveling. The only real hope is for the next President McCain or Obama to seriously back exploration while fixing the current problems with the USA economy. If things do not turn around in the next few years I seriously expect NASA to be slowly outsourced to India
Say goodbye to Huston
New Delhi we have a problem

I knew the instant the Bush administration announced the Mars mission it was just a political ploy to get votes for the election and make Bush look good.

2037 = Never

[Timo]

I know you probably didn't mean it to come across like it does, Timo, but I find the notion that the European Space Agency would require American funding to develop a manned spacecraft capable of repeated use really quite insulting.

Why? Europe has never had the financial commitment to see a manned spacecraft program through - it's a project that offers zero or negative financial return, after all. And there aren't too many other reasons to do it, either. The only way I could see it happening within the next ten years is if somebody from the outside offers to pay good money for it. And the Americans in their upcoming predicament are the only ones who might possibly do that.

Timo Saloniemi

[diankra]

CaptainSpock wrote:

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Baikonur is in Uzbekistan.

Kazakhstan, surely? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur

[Sean Aaron]

diankra wrote:

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Kazakhstan, surely? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur

Yeah, I realised that today after reading about the Proton launch, my bad HeeHee!

I was in the right part of Asia at least!

[Johnny Rico]

Well, ironically, this predicament was addressed this morning on Fox News with former astronaut and Fox News contributor Thomas Jones. (He along with Robert "Beamer" Curbeam installed the Destiny lab back in 2001.)

He said that a couple things cold happen, well, really only one when you get right down to it.

First he was asked if any other country/agency (like mentioned here in this thread) could supply a vehicle until Orion gets up and running, but he said there's nothing that could be available for years to come so it wouldn't solve the problem.

But ultimately he said that the shuttle program could be extended on a limited basis (like 2 missions a year for resupplying and crew rotations), and putting a fast track on the Orion program. Getting the thing operational a year or two before it currently is scheduled now.

But all of this of course depends on if Russia decides to continue to support the ISS mission. Jones said that he doesn't think Russia will change its support for it, but you never know. If this situation gets otu of control, then all bets are off. Like I said, we may seeing science fiction become fact before our very eyes...and that'd be some major foreshadowintg 24 years in advance.

[Johnny Rico]

diankra wrote:

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Kazakhstan, surely? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur

LOL! We were both wrong.

[TheMasterOfOrion]

diankra wrote:

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Kazakhstan

Bullseye but I think Baikonur's days are numbered, the Russians are having political problems with some of their former soviet republics and the place which launched the first man into space will finally be shutdown in the next decade. Launch failures are costly because of dangers to the populations, one local islamic official wants to sue Russia because of hazards from toxic fuels. Sometimes on return to Earth the Russian rocket parts are looted by local Kazakh people who sell some of these sophisticated equipment for scrap metal

The solution

Russia's Soyuz program is moving to French Guiana in South America
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...9as46BNpf8pddA

KOUROU, French Guiana (AFP) — The Guiana Space Centre (CSG) is girding for a new era when it will host Russian rockets and Russian engineers who just a short while ago were Europe's space rivals.
For 40 years, this base on the coast of French Guiana was the prestigious symbol of French, and then European, ambitions in space.
On Sunday, a freighter is due to dock in Cayenne bearing a first consignment of 150 containers of equipment to fit out a launch pad at CSG where, from the second half of 2009, the first "European" Soyuz is scheduled to blast into space.
"The challenge will be to put together everything that was made in Russia with what's been built here in Guiana and to ensure that it works," said Jean-Yves Le Gall of Arianespace, the European company that has signed the Soyuz deal.
"All the civil engineering work on the pad will be finished by the end of August and after that, the task will be to install the Russian equipment," said Frederic Munoz, a launch executive with France's National Centre for Space Studies (CNES).
A team of 14 Russian technicians will be working on the first consignment, to be followed by nearly 90 more in the following weeks.

[tranquill]

[COLOR=#810081]Russia-Georgia conflict created a big headache for Israel which armed and trained Georgians for years - and now suddenly Russians threaten retaliation by supplying S-300 SAM batteries to Syria. Here is what a prominent Israeli analyst says: http://samsonblinded.org/blog/on-rus...and-israel.htm[/COLOR]

[TerriO]

Let's try to keep this confined to the potential impact on ISS operations, please.

Thank you.