Russians to invest $50 billion on new space program

[RAMA]

http://www.popsci.com/technology/ar...esting-50-billion-its-ambitious-space-program

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans for a new space initiative today. That includes shelling out more than $50 billion over the next seven years to complete the country's Vostochny cosmodrome, modernize rockets, and eventually send cosmonauts to the moon and even Mars.

I know some people think it's a space race, but there's already one going on, it's just that the race is more about technology and commercial involvement rather than nationalist propaganda.

RAMA

 

[not]

Isn't this 'dolgostroi'?

 

[R. Star]

Maybe this will light a fire under our rear ends and get our space program going again. We pretty much ignored the place until Sputnik and Gagarin were in orbit.

 

[publiusr]

Some designs being floated:
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/sodruzhestvo.html
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/yenisei5.html
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/angara100.html

 

[Dukhat]

While the Soyuz rocket technology comes straight out of the '50's Soviet era, there's no debating that its success rate to date is nothing short of phenomenal.

Now with that said, the recent issues plaguing the Russian space program have obviously been the catalyst for this change, and it's a good change. I just wish that both the Russians and Americans could have gotten together to jointly build rockets and spacecraft.

 

[publiusr]

Up until this announcement, Russian rocket enginners were being punished and talked town to, after the whole PHOBOS/GRUNT fiasco. The Proton Briz upper stage seems to be a real problem for them.

They are the oldest of the space powers, and that means old age has beset them the hardest, with all the Chief Designers dead.

 

[Gary7]

Hopefully there'll be some real entrepreneurial efforts going on this time around. If so, given Russian ingenuity, they could leap frog ahead of the rest of us. But perhaps this may also be an opportunity for collaborating. The USA has so much experience. Would be a shame to duplicate a lot of effort.

 

[T J]

Consitering the NASA director has already said we (Americans) won't be returning to the moon in "our lifetime", what ever that's supposed to mean, it might be a good for the Russians for trying to push ahead. Someone bloody has to!