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Roscosmos is preparing a project for an orbital station of the future

A somewhat belated response to American President George W. Bush, who last year called on NASA to shift its emphasis from work in low-Earth orbit to more ambitious plans for the exploration of the Moon and Mars, was heard yesterday from the heads of Roscosmos. The deputy head of this department, Vitaly Davydov, speaking at the V International Aerospace Congress in Moscow, made it clear that even without cooperation with other leading space powers, Russia will be able to implement its programs.

According to the official, after 2015 Russia is going to launch a new manned station into orbit, which, to a greater extent than the current ISS, will be focused on research in the interests of Russia. Mr. Davydov assumes that “the volume of tasks to be solved in the interests of Russian users” will then be increased tens of times. The observation zone from space will also expand, which, due to the peculiarities of the location of the ISS, today, according to representatives of the space agency, covers only 10% of the territory of Russia. The name of the new station is not yet known, but some experts immediately remembered the last Russian manned space station, Mir, which Russia is believed to have sacrificed largely in order to concentrate its efforts on the ISS project.

It is possible that it was no coincidence that the statement about long-term “sovereign” plans of the Russian space industry was made right now, when NASA, having postponed the launch of the Atlantis shuttle indefinitely, is again forcing the partners in the ISS project to adjust the flight schedule. The Americans, who have not renounced their obligations and have not yet managed to restore the shuttle flight regime disrupted by the Columbia disaster, which was initially considered as one of the main means of delivering cargo to the station, are making both Roscosmos and the European Space Agency (ESA) nervous. Yesterday, both of these agencies, through the mouth of Vitaly Davydov and the head of the ESA permanent mission in Moscow, Alain Fournier-Sicre, confirmed their intentions to closely cooperate both within the framework of the ISS project and in other areas of space exploration.

Mr. Fournier-Sicre assured that the first flight to the station of the new European ATV cargo ship will take place no later than 2007. In addition, according to him, ESA, in principle, does not exclude the possibility of participating in the development of new Russian manned spacecraft. Provided that they will be focused not only on supporting the ISS, but also on lunar and Martian missions. Mr. Davydov, in turn, assured that Russia’s strategic plans are not limited only to near-Earth orbit. The Moon and Mars still remain in the field of view of Roscosmos, and “after 2025 it is planned to begin preparations for interplanetary expeditions,” says the deputy head of the space department.

However, demonstrating the breadth of plans designed for the next 20 years, Vitaly Davydov still considered it necessary to warn that their implementation will be possible only if the economic feasibility of long-distance manned flights is confirmed in advance. “Speaking about programs for the exploration of the Moon and Mars, it should be noted that before making a decision on the implementation of such expensive programs, it is necessary to once again analyze the benefits of them,” he emphasized. True, for the officials who will have to make such decisions, Mr. Davydov said in advance that the space industry still brings tangible returns. According to Roscosmos estimates, the economic effect from the implementation of the Federal Space Program over the past five years amounted to about 90 billion rubles.

Fedor SEREBRYANSKY