Putin MAGA ISS divorce Dotard & marry Xijinping! NASA will fall off like space junk!

[Ang4MohTrump]

The US portion of ISS DOES NOT HAVE ANY PROPULSION meaning when detached from the Russian portion - where propulsion is, NASA portion will fall off like an uncontrollable space junk! Crashing on to earth! MAGA!



https://www.inverse.com/article/16077-russia-will-not-send-u-s-astronauts-to-iss-after-2018

Russia Will Not Send U.S. Astronauts to ISS After 2018
NASA has few other options for sending people to the space station.
By Neel V. Patel on May 24, 2016
Russia will not conduct any more space launches to send U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station after 2018, according to a release issued by the country’s TASS news agency.

“We are working with our partners under the effective contracts, but we have no plans for concluding new ones,” Sergey Saveliev, the deputy chief of Russia’s state-run space agency Roscosmos, told TASS.

Without question, Russian-American relations are at an all time low since the end of the Cold War. One of the brighter points to this conflict has been the fact that NASA and Roscomos have continued to get along with their collaborative projects and missions in relative peace. Since the shuttering of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, the U.S. has relied exclusively on sending its astronauts to the ISS aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft launches.

Unfortunately, this has put the United States at the mercy of Russia in the event any kind of conflict would arise. “We’re in a hostage situation,” former NASA administrator Michael Griffin once told ABC News. “Russia can decide that no more U.S. astronauts will launch to the International Space Station, and that’s not a position that I want our nation to be in.”

The situation hit a nadir when Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin tweeted in 2014:

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“After analyzing the sanctions against our space industry, I suggest to the USA to bring their astronauts to the International Space Station using a trampoline.”

It seems Russia is now making good on subtle threats in the last few years to end their space relationship with the U.S.

The big question now is how will the United States continue to send astronauts to the ISS after 2018? Well, that year coincides with the test launch of NASA’s new Space Launch System. The goal of SLS is to launch rockets that can deliver spacecraft to places beyond Earth’s orbit, but there’s no reason to think it can’t also be used to send people to the ISS.

That just leaves the question of what kind of spacecraft will be delivering people to the station itself. NASA’s successor space vehicle to the shuttle Orion won’t be ready for crewed mission until 2023.

The agency instead may have to rely on private companies for such vehicles. Two of the most promising options are Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which will hopefully conduct a manned launch in 2018, and the SpaceX Dragon Capsule, which will be conducting crewed tests just next year.

NASA has no qualms with working with private companies to fulfill its missions — especially American ones. The agency has enthusiastically worked with SpaceX and others to conduct ISS resupply missions for the last couple of years, allowing those companies to stretch their space legs and become more experienced with advancing their launch operations and technologies.

That’s critical, because the lack of experience on the part of those countries has reared its ugly head time and time again. After all, there have been multiple ISS resupply missions that have resulted in explosive failure — literally.

If NASA’s only recourse for sending astronauts to the ISS after 2018 are Elon Musk and others, they had better ensure those companies can guarantee the safety of those men and women aboard those spacecraft as well as Russia could with the Soyuz missions. Right now, it’s too early to say they can.

Love space? Listen to the latest episode of our new podcast: I Need My Space


https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a19159719/roscosmos-china-collaboration/

Russia's Space Agency Might Break Up With the U.S. To Get With China

After almost three decades of cooperation, Roscosmos is now eyeing a future in space with China.

By Anatoly Zak
Mar 8, 2018
379

Getty ImagesVCG

Last month Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos State Corporation, began work on a contingency plan that would reshape its future in space exploration. The country could shift its human spaceflight cooperation from the U.S. to China, sources within Roscosmos told Popular Mechanics. One possible scenario includes Roscosmos exiting the International Space Station program early.

Russian experts were instructed to put forward ideas by March 15, including concepts for potential contributions to the planned Chinese space station along with a joint Russian-Chinese plans to send humans to the Moon.

A Historic Relationship
If adopted, the new strategy would mark a historic moment for the Russian space program, which has cooperated with the U.S. for nearly three decades. In 1993, not long after the breakup of the USS, the Russian and American human spaceflight programs (along with Europe, Canada, and Japan) joined together to build the ISS. Lately, though, worsening relations between Moscow and Washington have prompted Roscosmos to seek its own way in space, which could happen before or after the ISS’s current expiration date some time between 2024 and 2028.

For a number of years, the Kremlin considered building an independent program for human spaceflight with plans ranging from a relatively modest space station in the Earth’s orbit to ambitious proposals to build a permanent base on the Moon. But under current economic strains, the Russian government needed an international partner—at least for the time being.

Space Shuttle Atlantis docking with the Mir space station in 1995.
Getty ImagesSovfoto/UIG
Last summer, Moscow reluctantly agreed to join NASA-led studies of a habitable outpost in orbit around the Moon that would succeed the ISS in mid-2020s. While the near-lunar station remains on the drawing board even as U.S.-Russian relations sour, Roscosmos decided to look at the alternatives. At the end of February, the corporation instructed its strategists to evaluate cooperation with China by supplying Russian hardware for the Chinese space station.

In 2020, Beijing plans to launch the first piece of its new multi-modular outpost similar to the Russian Mir space station. For a number of years, Chinese space officials have been inviting other space powers to contribute to the planned orbital base, but the response was lukewarm due to financial and political concerns. Now there are signs that the situation might be slowly turning to China’s favor. Besides Russia, the European Space Agency, ESA, and Japan are now reportedly re-examining their participation in the Chinese space station project.

A Mismatch Made in Space
In June 2017, Roscosmos head Igor Komarov said that Russia had been invited to participate in the Chinese space station but admitted to a mismatch in plans. Russian engineers first considered the country’s active involvement in the Chinese space station in 2015, but at the time, Roscosmos hoped that China would assemble its outpost in the orbit easily accessible from Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Russia rents from Kazakhstan.

Since then, China informed its potential contributors that the station would be inserted into an orbit inclined between 41 and 43 degrees toward the Equator. Baikonur is situated at a latitude of 46 degrees, which means that the Russian missions heading to the Chinese space station would have to conduct propellant-hungry maneuvers to reduce their orbital inclination.

Sea Launch Ocean Odyssey platform, 2009.
Wikimedia Commonsjurvetson
One partial solution to this orbital mismatch between Russia and China would be the Sea Launch platform. The Russian-owned, California-based floating launch pad offers flexibility in accessing various orbits thanks to its ability to sail to the most convenient launch position. A Russian private company is currently working on reactivating the Sea Launch after a long hiatus.

Sea Launch would currently only launch robotic cargo vehicles and space station modules, leaving open the issue of delivering Russian cosmonauts to the Chinese space station. According to industry sources, Roscosmos was unlikely to agree for its cosmonauts to hitchhike to the station aboard the Chinese Shenzhou vehicles, as China proposed, without having full access to the station with its own passenger spacecraft.

To the Moon and Back

Jaxa
On Saturday, Roskosmos and China National Space Administration, CNSA, signed a memorandum of intentions on possible joint effort in the exploration of the Moon with robotic probes.

Russia considers yet-to-be-launched automated lunar landers as precursors for the future habitable lunar base which would be built in the polar regions of the Moon. China also tabled preliminary plans to send expeditions to the Moon after finishing the assembly of its space station. Russia and China could see their goals in space converge if the U.S. fails to fully draw in one of these two countries into its own orbit.

The latest Russian overtures to China are in very early stages and might not result in any actual change in policy. The U.S. also wouldn't be completely left out in the cold, but would be forced to consider commercial spaceflight options, like SpaceX or United Launch Alliance. But the mere fact that such an option is on the table at Roscosmos’ headquarters is a huge deal, and the final decision, whatever it might be, could have long-running implications for the future of human space flight in all three countries.

 

[Ang4MohTrump]

http://www.iflscience.com/space/russia-threatens-ban-us-access-iss-retaliation-sanctions/

Russia Threatens to Ban US Access to ISS In Retaliation To Sanctions
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After Russia refused to stand down in its invasion of Ukraine in February of this year, the United States imposed sanctions in disapproval and eliminated a great deal of collaboration between NASA and Roscosmos. The one glaring exemption was missions related to the International Space Station. While the ISS is jointly controlled by the US, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada, astronauts depend on Soyuz rockets launched from Russia for access.

Less than a month later, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin voiced disapproval of this decision, saying they would go toe-to-toe with US threats and could potentially cut off access to the ISS. He also quipped that the US should deliver its astronauts to the ISS via trampoline. At the time of that announcement, the United States had two astronauts onboard, leaving some to speculate about their fate. Rick Mastracchio returned to Earth just yesterday, but Steven Swanson is still onboard. Gregory Wiseman is currently scheduled to launch to the ISS on May 28 for Expedition 40 and that plan does not appear to have changed.

In the latest development, Rogozin announced yesterday that Russia will no longer supply the rocket engines currently used to launch military satellites. There were threats of disabling 11 US GPS base stations. He also alluded to Russia’s withdrawal from the ISS in 2020, saying it will bar NASA’s entry to the ISS. What’s really at stake here?

Russian rocket engines are used by the United Launch Alliance for their rockets that are used to bring military and defense satellites into space. However, the ULA has stated that they already have enough engines stockpiled to perform the next two years’ worth of launches. Additionally, privately-owned SpaceX already has operational rockets that can be commissioned for use, should the need arise. All of the components for the Falcon 9 rockets are designed and manufactured in the United States. While SpaceX is currently fulfilling a contract with NASA, they are seeking to gain a contract with the Department of Defense as well.

The 11 GPS base stations that Russia is threatening to turn off are used to monitor tectonic plate activity. Without them, it will eliminate many data points necessary for understanding the motions of the plates which need to be accounted for with extreme accuracy. This would be a huge headache to the scientists who use the information to understand earthquakes and volcanos. None of them contribute America’s GPS network and it will not affect military or civilian GPS use at all; just the scientists. Rogozin stated that if the US does not allow their GLONASS base stations to be installed on US soil by the end of summer, the GPS units are getting turned off.

If Russia won’t allow American astronauts to travel to and from the ISS using their spacecraft after 2020, that’s actually not a huge problem despite the fact that NASA cancelled the shuttle program in 2011. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft could launch from the US as soon as 2017 with the capability of carrying seven astronauts as once. Orbital Sciences, another privately-owned company, is also working toward delivering humans to a low Earth orbit. However, Orbital Sciences uses a modified Russian NK-33 engine in its Antares rockets.

However, there is one aspect of Rogozin’s statement that deserves considerable pause, and that is his claim that Russia could withdraw from the ISS in 2020, when the US was hoping to utilize the ISS until 2024. The space station is divided into segments: The Russian section that is solely controlled in Moscow is used for docking when bringing crew or cargo onboard, and it is also capable of operating independently. The same cannot be said for US compartments, which is fairly problematic. While the US does have the Interim Control Module that could be used in place of the Russian module, there are some logistical concerns of launching and installing the unit. It is unknown if Russia would actually go so far to completely alienate not just Americans, but the 11 other countries governing the ISS as well.

The bottom line is that this back-and-forth disagreement over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has nothing to do with scientists, yet those are the people who will suffer the most over all of these sanctions. Since 2001, the International Space Station has been a place where over 200 people from 15 countries have come together in the pursuit of exploration and knowledge, despite any socioeconomic or political differences. Though the US will be able to overcome any roadblocks put into place by Russia, the whole situation is still fairly sad. That said, 2020 is a long way away, and a great number of things could happen before then. We can only hope that common sense will prevail so we can all return to peaceful and productive scientific collaboration.




https://www.quora.com/If-a-war-happ...appen-to-the-astronauts-and-cosmonauts-in-ISS

If a war happens between Russia and the USA, what would happen to the astronauts and cosmonauts in ISS?
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6 Answers

Charlie Garcia, Educator at the Cosmosphere
Answered Apr 13 2015 · Author has 162 answers and 1.5m answer views
I will disagree with Malcolm Sargeant, and the last paragraph of the description of this question. I highly suspect that if war broke out between the United States of America and Russia the International Space Station would be a glimmering beacon of peace in the night sky.
1. First and foremost, the astronauts on board ISS are trained to work out interpersonal problems quickly and permanently. Whatever the cause of the war or whoever was at fault the astronauts would not hold it against each other.
2. The astronauts are friends. Training takes years, it occurs in many places, and in that time the astronauts become team members and friends. One does not simply turn on a friend because a legislator somewhere said "let's have a war"
3.Recently the mission team that determines the cargo load for the Soyuz spacecraft removed the gun from the survival kit. No more guns on the ISS. It's a peaceful space station.
I suspect that in the event that hostilities began, the crew aboard ISS would anxiously watch and hope for a swift and positive resolution. I think they would continue normal science work, but probably record and down-link a video asking hostilities to stop. Relevant agencies would probably try to keep ISS going for as long as possible while politicians on both sides try to kill. Due to the altruistic nature of science, I suspect that NASA Roscosmos partnership would survive during the war and ESA/JAXA/CSA would try and moderate as much as possible. In the event that the crew had to return from station during hostilities, I also believe that the crew would be returned to the relevant country as a gesture of goodwill. The days of MAD and probable armageddon in any war are long past.

Space is the hope for the future of humanity as a better species. No space agency wants to mess that up. ISRO and CNSA are not part of the ISS program but I believe that they are also enlightened by the possible future of humans cooperating in space. (Editorial: I think we should add ISRO/CNSA to the program ASAP, but nobody asked my opinion). Space is for the better parts of mankind, and let's keep it that way.
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[Ang4MohTrump]

https://item.btime.com/m_99349b257ab5f6251

美国邀请俄罗斯共建国际空间站，俄罗斯:我加入中国了，你看着办

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2018-04-09 00:44:05 6466 现代兵器谱

航空事业一直是很多大国比较重视的一个领域，在1993年的时候，美国和俄罗斯共同建造了世界上第一个国际空间站。到现在为止，美国在国际空间站上投入的维护费每年高达40亿美元，虽然这个空间站是美俄联手打造，但是通往这个空间站的唯一途径只有俄罗斯的宇宙飞船。

但是俄罗斯是讲道理，不讲情义的，如果美国想要使用宇宙飞船的话，也必须按照往返一次12000万美元的价格支付费用。但是目前来说不是钱的事，而是技术的问题，因为这个空间站马上就要达到使用年限了，所以必须要再重新建造一个。

美国和日本请求俄罗斯一起在建造一个空间站的时候，却不了得到了俄罗斯要加入中国空间站计划的消息。因为当时中国要加入国际空间站建造的队伍，却被美国无情的拒绝了。所以我国这些年一直在默默地专注于自己的空间站计划，到目前为止这个计划已经进行到了第二步，还剩最后一步就可以实现这一伟大目标。

俄罗斯方面对美日的回应，无疑是给了他们重重的一击，美国现在只有两部可以走，一个是和其他国家合作，而另一个是加入我国的空间站计划，当然如果他们选择第二条路的话，主动权就取决于我们了。

大家对此有什么看法呢?



http://www.china.com.cn/chinese/TEC-c/50132.htm


美俄吵架“情人”分家 国际空间站祸起萧墙
杨政


几年前，当国际空间站开始筹建之时，这个规模巨大的国际合作项目曾被誉为冷战结束后，国际大家庭大合作的典范之作。然而，现在看来，国际空间站并非“模范家庭”。最近，在这一“人类太空之家”里，在一种新的冷战思维的阴影下，刚刚度过“蜜月”的太空居民们开始分家住。有人预言，过不了多久，俄罗斯和美国的太空舱或脱离对接，或彻底脱离轨道，最后坠毁在公海里。
今年7月14日，美国的“亚特兰大”航天飞机将波音公司制造的闸门式隔离舱送上了国际空间站。俄罗斯航天专家认为，这次例行的太空飞行极可能对国际空间站——这一耗资1000亿美元左右的“世纪计划”的命运产生重大的影响。

国际空间站装上这一设备之后，对于所有参加国的宇航员们来说，就意味着他们不再生活在一个共同的大家庭里了。现在，俄美各自的工作舱已经独立存在。美国宇航员已经穿上了自制的太空服，从自己的工作舱出口到太空行走。以前，美国人都得穿上俄制太空服，通过俄“星辰”服务舱，实现太空行走。如此说来，美国的闸门式隔离舱，与其说是技术设备，倒不如说是政治筹码。因为美国的工作舱自装上该设备之后，就完全独立于俄罗斯了。有人甚至断言，俄美之间的“太空铁幕”业已形成。

此后，莫斯科也宣布建立自己的太空出口舱。据报道，俄的对接舱已运抵哈萨克斯坦的拜克努尔发射场，并将于9月中下旬被送上国际空间站。现已十分清楚，由于俄美双方均缩减预算，原准备在国际空间站上再建造新工作舱的计划极可能泡汤。由此看来，等待着国际空间站的命运是：或被强制分开住，或是彻底的废弃。俄罗斯业内人士甚至不排除，如情况按悲观方式发展，俄美太空工作舱或最终解体，在各自轨道上单独飞行，或彻底脱离轨道，最后坠毁在世界公海。 　

太空对抗

悲观方式的生成很可能是在俄美两国在导弹防御问题上达不成妥协的情况下出现。众所周知，建立轨道站，主要是用于军事目的，以取得太空优势。俄罗斯“和平”号空间站就曾进行过军事实验。美国人为维护国家安全，在“星球大战计划”的框架内，于上世纪80年代中期萌生了雄心勃勃的空间站计划。

但8年过去了，实际耗资100亿美元，但美国自己的太空轨道站却未见踪影。前美国参院航天科学分委会委员詹姆斯·曼西坦率地承认，“美国航空航天局缺乏建造一个‘大家伙’的能力。”

美国人凭借自己的精明和“创造性”，终于找到了出路。他们花小钱，办大事，自己造不出空间站，就通过拉拢俄罗斯参加国际空间站开发计划的方法，把以前的竞争对手变成了合作伙伴。俄罗斯人不知不觉地把“高精尖”的科学工艺向美国人拱手相让。

现在，国际空间站对美国来讲，正逐渐失去意义。因为在现在的这个国际空间站上，美国要实施自己国家的军事计划就成了问题。俗话说，当情人彼此已不感兴趣时，爱情之花也就快要凋谢了。对于美国人来说，“爱情”的顷刻消失，是在布什总统宣布要建立国家导弹防御体系之后。据俄总统战略稳定问题顾问谢尔盖耶夫元帅透露，美国已开始在阿拉斯加修建发射反导导弹的发射井，并准备向太空发射2000颗装有反导技术的卫星。作为“星球大战”的翻版，美国的确非常需要太空轨道站，但首先必须剔除俄罗斯人。到那时，美国人在太空就有了自己的指挥中心。这一计划在技术上是很容易实现的——只要让俄罗斯的工作舱与国际空间站脱离。当然，美国人可不立即采取行动。据俄航空航天局专家透露，目前，作为国际空间站组成部分的美“尤尼奇”号和“杰斯吉尼”号工作舱过于简单，不能作为未来美空间站的独立组成舱。与此同时，美国现已完全能够将缺少部分对接在自己的工作舱上（其中包括装有机动发动机的航天器组件），同时还可使其在自己轨道上飞行。对于美国和其欧洲伙伴来说，用于完成这一任务的开支并不多，因为主要的功能货舱“曙光”号已经完成。

事态如这样发展，那么，俄航空航天局的选择余地就很小了：或彻底退出国际空间站，或变卖自己的工作舱，然后逐步建造自己的“和平—2号”空间站。但明眼人清楚，俄罗斯想重现苏联时代的辉煌似乎已不大可能，国家已不是那个国家，也真没那个份儿了。俄政府副总理克列巴诺夫承认，仅维持“和平”号轨道站一项开支就差不多吃掉了俄全部航天事业的预算总和。当初俄同意参加开发国际空间站计划，是为了能赢得15—20年的喘息，好利用这一时间积蓄力量。

国际空间站原计划将在太空停留15至20年。由于俄美作为空间站主要住户闹不团结，两国又在不断削减对空间站的投资，空间站辅助部件的生产不是被拖延，就是被取消。而国际空间站很可能要变成太空的“胡子”工程。基于以上原因，国际空间站很可能提前结束历史使命。这就意味着，国际空间站将可能遭遇“和平”号轨道站的相同命运——坠毁在世界公海。

大打折扣的幻想

美国总统布什入主白宫后，立即作出了削减对国际空间站拨款的决定，这使俄罗斯颇感不快。

去年，美航空航天局发现，除了在2002—2006年期间用于国际空间站建设的70亿美元，至少还需要40亿美元。据报道，美国削减对国际空间站的投资金额最后将在明年4月国会通过年度预算时才能确定，但俄业内人士说，美国航空航天局现在就已计划取消在空间站建设3个舱室。计划取消的3个舱室是：可运载7人的下降救生装置、用于国际空间站大角度运转的动力舱和按美国标准设计的4人生活舱。

俄对此的反应更使国际空间站的未来命运扑朔迷离。在国际空间站合作伙伴国航天部门负责人会议前夕，俄航空航天局负责人科普捷夫威胁说：“如果美国人不回心转意，俄也将采取同样步骤，减少对国际空间站的参与份额。”

众所周知，对太空的探索和研究的实际回报暂时不会很大。决定建造国际空间站之初的说法是：对宇宙进行基础科学研究、研究并取得新材料和生物标本等。反对建立国际空间站的人则认为，计划中多数的医学研究已经在“和平”号上搞过了，而生产各种新材料的工作完全可以在耗费不多的不载人的飞行器里进行。

最后，美航空航天局负责人戈尔金不得不亮出了底牌。他说，美航空航天局最初就提出了一个口号：质优、快速、便宜；压根儿就没想在国际空间站上培植大豆。美国人的真正目的是飞向火星和重返月球。要实现这一目标，就必须取得在太空长时间停留的经验和建造大型宇宙飞船的轨道基地。

从戈尔金的这番话可以断定，美国人一开始就抱定一个目的，即利用俄罗斯人来实现自己的“宏伟蓝图”，一旦达到目的，就把俄罗斯一脚踢开。当然，美国人从未直截了当地这样说过，但莫斯科从一开始就未排除过这种可能性。当初，俄航空航天部门的负责人们手攥空拳，穷得叮当，实在没有其他选择。

不理想的住宅

俄罗斯为什么迟迟舍不得把“和平”号坠毁？主要是因为莫斯科不完全相信美国。当俄罗斯准备向国际空间站上自己的工作舱发送航天货物时，美国人都公开扯俄的后腿儿。俄美作为国际空间站最主要的房客之间的矛盾和分歧早就不是什么秘密了。俄美在发展航天事业等问题上的观点就不完全统一。俗话说，饱汉不知饿汉饥。如果说，美国人可以无忧无虑地遥望银河深处，而俄罗斯人则要靠航天来挣面包钱的，俄开展太空旅游的想法由此产生。

2000年末，俄法两国在法驻俄大使馆签署了俄法宇航员共同登上国际空间站的协议，俄事先并未征询美国人的意见。俄航空航天局负责人科普捷夫向日本人也提出了相同的商业建议。在俄罗斯人看来，太空旅游的生意大有可为。根据使用和管理国际空间站的计划，俄每半年需要更换一次用于防火目的的“联盟”号对接舱，太空旅游者完全可以搭车。

美国百万富翁蒂托花了2000万美元，才圆了太空梦。也正是由于他的太空之旅，才使国际空间站的合住住宅的特点显现出来。起先，美航空航天局明令禁止自己的同胞到美国的工作舱停留。后来，俄美两国的有关部门为此也大吵大嚷，闹得沸沸扬扬。

所有合住房都不是理想的住宅，可别的房子又没有。现在，国际空间站上已乱成一团了。前不久就曾发生过一次事故：所有的电脑死机，联系中断，空气再生系统损坏，到处都是太空垃圾。第一批宇航员开始在国际空间站工作时就发生过不愉快事件：美宇航员博斯在外空把一个重8公斤的部件弄坏了。为了不让这个零件把空间站碰坏，不得不调整空间站的轨道位置。

既然事情都闹到了要公布合住房子的费用明细的份上，甚至要分家，国际空间站的宏伟建设计划意义也就不大了。俄航空航天“能源”公司负责人谢苗诺夫辛辣地说：“美国空间站上两美元一个的螺栓在俄集市上最多也就值一个卢布。”美国人则反唇相讥，抱怨说：“俄制‘星辰’号服务舱虽然个头像中学生乘坐的公共汽车，但里面却完全不能住人，只有供3人休息的两张小床。舱内消音设备功率太小，噪音太大，以至于宇航员睡觉时不得不戴上耳罩。”这样的指责不胜枚举。

《生活时报》 2001年8月10日

 

[Ang4MohTrump]

https://k.sina.cn/article_6449732629_1806f1c15001004f1r.html?http=fromhttp

俄罗斯：退出国际空间站，与中国一起造新一代太空站

兵仔美好的生活
02月24日21:23 关注

国际空间站是由六个国际主要太空机构联合推进的国际合作计划，美国国家航空航天局、俄罗斯联邦航天局、欧洲航天局、日本宇宙航空研究开发机构、加拿大国家航天局和巴西航天局参与该计划，作为一种运行于距离地面400公里的地球轨道上的该计划所属航天器，国际空间站无疑是尖端科技的汇集地，谁进入这个“俱乐部”，谁就会在未来太空军事争夺中占据先机。

很明显，俄罗斯作为全球级别的航天强国，已经占领了制高点。当年，国际空间站建设之初，这一团队接纳了俄罗斯，但是没有接纳中国。其中的原因主要是俄罗斯在航天技术与美国并驾齐驱，前苏联和俄罗斯曾连续发射8座空间站，美国急需俄罗斯的技术积累，而中国则在该领域“一穷二白”，参与国际空间站基本上“只学习无贡献”，因此美国借口国际空间站可能涉及军用技术，拒绝中国的参与请求，这一禁止就是20多年，直到现在还禁止中国航天人员和美国交流。

尽管美国有“歧视”的态度，但是俄罗斯在关注本国发展的同时，俄罗斯也关注其他新兴航天大国的进步。比如，俄航天学部委员约宁先生就曾经表示，目前中国的航天技术进步主要体现在能够独立打造空间站，中俄如何合作打造下一代太空站，完全能打造媲美甚至超过现有国际空间站的新太空基地。

对于中国的航天事业，我们的专家学者也有自己的见解。比如，“天宫二号”总设计师朱枞鹏同志就曾经表示，“天宫二号”的服役时间将比预计更高，预计在2020年左右建成，欢迎外国航天机构参与合作。由于俄罗斯航天专家已经表示了乐于与中国合作打造未来航天设施，那么中国的欢迎队列中，必须也包括俄罗斯。

事实上，中国已经与美国之外的主要西方国家签署协议，同意在未来开放“天宫”供西方宇航员进行太空科学实验，届时各国飞行员将乘中国或俄罗斯的载人飞船登陆空间站，当然，这一切将在中国的主导之下。2024年，国际空间站将报废退役坠毁南太平洋，新国际空间站将重启炉灶，这就是中国乘机插入的良好时机。目前，俄罗斯拥有丰富的太空技术，又有着探索宇宙的雄心，但是资金是最大短板，从这点来看，在国际空间站即将“寿终正寝”的情况下，俄罗斯透露出要退出国际空间站项目的意向，转而与中国合作其实不难理解。

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[Ang4MohTrump]

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme...rom-visiting-the-iss-due-to-ukraine-sanctions

Russia will ban the US from visiting the ISS, due to Ukraine sanctions

• By Sebastian Anthony on May 14, 2014 at 8:40 am
• 91 Comments

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Welcome to Cold War 2, folks. Following increased diplomatic tensions over Russia’s annexation of the Ukraine’s Crimea, Russia is threatening to ban the US from using the International Space Station. Furthermore, and perhaps more significantly in the short term, Russia will ban the US from buying the Russian RD-180 rocket engines that are currently used by the ULA’s Atlas V launcher to put the US military’s satellites into space. These sanctions, issued by Russia’s deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin, come in response to the US’s own sanctions that restrict exports to Russia. If you thought that the International Space Station — the most significant testimony of US-Russia cooperation following the Cold War — would be exempt from this geopolitical tit-for-tat, you were sadly mistaken.

Russia’s threats are perfectly timed. Since the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011, the only way that astronauts and cosmonauts can travel to and from the ISS is via the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Just this morning, the three crew members of ISS Expedition 39 returned to Earth via a Soyuz capsule after spending 188 days in space. A couple of weeks ago, following the US first sanctioned Russia over the Crimea crisis, Rogozin said that “I suggest the US delivers its astronauts to the ISS with a trampoline.” At the time we thought it was just a joke — but now, Rogozin says that Moscow will reject America’s request to access the ISS after 2020, and will ban the US from using the Russian rocket engines that currently lift the Atlas V launch system into space. Russia will also shut down the 11 GPS ground stations within its borders, but this is more likely a direct response to the US not allowing Russia to build GLONASS ground stations within its borders.


ISS module configuration. The Russian portion is in the top left (aft), while the US section is in the bottom right (forward).

It isn’t entirely clear how Russia will prevent the US from accessing the ISS after 2020. It can stop carrying US astronauts in its Soyuz spacecraft, that’s for sure. But by 2020, it’s highly likely that the US will have an alternative method of reaching the ISS, via SpaceX’s manned Dragon craft. NASA’s Orion (kind of the Space Shuttle replacement) probably won’t be ready for manned flight until at least 2021. It might be that Rogozin isn’t even referring to the transport of US astronauts aboard Soyuz, though. “The Russian segment can exist independently from the American one. The US one cannot,” Rogozin said yesterday. Sadly he didn’t expand any further, but I believe he’s referring to the fact that the ISS is made up of many different modules — and without the Russian module Zvezda, which provides a number of critical systems, the US portion of the ISS would be dead weight. Russia might choose to disconnect its portion of the ISS, preventing the US from using its half. Dastardly.


The Atlas V launch vehicle uses two Russian RD-180 rocket engines

Whether Russia will actually follow through with these sanctions it’s hard to say. The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, currently makes a lot of money selling RD-180 ($10 million) and Soyuz seats ($60 million each!) to the US. Meanwhile, US Congress is talking about developing its own first-stage engine for the Atlas V, and SpaceX’s Elon Musk wants to swoop in and grab the entire market with its cheap Falcon 9 launch system. Russia probably thinks that these sanctions would put the hurt on the US’s space interests, but in reality it is incredibly stupid (or brave) to challenge our fair nation’s ego. The Soviet Union and the US were much more evenly matched during the first Cold War — today, there is a huge technological disparity in favor of the Americans.


SpaceX stands to gain a lot of business if Russia follows through with its sanctions on US space travel

If Russia moves ahead with these sanctions, the best-case scenario is that it screws itself out of hundreds of millions of dollars. Worst-case, the US could be lured into starting a whole new space race, to achieve independence from Russia’s rocket engines and spacecraft, and to prove to the pinkos that there’s only one goddamn superpower on the planet that can bully other nations and get away with it. Don’t get me wrong: Cold War 2 would be awful for the world, but it would instantly and utterly solve NASA’s funding issues.

 

[Ang4MohTrump]

https://www.vox.com/2014/5/13/5714650/russia-just-evicted-nasa-from-the-international-space-station

Russia is kicking NASA out of the International Space Station in 2020
By Joseph Stromberg May 13, 2014, 5:50pm EDT
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Vladmir Putin seems intent on dissolving the US-Russia space relationship.
Aleksey Nikolskyi/AFP/Getty Images
On Tuesday, Russia announced that starting in 2020, it will no longer allow NASA astronauts on the International Space Station, in retaliation for sanctions levied by the US because of Russia's invasion of Crimea.

How can Russia bar American astronauts from a station that both countries own? Simple. Right now, NASA relies on Russian rockets to get its astronauts to and from space, paying them $70.7 million for each one-way ticket.

NasA relies on russian rockets to get its astronauts to and from space

The surprising announcement won't affect the US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts currently aboard the International Space Station, orbiting about 260 miles above Earth's surface, or the future missions there planned over the next few years.

But the most recent plans were for the station to operate at least until 2024. Now, with Russia angered by the sanctions — especially those blocking high-tech exports that might help the Russian military — that no longer seems to be possible.

If these tensions don't resolve by 2020, things could really get messy in space. Private American space companies are hoping to have their own transport systems in place by then — so NASA could theoretically access the station on its own — but Russia is claiming that its space agency, Roscosmos, would try to operate its portion of the station without NASA involvement.

"The Russian segment can exist independently from the American one. The US one cannot," Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin said during the announcement.

That's probably not true: the majority of the station's power, among other capabilities, comes from solar panels on the American segment. Without both countries' involvement, it seems unlikely that the station — the only occupied outpost our species has in space — can survive. And either way, it's clear that the two countries' space relationship, once a triumph of the post-Cold War era, is quickly going down the pipes.

How the US and Russia became strange space bedfellows

NASA astronaut Steven Swanson (left) trains with cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov (center) and Oleg Artemyev (right) before their March 2014 launch to the space station. AFP/Getty Images

Back in 2004, President Bush announced that NASA's aging space shuttle program would be retired in 2010 and — eventually — replaced by a plan to return to the moon. At the time, NASA realized there would be a four-year gap between the space-shuttle retirement and when the new manned space transport system would be in place.

But at that point, it didn't seem like a big problem for NASA to ask Russia to transport US astronauts to and from the space station in the interim. Relations between the two countries were friendly — Bush was telling reporters that he'd looked into Putin's eyes and "got a sense of his soul." What's more, NASA had relied on Russian transport for 29 months after the Columbia disaster in 2003, when the shuttle program was put on hold.

At the time, it didn't seem like a big problem to ask Russia to transport NASA astronauts

Development of NASA's replacement vessels, however, has taken much longer than anticipated — the agency won't have a replacement for the shuttle until 2017. There are a few reasons for that. Bush's moon program was cancelled by Obama in 2010 and replaced with a plan for private companies to shuttle astronauts. Meanwhile, NASA's budget requests to pay for the new program were repeatedly underfunded by Congress.

"It's put us in a vulnerable position," says John Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute.

This isn't even the only way that the US spaceflight program is dependent on Russia. The Atlas V rocket — built by a joint Lockheed Martin-Boeing venture and used to launch American military satellites and civilian payloads — runs on a Russian-built engine.

When the Atlas V was being designed in the 1990s, Lockheed Martin got a waiver from the usual Defense Department requirement that critical components be manufactured in the US, partly because the Russian engines were better and less expensive than American options, and partly because of political motivations.

"There was a fear that if we didn't find some way of keeping Russian rocket scientists employed, they would go off and work for Iran or North Korea," says James Lewis, a national security and space analyst.

But this hasn't exactly worked out as planned either. In yesterday's announcement, Rogozin also said that all deliveries of the engines for use in launching American military satellites would be stopped. Lockheed Martin and Boeing currently have a two-year supply of them stockpiled, but if the situation doesn't change by 2016, this could be a problem.

The Space Station brings the US and Russia together

The International Space Station. NASA

When construction of the International Space Station was begun in 1998, it was seen as an embodiment of the new age of cooperative space exploration — a permanent scientific alliance between a number of countries, but especially longtime rivals US and Russia. The two countries launched separate segments of the station that were assembled in orbit.

Obviously, the tenor of Russian-American relations has changed, but in space, the two countries are still codependent. NASA astronauts travel to and from the station — used mostly for scientific experiments on long-term human spaceflight — on Russian Soyuz rockets, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, the cradle of Soviet space exploration since the 1957 launch of Sputnik.

The whole thing is designed to operate with both American and Russian involvement

The next launch is scheduled for May 28, when a rocket carrying American, Russian, and German astronauts will take off to replace the current crew. The astronauts will live together in extremely close quarters for about six months, and if anything goes wrong, they'll depend on a Russian spacecraft docked at the station to serve as an emergency lifeboat.

But the Russian astronauts are also heavily dependent on NASA. The US segment makes up the majority of the space station, by area. Its solar panels provide most of the electricity, and its gyroscopes are crucial in controlling the station in orbit.

As a whole, the space station takes instructions from command centers in Houston and Korolyvov. The whole thing is designed to operate with both American and Russian involvement, and it's hard to imagine it surviving otherwise.

But NASA and Roscosmos seem headed for a breakup

NASA astronaut Steven Swanson, in pre-launch preparations at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in March. Maxim Shipenkov/AFP/Getty Images

Even before the announcement, a few events suggested that political strife between US and Russia could spill over into the space relationship.

Last month, as part of the sanctions process, NASA announced that it would be suspending all non-essential contact with Russia. That order had lots of exceptions — including anything space station-related — but it clearly wasn't conducive to a good working relationship in space.

These events have made the need to develop american space transport more urgent

In response to the sanctions, Rogozin initially tweeted "I suggest to the USA to bring their astronauts to the International Space Station using a trampoline." With the announcement, he's apparently making good on that promise.

The recent events — and the Ukraine crisis as a whole — have made the need to develop American manned space transport more urgent. The current plan is for NASA to award a grant to one of three private companies (Boeing, Sierra Nevada, or SpaceX), so they can upgrade their cargo-carrying rockets for human use.

The day after Rogozin's initial tweet, a House subcommittee fully approved a $785 million NASA funding request for the private space flight plan — an increase from recent years — and added money to the Defense Department's 2015 budget specifically to develop an American replacement for the Russian-made rocket engines.

A Russian Soyuz rocket bearing NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts takes off for the space station on March 26, 2014. Vasily Maximov/AFP/Getty Image

To make a difference right now, though, these appropriations would've needed to come years ago. Even with more money, the private companies likely won't be ready to carry humans to space until 2017, and the Lockheed Martin-Boeing venture would need a few years to develop a homegrown rocket engine alternative as well.

What's more, the International Space Station currently represents the entirety of manned space activities by NASA. The US can figure its own ways of putting astronauts in space, but it doesn't really have any destinations that don't involve Russia. When Obama cancelled the Moon program, he outlined vague plans to send a manned mission to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars sometime thereafter, but many argue that these goals are unrealistic given current NASA funding levels.

For now, it seems, if NASA wants to have humans in space, it's dependent on American-Russian tensions being resolved in the next few years. "All this ought to serve as a wakeup call for Congress," Logsdon says. "If they don't provide more funding, we're going to continue along in this vulnerable situation."

Correction: this story previously stated Lockheed Martin made the Altas V rocket, instead of a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.


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