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+--- Thread: Roscosmos Dies In Ukraine (/showthread.php?tid=449)
Roscosmos Dies In Ukraine - putnam6 - 03-22-2023
Been wanting to point out this site strategypage.com it's run by Jim Dunningan the guy the did the "Dirty Little Secrets of" WWII and Vietnam among other books. Though the site is a bit clunky it has decent content and it's the same no-nonsense
concise balanced style.
War and sanctions hit Russia's space program
Roscosmos Dies In Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February resulted in severe economic sanctions on Russia which the Russian government was collecting less money for national programs. Military spending took priority, but that did not extend to the Russian space program. This became evident six months after the invasion when Russia confirmed that it was not withdrawing from the ISS (International Space Station) program by 2024 but would scale back its support because of the economic sanctions. That means other members of the ISS consortium will have to provide the transportation services to and from the space station. The Americans are already doing that via the SpaceX passenger and cargo capsules. Other American and European firms have developed similar capabilities. Currently the ISS is supposed to remain operational until 2030.
Even without the sanctions the Russian space program (Roscosmos) was in financial trouble, and sanctions only added to the many problems the Russian space program has had in the last decade. Roscosmos is responsible for maintaining the Russian GPS (GLONASS) satellites as well as all other military communications and surveillance satellites. Roscosmos has been receiving between $3.4 billion and $3.9 a year. This also has to cover the cost of maintaining the Plesetsk military launch site and other military related space program infrastructure. Roscosmos also handles commercial launches at the old Soviet Baikonur launch center in Kazakhstan. Russia rents this site from Kazakhstan and has fallen behind in rent payments. In response Kazakhstan seized Roscosmos assets at Baikonur. Russia is not getting foreign commercial launch business because of the sanctions. Because of the Ukraine war sanction, Russia has less cash in general and can’t even muster enough troops to threaten Kazakhstan. There is also a problem with Russia referring to Kazakhstan as one of many areas, like Ukraine, that should be absorbed back into Russia. Kazakhstan agrees with Ukraine on that issue and is standing up to Russia to show its determination.
The current Russian government wants to eliminate all cooperation with Western nations (the United States and Europe). Roscosmos officials point out that is not economically possible or technically preferable.