A little joke about rocket launch.

On May 3, 20201day, NASA astronauts Bob Bacon and Doug Hurley approached the International Space Station in the manned dragon spacecraft of Space Exploration T

On May 3, 20201day, NASA astronauts Bob Bacon and Doug Hurley approached the International Space Station in the manned dragon spacecraft of Space Exploration Technology Company. (picture:? National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

The head of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) published a long commentary, expressing his mixed feelings about the recent launch of Demo-2 to the International Space Station (ISS) by space exploration technology company.

Dmitry rogozin's paper can be found on Rocosmos' website, which was also published in Forbes earlier. In the paper, he mentioned Russia's future space program, because the United States moved most of the manned opportunities back to the United States.

Demo-2 may be the first of many American commercial manned space shuttles. Space Exploration Technology's manned dragon capsule and Boeing's starship will eventually largely replace the mission that NASA astronauts have been relying on Russian Soyuz since the space shuttle retired.

On 20 14, rogozin made a famous remark on Twitter. He said that Russia's Crimea action led to US sanctions, and American astronauts could use trampolines to fly into space without Soyuz.

On May 30th, shortly after the launch of Demo-2, Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Space Exploration Technology Company, quoted this ironic remark, saying, "The trampoline is working!" Rogozin first said on Twitter that he liked Musk's jokes and looked forward to working with him in the future. However, recent comments show that rogozin has more views on how to send astronauts into space and the framework of international space cooperation.

Rogozin said that Russian astronauts were invited to join Soyuz because the US space shuttle program was cancelled "because of its huge cost and high failure rate".

In the past, each NASA spacecraft could carry up to eight people at a time, but generally speaking, seven people are the more common staffing. Russia's Soyuz can accommodate three people. From 198 1 to 20 1 1, the space shuttle program completed 135 missions, two of which ended in tragedy: 1986 1, Challenger exploded shortly after launch. These two failures resulted in the death of seven astronauts respectively. During the Soyuz mission, the Soviet Union (the predecessor of Russia) lost four astronauts in 1967 and 197 1 respectively. Since then, there has never been a space shuttle crash in Russia, but it still failed.

Recently, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft broke down in June 20 18, and two crew members, NASA astronaut Nick Haig and astronaut Alexei Ovchinin, left without serious injuries. After investigation, this problem has been solved, and many unmanned rocket flight tests have been carried out to check the repair status. The International Space Station Alliance decided to continue the next manned launch mission of Soyuz, which was successfully carried out in 20 18 and 12.

Rogozin wrote in his comments: "In manned space flight, as people go into space by spaceship, it is crucial to evaluate the reliability of these technologies, because it means whether the safety of astronauts can be ensured. Therefore, shutting down the space shuttle is a foreseeable mandatory measure, because the United States has lost two astronauts. In manned space flight, there have been some disasters and emergencies, but there have never been so many people. "

Rogozin said that the Russian Soyuz MS spacecraft carrying astronauts today is the most reliable spacecraft in the world. Successfully flew 173 times, 1975, 1983 and 20 18 were grounded for three times, which enabled the astronauts to eject safely. The Soyuz carrier rocket carrying the spacecraft was successfully launched 1900 times. American engineers have not done this yet, and I sincerely wish them good luck.

Rogozin added that NASA has been frantically looking for a solution to replace the space shuttle. 17 years later, after a major accident in Colombia in 2003, this plan was finally launched. In 2004, while in office, Bush announced that the space shuttle would be retired.

During President Obama's term, after several rounds of competition with other companies, after signing contracts with Space Exploration Technology Company and Boeing Company in 20 14, a commercial space substitution plan was formed. However, the first launch of commercial space traffic was stranded for several years due to technical and financial problems, and was restarted on May 30 this year with the Demo-2 mission.

With the development of commercial aerospace, NASA has once again implemented the plan to further explore the solar system. During George W. Bush's constellation project, NASA cooperated with the contractor Lockheed Martin to develop the deep space Orion crew module.

Even under the leadership of other governments, the focus of NASA's exploration has shifted several times, but Orion has been developing to this day-from the moon to the Mars constellation project (during the Bush administration), to a "flexible destination" somewhere in deep space (during the Obama administration), and then to the moon. Orion made a very successful test flight around the earth in 20 14, and it is expected that an unmanned trip around the moon will be launched as early as 20021year. As the key to NASA's deep space program, this mission to the moon will mark the first appearance of the giant module of NASA's space launch system.

Rogozin wrote: "A huge sum of money was allocated to build three manned spacecraft at the same time, and the orders were mainly given to several companies: Orion Lunar Spacecraft, Crew Dragon and Boeing." He further added that the "generosity" of the U.S. government enabled Space Exploration Technology Company to obtain the NASA launch pad, the contract to build Crew Dragon, and "the technical foundation and the best engineering talents supported by NASA" for free.

In 20 14, space exploration technology company obtained a contract from NASA to build the "dragon" unit, worth 260 million US dollars. The contract was awarded after Space Exploration Technology Company and NASA signed other development contracts.

Rogozin found some similarities between the costs of the Dragon spacecraft and Russian large-scale projects, including the future moon landing spacecraft and the relatively new Vostoni space station, which will eventually be used to launch Russian astronauts. Russian astronauts are currently launched from the Baikonur space launch site in Kazakhstan.

Rogozin wrote: The budget allocated to Elon Musk is three times that of the contract signed by the Russian Space Agency and the Russian Energy Research Center (RSC Energia) to develop the more complex Russian moon landing spacecraft' Oryol' (Eagle).

In addition, the launch site of Dongfang Port is 2.5 times cheaper than this so-called private spaceship-and considering that the launch site is currently being built in Tejalein, amur river, 8 hours away from Moscow, there is no necessary labor, construction machinery and logistics center. We need to transport it from the Far East or build it on the spot.

The director of the Russian Space Agency believes that Americans are "very worried that their space flight depends entirely on the stability of the Russian Soyuz". In the past nine years, the Russian Soyuz has sent NASA astronauts into space. He said that the launch of these spacecraft was "comprehensive and of high quality".

He also said that Russia will continue to promote the human space program for all space station partners, and at the same time reduce Russian personnel and experimental space for the benefit of international partners (perhaps to let Americans and those who have the American market like Europeans have a place on Soyuz). Rogozin said, "Americans don't have to use trampolines. We will continue to send their astronauts into space like the wind. "

Rogozin didn't mention the leak of Soyuz spacecraft in 18, although he did allude to the members' mistakes. He once said that Russian members were ridiculed after that failure and their contribution to the progress of the space program was not recognized.

Nor did he talk about the stability of the cargo hold of Russian Progress, which provided vital materials for astronauts. In the past ten years, several missions of Progress have failed, so people question the reliability of Russian Soyuz rocket.

There is also a metaphor about the price of Soyuz cockpit, which has been a thorny issue between NASA and Congress for many years. Rogozin said that the price of each passenger seat is a real price, which has been rising in the past ten years, and NASA relies on these seats to send people into space. Rogozin told us that at present, the seat price of Soyuz is estimated to be 90 million dollars, and the seat of Dragon Spacecraft is about 55 million dollars. But he said he still thought Soyuz was better.

"The new American spaceship weighs twice as much as Soyuz and only provides one extra seat."

Said. He added that the rocket that launched the Dragon Spacecraft (Falcon 9, a space exploration technology company) or the rocket that launched the starry sky route (Atlas V, a joint launch alliance) was heavier than that needed to launch Soyuz. Soyuz uses a medium-sized Soyuz -2. 1a rocket. He gave evidence of this comparison: Russia left behind more than the United States after the launch.

"People who don't know the starting price and the maintenance price are all framed by the market." Rogozin said, "Therefore, I insist that the Soyuz MS spacecraft with Soyuz -2. 1a launch vehicle was and will not change in the future, no matter what our competitors say."

With the commercialization of American space program, rogozin also revealed the news of Russian space program in the future. He pointed out that Russia has a long history of space exploration. For example, 196 1 yuri gagarin, the first Soviet astronaut in space. "We still dominate the aerospace field," he added, adding that compared with Boeing, Musk's flight had less impact on Russia. "This war is their business, not ours."

Rogozin also emphasized some Russian initiatives, including: "Continue to improve Soyuz and build more new advanced spacecraft."

Regarding the commercial manned mode of the United States, rogozin proposed the future direction of Russian space flight. He talked about Russia's long space history; For example, yuri gagarin, an astronaut from the former Soviet Union, became the first man to go into space at 196 1. "We are still dominant," rogozin added, adding that Musk's flight was a slight blow to Boeing, not to Russia. "This war is theirs, not ours," he said.

Rogozin emphasized Russian current plans, including continuing to improve Soyuz and building "new and more advanced spacecraft".

● Continue to promote the development of more environmentally friendly angara rockets. He said that the project was postponed because of the shelving of land use. He promised to build a "national space center complex" and a "modern and state-of-the-art engineering center" for Russian rocket engineers by 2022. He said that the angara rocket will be launched from Dongfang Port in 2023, which will replace the proton rocket banned in 2025 due to environmental problems.

Looking for more ways to stay competitive in this industry, rogozin said, a great success is to shorten the time to fly to the International Space Station, and the recent progress of cargo spacecraft can reach the International Space Station within three hours (compared with the past). He said that the ways to maintain competitiveness include launching Angela, continuing to develop technologies such as methane-powered engines and nuclear-powered engines used in outer space, developing a light two-stage Soyuz spacecraft and testing it in 2023, and developing super-heavyweight propellers, with a view to launching future astronauts with manned spacecraft in orel. He said that orel will conduct a space flight test in 2023 and start flying to the International Space Station in 2025.

The new International Space Station will be named Noka, Port Module (also known as Jian Zihao Lowe) and Scientific Energy Module.

They will improve the scientific experiment ability of Russian space station. Rogozin said that these capsules will help "enhance Russian military independence".

Other ongoing tasks and projects, military aspects: the expansion of the launch capability project of Dongfang Port Launch Center, the launch mission of Lunar 25, which is expected to fly to the moon in 20021year, the construction and launch of lunar orbiter and lunar module to further explore the moon and update the global navigation satellite system operating in Earth orbit.

Commitment to maintain the rationalization of spacecraft expenditure, including "fundamentally reducing costs and excessive unproductive workers"

People's promises. Rogozin added: The coronavirus that is spreading all over the country shows which employees of Roscosmos can work continuously and remotely.

Regarding the recent "Outline" projects, including rocket manufacturing, satellite construction, ground space infrastructure and science, rogozin added: In order to maintain their competitive spirit when bidding for this new project, Roscosmos will maintain independent design departments and engineering centers. He also promised to increase technology transfer, in part by establishing joint technical cooperation centers.

Author: Elizabeth Howell

FY: Astronomy Volunteer Team

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