Russia put the first satellite in Space in 1957, year 2007 could be a big event for them, and for anniversary of their Laika space-dog that went up on Sputnik-II. Russia's will be doing future joint efforts with Chinese Space Agencies Roscosmos / CNSA with ultra-high speed penetrators and sample return from the Moon. Russia has plans for Mars, they were to display a full-scale Martian station at the Paris Air Show. The Phobos-Grunt mission will study the Moons of Mars. Phobos-Grunt will also study Mars and its environment, including atmosphere and dust storms, plasma and radiation. Electric jet propulsion is considered for this Russian mission. Phobos-Grunt is scheduled to be launched on a Soyuz launcher, and they might be doing joint effort with NASA's Mars-2009 Rover Laboratory. The Kliper vessel or the project of spaceship Kliper was made public at the press conference in Feb 2004. The Russian Klipper is reusable ship which will do Shuttle type work and they have still been able to progress even with little to no funding, here is the BA thread on Russian Shuttle and a link to their old Energia and Buran design
http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/vi...5&start=25
http://www.aeronautics.ru/archive/sp...an/page_02.htm
Russia has big plans for a new Shuttle type craft and the guys at ESA were looking at it. It has been said that Griffin told USAToday that America perhaps would not be able to fulfill all of its commitments on completing the ISS program. People have said that even if NASA were to ground Shuttle because of future complications that Europe may retain its interest in manned flights and ESA already plans to send its JulesVerne ATV to the ISS, ATV might leave Shuttle cargo lifts behind as there is no system for making sophisticated in-orbit repairs on the STS Shuttle. Russia said it could sustain the ISS using Kliper spacecraft, currently in development, if the United States quits the program, Canada, Japan and Brazil still want to remain a big part of the ISS but the Space station is way over-budget and has many critics. However no space plans have been without some problems and there is still some fantastic science to be done and it could become on of the largest and greatest Space science Labs, Russia is commited to have this Space Lab and thinks it will be greater than Salyut, Skylab or MIR.
The ISS space station has been both a great benefit and obstacle to Russia's Space plans. When the Soviet Empire fell the Russians were bankrupt, and without the USA bringing Russia to the ISS the Russian Space industry might have broken down and scientists could have been jobless. The USA helping Russia join the ISS has been very good for Russia and the Russians are keen on seeing the construction done. However Russia clearly had other desires like the Moon, Mars and its Landers on the Plnet Venus. The Russian work load for the ISS and its need to ferry Russian and Americans to the ISS station has taken energy away from Russia's other Space dreams and today it is the Russians that have been keeping the ISS afloat and USA's manned space plans alive as since the grounding of Shuttle, NASA has not been able to get people to Space in the last 2 and 1/2 years.The Russian federal space agency had plans to display a full-scale Martian station at the Paris Air Show, which opened in Le Bourget, France. Russia has already made some fantastic Space missions, the first man in Space, first artificial object to go to another planet, first woman in space, the first un-manned craft on the Moon. They perhaps have a less complex, more reliable, more robust manned launch system. The Russians have done well with the Salyut and MIR and they know more about space stations. They had planned great space mission and the people involved in their development are usually top notch in knowledge, as there is more widespread enthusiasm for space. Klipper could be in service in the 2010-2011 timeframe. Novosti has also quoted Perminov as saying that the Kliper can be launched from European as well as Russian spaceports. ESA had plans for the Hermes space plane but it fell through because of problems but ESA's Future Launchers Programme is important if they want to do space station work and go to Mars with Aurora. Russian mission Phobos-Grunt has been given high priority, the Phobos-Grunt is a planned Russian sample return mission to Phobos, one of the moons of Mars.
What is a true Superpower, some say the USA is the only Superpower in the world today. The Americans have been leaders in science, they have the most powerful military, a massive economy and dispite some political trouble the US has very strong leadership. The EU and Euros might be classed as an economic superpower, Europe is a leading place for investment, science, and technology. A superpower is a state with the ability to influence events or project power on a global scale. In modern terms, this may imply an entity with a huge economy, a large population, and strong armed forces, including air and space power and a considerable arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Some people say look out for the Chinese as China will be the Dominant Superpower in 10 Years and China is already the world's largest industrial country Shenzhou 6 is expected to blast off in September, carrying China's next astronauts.. Even though China is more open and does lots of free trade, it still has massive poverty problems, it is an authoritarian country and there are a lot of human rights problems. Chinese have a lot of work to do before China becomes a Superpower. EU has big GNP but is divided French and Germans are in the Euro but Swedish and England have not joined Euro zone currency. Europe lacks not only an operative center, but strategic thinking, for it to be capable of acting on the world political stage. Some of the world's greatest Economic players are the EU $10,800,200,000,000, the U S $ 10,300,100,000,000, mainland China $ 5,800,500,000,000 and the islands of Japan $ 3,350,400,000,000 Soyuz is now to launch from ESA's French Guiana South America, Russia is look at the Euros and Europe will fork out for Russia to build a Soyuz Launch. Russia has been involved in Galileo satellites a type of European GPS pin-ponting project that has alarmed some officials in the USA. Some people in the US have spoke of threats to Shoot-down the European Galileo satellites although this just may be a political game. In Russia they seem have a promising youth and rigorous space industry that is recovering from the setbacks when the USSR fell down. Russians are already helping out the Chinese, India, Brazil and Europeans. They are international partners with the USA on ISS and have done joint international effort with Americans on the Space telescope Integral. They have already launched ESA's Cluster mission from Baikonur, Kazakhstan and the future ESA mission to Venus will launch from a Soyuz-Fregat. Russians may be able to gain the aid of other nations and Russia is looking to the Euros and Europe is to pay Russia to build Soyuz pad at Kourou
Russia will soon be launching in South America, Kourou's proximity to the equator will allow carriers to take two or three times more freight than their counterparts lifting off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. European-Russian company Starsem are there to provide commercial Soyuz launch services. This company is 50% European owned and 50% Russian owned. The status on Soyuz missions from French Guiana has been given the green-light and the definitive decision was taken during 2004 on construction of the launch facility for this vehicle. All of the legal and financial documents were signed during the first half of 2005.For Soyuz missions from French Guiana, the definitive decision was taken during 2004 on construction of the launch facility for this vehicle. Some think that Russia might have space for more Space tourists like Denis Tito and space tourist Mark Shuttleworth because of the new launch site. The French Guiana port in South America will become very active Arianespace's backlog of payloads to be launched totals 41 spacecraft some of which are with Ariane 5, others are ATV resupply spacecraft for the International Space Station and there are also on Soyuz to be launched from the Guiana Space Center, here is the old BA thread on Soyuz at French Guiana.
http://www.badastronomy.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3101
When the year 2007 arrives we will see the 50th anniversary of Sputnik-I satellite and the Spuknik-2 with the dog Laika, these were the first satellites in Space. We have seen reports that Russian will be doing some participation in European/Japan BepiColombo mission to planet Mercury. Constellation Services International (CSI) envisions Russian Soyuz spacecraft used for fly-me-to-the-Moon passenger service. The entrepreneurial firm unveiled their plan for the first time during a recent Return to the Moon conference, sponsored by the Space Frontier Foundation. In 2006 Russia will be launching an ESA/French mission searching for planets outside our Solar System, these extra solar worlds. The ESA/France mission Corot will be the first Space mission capable of detecting rocky exo-planets and will be sent up on a Soyuz-Fregat launcher. South Korea will purchase a seat on a future Soyuz ISS mission for its first astronaut, Russian officials said and Russia is to build a space launch pad in South Korea by 2007, Itar-Tass news agency reported, Russian space agency Roskosmos and Khrunichev said that a contract covering "construction of a rocket launch pad for civilian use and space exploration" was signed by both countries. South Korea's Ministry of Science and Technology said that South Korea intends to spend 13 million dollars on dispatching its first spaceman to the ISS on board the Russian space ship Soyuz. On the Soyuz fly me to the Moon the idea is to sell one of three Soyuz seats to a space tourist for an initial week-long stay at the International Space Station (ISS). The space sightseer and fellow crew members would then add to their travelogue by sojourning onward for a week-long lunar stint. The Russians have already been pushing Space Tourism and other scinece missions like the Ptaneta-A program and Aster projects are under consideration and Roscosmos have Venus lander designs called Venera-D. In 2007 we will see the 50th anniversary of Sputnik-I so how will Russians mark this space event ?
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