The development of technologies and software for detecting asteroids threatening the Earth has been deleted from the new revised version of the Federal Space Program for 2016-2025 (FKP) prepared by Roscosmos. It is reported on Wednesday, January 20, by TASS.
Initially, it was planned to allocate 1.75 billion rubles for these purposes. As reported at the Central Scientific Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering (TsNIIMash, the head scientific institute of Roscosmos), the international scientific community has asked Russian experts to develop a system for deflecting celestial bodies that could threaten the Earth. It was assumed that this would be achieved by nuclear explosions in space.
As the newspaper Izvestia wrote on January 11, the total budget of the FKP was reduced due to a decrease in the total budget expenditures from two trillion rubles to 1.4 trillion. Another 115 billion rubles can be allocated additionally after 2021.
The main cost reduction affected manned flights, including cutbacks in spending on projects on the lunar program. In addition, Roskosmos refused to work on the construction of a transformable and power module for the International Space Station (ISS). At the same time, the creation of already started modules for the ISS will continue.