Whenever the question of space comes up, I imagine what people thought about during Gagarin, during lunar missions, while sending automatic stations to Venus, Mars and into deep space. I remember my childhood thoughts during the formation and development of the MIR space station. Everyone then thought that now, just a little more, just a little bit more, and mankind will trample the planets up and down, and "gardens will bloom on the moon." The rates of learning and getting everything new were very high.
What now? Visually, for the layman - regression. "Mir" was drowned, discord on the ISS, and it will soon be drowned. Nobody else can fly to the moon. Rare automatic stations to Mars with varying success.
Do you know why we are not on the moon now?
Because the space race is no longer interesting to anyone, and political reasons do not allow doing something joint in space. Think of any science fiction novel or film - everyone there recognizes that it is now possible to build something grandiose or achieve great progress only together with the countries of the entire Planet. This is very large-scale and costly for one country. I'm talking now about a really ambitious project, and not about another space station, which, of course, the same Chinese will pull.
It's a shame that the stumbling block in these plans and projects is not science or the laws of physics, but politics.
Here's the news from the last days:
“Russia cannot afford to participate in this project of the lunar station Lunar Orbital Platform - Gateway (Deep Space gateway) in its current form in a secondary role. We are creating our own transport system,”Rogozin said at a conference in Korolev.
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According to him, Russia can create a lunar scientific station together with the BRICS countries.
“Whether there will be a Russian lunar station on the moon or an international one is the subject of negotiations. Perhaps it will be a joint station with our friendly countries - the BRICS countries,”Rogozin said on Saturday at a conference in Korolev. He recalled that Russia is starting an unmanned lunar program in 2021.
It was not worth expecting any constructive cooperation from the United States - the politicians have already eaten the whole baldness with engines. It’s not surprising that no one will tolerate Russia being on the same level as the United States. When MIR was drowned, many skeptical words were said about cooperation on the ISS, so it actually comes true. The carve-up time will come soon. And on the lunar station project that has not yet begun, the Americans have already begun to set their own conditions and give us ultimatums according to standards and specifics.
It is necessary to make a national project - whoever wants to will join.
NASA Lunar Station
Lunar Orbital Platform - Gateway or Lunar Orbital Platform Gateway - NASA's program to create an international habitable lunar station, intended at the first stage to study the Moon and deep space, and later as a transfer station for astronauts heading to Mars and back.
The current idea for this project involves the construction of a multi-module station that will orbit the moon. It is assumed that four people will be able to work at the station during the expedition for a period of 30 to 60-90 days. It is planned that manned flights to the station using the SLS launch vehicle will initially take place once a year.
In 2017, Russia and the United States signed a statement on joint work on a project to create a circumlunar station. It was assumed that Russia will create a gateway module for the station. Construction of the Lunar Orbital Platform is expected to start as early as 2022.
After that, reports came that Russia has not yet refused to cooperate with the United States in the Deep Space Gateway orbital station. Negotiations are in progress. Like "… we are for cooperation and cooperation in equal, partner projects", - as the head of the press service of the state corporation "Roscosmos" said. But it seems to me that this will not lead to good under the current circumstances.
And we don't need to ask for it.