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Vladimir Putin is getting his own space station. Officially, as a result of Western sanctions, Russia is planning a successor to Mir in space.
Moscow – Wladimir Putin strives for more. Always more. In Ukraine War The Kremlin chief wants to shift his sphere of influence significantly to the west. But he also apparently wants to reach high, into space. Russia is to remain one of the most important players there in the future.
The 71-year-old must have been all the more pleased to hear that nothing seems to stand in the way of the construction of a new Russian orbital station. As the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos on Tuesday (2 July) on Telegram announced that its head Yuri Borisov has approved the schedule for the construction of such a space station.
Space station for Putin: Kremlin chief would be 80 years old in the year of completion
According to the plan, the building is due to be completed in 2033. Putin would then be 80 years old and – if he wants – would probably still be President of Russia, as the official annulment of his previous terms in office allows him to remain in power until 2036.
That would ultimately be more than three decades. Moscow did not keep its Mir space station, which was sent into space during Soviet times, beyond Earth for that long – in 2001, after 15 years, it was crashed in a controlled manner. So now the successor is likely to be built.
In addition to the design and manufacture of station modules, the plan also includes flight tests of a new generation manned spacecraft and the construction of launch vehicles and ground-based space infrastructure facilities. The project is supported by scientific institutes.
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Putin gets successor to Mir: Space station to be completely finished in 2033
The first parts of the station, the science and energy modules, are to be built in 2027. Three years later, these, as well as the universal node module, the airlock module and the base module, are to be put into orbit. According to the plans, the station will be expanded from 2031 to 2033 by docking two target modules.
In addition to the construction of the station itself, known as ROS, the signed contracts also include the construction of a space complex with a manned transport vehicle and an Angara rocket at the Vostochny Cosmodrome. The carrier rocket mentioned is named after a river in Central Siberia.
The Vostochny Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport about 100 kilometers from the border with China. Putin received North Korean leader Kim Jong-un there in September 2023 and paved the way for closer cooperation between the two states.
Russia to say goodbye to ISS: reference to sanctions because of the Ukraine war
What exactly the Kremlin chief is up to in space remains a matter of speculation for the time being. In the USA, Republican Mike Turner, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, has already warned that Putin is even planning to build a nuclear space weapon. He could use this to target satellites.
Officially, Roscosmos says that the project is intended to continue the Russian manned space program, with the end of the participation in the International Space Station ISS Russia explains this primarily with the sanctions imposed by other project participants as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.
Thanks to ROS, problems in the areas of science, technology and national security can also be solved in the future. This is no longer possible for Russia on the ISS “due to technological limitations and the conditions of international agreements”.
In addition, Roscosmos hopes to increase the competitiveness of domestic manned space systems with its own space station. Space technology is to be tested from the ROS. It will be interesting to see exactly what is meant by this term.
Putin has space station built: Russia plans to invest more than six billion euros
The state news agency Cup quotes ROS chief designer Vladimir Kozhevnikov, who says that artificial intelligence will also be used. All in all, the project is estimated to cost around 6.4 billion euros.
Even though Western sanctions appear to be driving Russia into isolation in space, international concerns are growing as to whether the sanctions are being targeted at the right places. An author from the Royal United Services Institute stressed in an interview with the US portal Newsweek For example, Russia continues to replenish its military arsenal without any problems and it is “practically impossible” to “disarm” the aggressor in the Ukraine war through sanctions.
The British think tank, which has been studying defence and security for almost 200 years, recently revealed that Moscow appears to be very adept at circumventing restrictions and acquiring key Western military technology. It found more than 450 foreign-made components in Russian weapons found in Ukraine. (mg)
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