The USA Launched the Rival to the Russian Commercial Carriers

On October, 28th at 18.30 Moscow time from a launching pad of the cosmodrome named after John Kennedy on Cape Canaveral Ares X - test variant of carrier rocket Ares I - started off.  Future carrier of the space program "Constellation" came off launch pad, successfully fulfilled two-minute lifting to the height of 40 km, then fall-away of the primary stage happened. Dimensional simulator of the final stage carrying over 700 gauges delivering on telemetry invaluable information about the flight is successfully landed in water of Atlantic Ocean.

The program "Constellation" which element is rocket Ares means a new coil of development of piloted astronautics in the USA and puts frame tasks on realisation of piloted flight on the Moon, on creation of constantly operating base there and in the long term - on the flight of a man to Mars.

The program includes working out of two types of carrier: heavy Ares V capable to place into a circumterraneous orbit up to 188 tons of nose cone and Ares I which should replace system "Space Shuttle". It is planned that Ares I can deliver to circumterraneous orbit 25 tons of nose cone.

Expert council at president Obama already acted with idea to expand a field of work as much as possible and to support the American highly technological sector having increased investments into advanced workings out.

From editorial board: In essence - it's a blow on the Russian Space Department and the Russian astronautics as a whole as it depreciates the stake of our bureaucrats from hi-tech on commercial launches of the Russian rockets giving today the basic income to domestic astronautics.

Thus it is possible to rub one's hands - yes, we appeared to be right having stopped the program of creation of reusable spaceship and having concentrated on the rocket techniques. Only "Buran" having given start the whole direction in outer space exploration decayed and the direction didn't develop, while in the USA they squeezed out all of the program of "shuttles" and, got convinced that to put into orbit heavy ship is more expensive from the economic point of view, moreover much more dangerous, returned to working out of the commercial carrier.

But let's see what the Americans who were wrong reached and what we have being initially right?

They continue to master space and remain the main space power. While we - hanging around and even not around the USA but those who will pay. Thus in front of your very eyes we lose what were able to do even recently best of all in the world - to build rockets (how we "block Yenisei" is seen on the example of Sayano-Shushenskaya HYDROELECTRIC POWER STATION). Today our industry is at deadlock even at creation of new rocket of sea basing "Bulava" - it's the price for the stop of development, progress. Such stops involve degradation.

Where is, for example, "Clipper" - multi-purpose piloted reusable spaceship of new generation projected in Rocket-and-Space Corporation "Energy" since 2000 to change ships of a series "Souz"? Benchmark unit made furore on the air show in Le Burzhe, however in 2005 financing of the project "Clipper" on the budget means was not planned. Further researches and development were financed from own means of corporation. In 2006 by results of competition the project was sent by the Russian Space Department formally for updating and then was stopped in connection with termination of the competition. Now competition on the new project which will take place some time, if will be at all, is declared.

At that for some time the Soviet experts conceptually overtook the Americans in designing of the orbital plane - when they began work on the launch of the orbital plane from the board of the plane An-225 and when they began working out of the project "Spiral", being not so bulky and self-supporting in the prospect unlike "shuttles" and "Buran". By the time the Americans had neither plane equal to An-225, nor some other components of the program. But everything was rolled back and silently died - only "Maria" carries out rare commercial transportations in Ukraine, "Buran" became attraction in the park and a group of developers of the project - either already died as the head of the project G.E.Losino-Losynsky, or are very old men.

Nobody even think now in Russia about lunar program, the more so about Mars, though there are a lot of conversations about "innovative development". But really the Russian space having stopped in its development silently degrades.

А.B.

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