How the US and China robbed Roscosmos of money and prospects in 2020

2020 will be remembered for the loss of almost a decade of Russia's monopoly on the delivery of people to the International Space Station (ISS) and China's first return mission from the Moon in more than 40 years. These and other events in international cosmonautics that happened in the past year are described by "Lenta.ru".

Piloted astronautics

On May 30, a heavy rocket Falcon 9 with the SpaceX Crew Dragon reusable spacecraft took off from the 39th launch complex located at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Space Center in Florida (USA). On board were NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, who had previously flown American Space Shuttle spacecraft and Soviet (Russian) disposable Soyuz. The Crew Dragon and ISS docking took place on May 31. Crew Dragon with the same astronauts successfully returned to Earth on August 2 - the spacecraft capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, after which it was loaded onto the Go Navigator platform. Thus, the United States for the first time since July 21, 2011, when the Space Shuttle last launched, independently sent people to the ISS.

Between 2006 and 2020, the cost of space for NASA on Soyuz spacecraft increased from $ 21,3 million to over $ 90 million. From the loss of the monopoly in the delivery of people to the ISS, Roscosmos will annually lose about $ 400 million - about the same amount was spent by the American company SpaceX for the development of the Falcon 9, which received a reusable first stage. After the repeatedly postponed first flight with the crew of another American spacecraft, the Boeing Starliner, takes place, you can be sure that Soyuz will become practically unnecessary for NASA, even as a backup option.

Луна

In the outgoing year, China, within the framework of the Chang'e 5 mission, managed to repeat at once two Soviet achievements, which, given the current state of the Russian microelectronic industry, are hardly capable of Roscosmos accomplishing. First, for the first time in more than 40 years, a man-made object managed to leave the natural satellite of the Earth (December 3). Secondly, for the first time in the specified period, samples of the lunar soil were delivered to Earth (December 16). In addition, China became the third country after the USA and the USSR to plant its flag on the moon.

The Chang'e 5 interplanetary station was launched on November 23 using a Long March 5 heavy rocket from the Wenchang Cosmodrome (northeast coast of Hainan Island). The third successful soft landing of the spacecraft on the surface of a natural satellite in the history of Chinese astronautics took place on December 1. The lander of the Chinese mission Chang'e 5 landed on the Rumker Peak, located in the northwestern part of the visible side of the Moon. About two kilograms of samples of volcanic origin were also mined there, which were subsequently successfully delivered to Earth. The previous time a similar program was carried out in August 1976. However, unlike the Soviet Luna-24, after the completion of the main part of the Chang'e 5 mission, it headed towards the Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system.

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Mars

In 2020, three scientific missions flew to Mars at once. The most technologically advanced of these, NASA's Mars 2020, launched on July 30 from the US Air Force (Air Force) base at Cape Canaveral, Florida, using an Atlas V rocket. , in February 2021 will land in the Jezero impact crater, which was probably filled with water in ancient times. The main goal of the Mars-2020 program is to conduct astrobiological research. The tasks of the aircraft include finding the optimal and most promising routes for future rovers.

Two other Mars missions carried out in the past year were conducted by China and the UAE. The Hope orbital probe from the United Arab Emirates, launched on July 19 from the Tanegashima cosmodrome (Japan) using an H-IIA rocket, will, in particular, be engaged in climatic studies of Mars and the study of the reasons for the leakage of hydrogen and oxygen from its atmosphere. On July 23, the Chinese astrobiological mission Mars Global Remote Sensing Orbiter and Small Rover (Huoxing-5), including an orbiting spacecraft and a rover, departed from Wenchang to Mars using a Long March 1 rocket.

Mars 2020, Hope and Huoxing 1 are due to reach Mars in February 2021. The start of the second part of the European-Russian ExoMars mission, which was supposed to travel to the Red Planet in July, was postponed due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus infection COVID-19. The stated reason is the unavailability of equipment from the European side. Now the launch of the mission, including the landing module with the Russian landing platform Kazachok ("Kazachok") and the European rover Rosalind Franklin, is scheduled for the summer of 2022.

Asteroids

On December 5, the reentry capsule of the Japanese Hayabusa 2 mission landed in South Australia, delivering 5,4 grams of samples to Earth from the asteroid (162173) Ryugu. The interplanetary station Hayabusa 2 itself will continue to operate in space, as expected until 2031. On October 20, as part of the American mission Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx), several tens of grams of samples were taken from the Bennu asteroid. The corresponding rocks should reach Earth in September 2023.

Reusable drone

On September 4, China launched from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region using a Long March 2F medium rocket, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), an "experimental reusable spacecraft." China states that this product is intended for testing space reusable technologies, while in the United States they are confident that it can act as an analogue of the unmanned reusable spacecraft X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) of the US Air Force (Air Force).

According to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, on September 5, while in orbit, the Chinese "experimental reusable spacecraft", having completed two full orbits around the planet, released some other product. The mission of the mother spacecraft ended on September 6 with a successful solo landing.

Starlink

In 2020, public beta testing of the SpaceX Starlink global satellite system began. According to the promulgated terms, access to the network will cost $ 499 (one-time payment for equipment, excluding taxes, delivery and installation) plus $ 99 per month (subscription fee). Internet connection equipment includes a user terminal with a phased array antenna, a mounting tripod, and a Wi-Fi router. Currently, users from the US and Canada will be able to take advantage of this offer. SpaceX claims data rates range from 50 megabits per second to 150 megabits per second, and signal latency ranges from 20 milliseconds to 40 milliseconds. More than 900 Starlink spacecraft are currently in low-Earth orbit.

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Missiles

Among the missile launches carried out in 2020, three probably deserve special attention. The first is a test flight of the SpaceX Starship prototype spacecraft of the eighth version (SN8), which took place on December 9 at a test site in Texas. The product was in the air for 6 minutes 40 seconds, made a number of maneuvers, including an almost horizontal flight, and rose to a height of 12 kilometers. While landing, SN8 exploded, hitting the landing pad. The reason is low pressure in the fuel tank. According to SpaceX, the tests were successful, as they collected all the necessary information about maneuvering the product - the prototype of the world's first fully reusable super-heavy rocket.

The second event took place on December 16, when the ultra-light Rocket rocket of the American company Astra for the first time crossed the Karman line (100 kilometers above sea level), which is considered the conditional boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space. The rocket, launched from the Kodiak launch complex in Alaska, reached an altitude of 390 kilometers and developed a speed of 7,2 kilometers per second, which is about 0,5 kilometers per second less than required to enter orbit. Rocket's flight lasted 8,5 minutes. Astra called the test launch a success because it determined the exact ratio of the fuel components (kerosene and liquid oxygen) for the next launch. To launch the Rocket from Kodiak, only five company employees were involved, who were able to launch the rocket in just a few days. Rocket should be one of the cheapest and easiest to operate missiles in the world. The expected cost of the launch service is $ 1 million for the delivery of 150 kilograms of cargo to low-earth orbit. One of the competitors of Astra is the American company Rocket Lab, whose ultralight rocket Electron was launched seven times in the past year (one of which was unsuccessful).

The third event is the launch on December 21 of a new Chinese medium three-stage rocket Long March 8, the central block of which received a pair of YF-100 engines with two side boosters attached to it, equipped with the same power units. Chinese YF-100, created on the basis of the Soviet RD-120, are adapted for reusable use. During the next launch, slated for 2021, China will try to vertically land a bundle of the first two stages of the Long March 8.

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