Construction of the Vostochny cosmodrome is being delayed, is being violated, in particular, by numerous corruption scandals, and is costing the Russian budget more and more, ArsTechnica writes in a publication devoted to the latest layoffs that occurred at Roscosmos.
The author of the material Eric Berger recalls that in November, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the General Director of the state Corporation Dmitry Rogozin. "It is unclear whether the latest string of dismissals is related to Putin's recent meeting with Rogozin on the country's space issues. It seems that by firing and arresting his subordinates, Rogozin still managed to shift the blame for the troubles to other officials, " the publication says.
It also claims that the cost estimate for the Vostochny, designed to reduce Russia's dependence on the Baikonur cosmodrome located in Kazakhstan, reaches $ 7.5 billion, while "only one of the planned launch sites is working", intended for launching Soyuz-2 rockets.
Berger recalls that recently [...] the General Director of the Vostochny cosmodrome Directorate, Yevgeny Rogoza, the Director of the Vostochny space center, Roman Bobkov, and the head Of the center for the operation of ground-based space infrastructure (cenki) Andrey Okhlopkov and chief engineer of the company Vladimir Zhuk. Dmitry Fomintsev, chief inspector of the 119th Department of state architectural and construction supervision (GASN) of the Ministry of defense, was placed under arrest.
The publication claims that Roscosmos is currently facing serious financial problems, the reason for which, in particular, is the loss of the state Corporation's monopoly on delivering people to the International space station (ISS) and the development of its own rocket engines by the United States to replace Russian ones.
In October, an ArsTechnica publication stated that the Russian medium-sized partially reusable Amur rocket resembles a smaller American Falcon 9 heavy rocket, and its creation is one of the promises of the Rogozin era that is unlikely to be fulfilled.
In August the newspaper reported that the statements of the Director, "Roscosmos" manned mission to the moon or Mars and create "real" reusable launch are not confirmed by reality, in particular, the presence of existing modern technology that support the declared state, and therefore belong to the realm of fantasy.
Rogozin became head of Roscosmos in may 2018. Among has repeatedly postponed the state space of programs can be noted, in particular, the launch of the module "Science" to the ISS, the second launch heavy rocket "Angara", the construction of the Vostochny space centre and the development of advanced space systems, implementation of the lunar program and the update of the satellite constellation.
