Mass media: Russia was removed from the discussion of the lunar station
Russian experts no longer participate in the discussion of the project of the American lunar station Gateway. It became known that they were excluded from the mailing list of letters and deprived of access to the materials.
Russian representatives were excluded from the expert group to discuss the prospects for the creation of the Gateway lunar station. This was reported to RIA "Novosti" by a source in the rocket and space industry.
According to him, this decision was made after repeated statements by the Russian side about the insufficient role in the project.
Roscosmos and NASA signed an agreement on cooperation in the exploration of the Moon and specifically on the program for the construction of the near-lunar habitable station Deep Space Gateway, which will be the first step for human flight to other planets, in September 2017 at the International Congress of Astronautics in Adelaide (Australia).
"We have signed an agreement with NASA to continue cooperation on the development of the Moon and, in particular, in the Deep Space Gateway project. The project is unique in that it will be the first step, thanks to which the technologies of working in the orbit of the Moon will be developed with the prospect of applying them during flights to other planets, "he said at the time.En " head of Roscosmos Igor Komarov.
"Our contribution can be the participation of Russian automatic vehicles that will work on the Moon (included in the FKP), in addition, we are interested in having not one, but at least two launch systems for the Moon, Mars and other projects. Accordingly, the production of our superheavy rocket, which we expect to complete by the end of the next decade, can be a contribution from our side, " Komarov explained, noting that the United States will build the station with the help of the future SLS heavy rocket.
At that time, Roscosmos and NASA were already discussing the development of international standards necessary for joint projects and the construction of the near-lunar station Deep space gateway. "This applies to the seven standards. Almost decisions have been made on the docking standard, it is in a high degree of readiness, and on the standard of life support, " Komarov said. According to him, the accepted docking standard will be the closest to the Russian standard.
The fact that Russia will not participate in the Deep Space Gateway project in its current form, the new head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, began to talk back in 2018.
"Russia cannot afford to participate in this project in its current form on the sidelines. We are creating our own transport system, " Rogozin said at the time.
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.
The press service of Roscosmos then said that there is no question of a complete rejection of cooperation. "Russia has not refused to participate in the project of the orbital lunar station with the United States. This is not true, " -said the head of the press service of the corporation Vladimir Ustimenko. "We are for cooperation and cooperation in equal partnership projects."
"In our opinion, the Gateway lunar station project is too American-centric in its current state. Russia is likely to refrain from participating on a large scale. We are interested in our American colleagues creating an airlock capable of docking with the transport ship "Eagle", - he said.
In October, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed an agreement on cooperation in the creation of the Gateway lunar station. "The agreement signed on Tuesday marks the agency's first official commitment to launch international crews to the Moon as part of the Artemis missions, "NASA said. It was reported that ESA will create habitable and refueling modules, as well as provide the station's connection to the Moon.
Moreover, ESA will provide two European service modules for NASA's Orion manned spacecraft, which will provide the capsule with energy, water and oxygen.
Roscosmos did not confirm or deny the report about the exclusion of Russia from the discussion of the project.
"In June 2020, representatives of the state corporation Roscosmos, at the invitation of the American side, took part in a multi-sided online briefing organized by NASA with the participation of heads of international space agencies on the main priorities in the field of manned and robotic exploration of the Moon and deep space, including the project to create a civil lunar orbital platform Gateway, "the Newspaper reported.Ru" in the press service of the state corporation.
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Nikolai Gorodetsky
