Russia explores atomic space engine

"Russia is preparing to develop a nuclear-propelled
spacecraft to maintain a competitive edge in the
global space race, officials said.

Nearly $17 million has been earmarked for research
this year by Rosatom, the state nuclear corporation,
and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, RIA
Novosti reported Monday.

The design stage is to be completed by 2012 and at
least another $580 million would be needed for further
development in the coming decade, Roscosmos chief
Anatoly Perminov said."

See:

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/...ngine_999.html

wrote:
"Russia is preparing to develop a nuclear-propelled
spacecraft to maintain a competitive edge in the
global space race, officials said.

Nearly $17 million has been earmarked for research
this year by Rosatom, the state nuclear corporation,
and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, RIA
Novosti reported Monday.

The design stage is to be completed by 2012 and at
least another $580 million would be needed for further
development in the coming decade, Roscosmos chief
Anatoly Perminov said."

The old story; they have very big ideas and very little funding.
When this thing first got mentioned by them a while back, they were
implying it was going to take of from the Earth's surface.
Perminov was also the guy who was saying that it was almost certain that
Apophis would collide with Earth sometime in the near future even if it
missed us in 2036 a couple of weeks back.
The guy is either none-too-bright or simply makes things up to get some
publicity and try to get more funding from somewhere (i.e. the rest of
the world) for the Russian space program.

Pat

wrote in message
...
"Russia is preparing to develop a nuclear-propelled
spacecraft to maintain a competitive edge in the
global space race, officials said.

Nearly $17 million has been earmarked for research
this year by Rosatom, the state nuclear corporation,
and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, RIA
Novosti reported Monday.

That's only enough money for a "paper study", or in today's terms, a
PowerPoint study. You're not going to be building flight hardware for that
kind of money.

The design stage is to be completed by 2012 and at
least another $580 million would be needed for further
development in the coming decade, Roscosmos chief
Anatoly Perminov said."

See:

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/...ngine_999.html

I'm not going to argue if that's enough money to build hardware, but it does
illustrate quite nicely that IF the project were to proceed, they're going
to need a fairly massive infusion of cash. This is typical of all studies,
funded to completion or not. I'd like to note that space literature
(including websites) are littered with pretty pictures that were never fully
developed into flight hardware.

No bucks, no Buck Rogers.

Jeff
--
"Take heart amid the deepening gloom
that your dog is finally getting enough cheese" - Deteriorata - National
Lampoon

Jeff Findley wrote:
No bucks, no Buck Rogers.

Or perhaps in this case, No rubles, no Radimir Borodin?

rick jones

OK, it was a stretch, tried to simply switch R's and B's
and arrive at a Russian name - no idea was a more "Buck Rogersy"
Russian name would be...

--
a wide gulf separates "what if" from "if only"
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

Jeff Findley wrote:
Nearly $17 million has been earmarked for research
this year by Rosatom, the state nuclear corporation,
and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, RIA
Novosti reported Monday.

That's only enough money for a "paper study", or in today's terms, a
PowerPoint study. You're not going to be building flight hardware for that
kind of money.

At least that's what it would cost in the US...in Russia, you could buy
a small city for that much. ;-)

Pat

Rick Jones wrote:
Jeff Findley wrote:
No bucks, no Buck Rogers.

Or perhaps in this case, No rubles, no Radimir Borodin?

In Russia, their favorite made-up cosmonaut name was Ivan Ivanovich:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Ivanovich
"He first flew into space on Sputnik 9 on March 9, 1961, accompanied by
a dog named Chernushka, various reptiles, and eighty mice and guinea
pigs, some of which were stuffed inside his body."
Oh yeah, that would have been a trip for some rural folk to come across:
"Comrade! A dead cosmonaut!" ...then the animals start crawling out of
the "body".
You could have seen that urine stain from orbit.

Pat

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Jeff Findley wrote:
Nearly $17 million has been earmarked for research
this year by Rosatom, the state nuclear corporation,
and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, RIA
Novosti reported Monday.

That's only enough money for a "paper study", or in today's terms, a
PowerPoint study. You're not going to be building flight hardware for
that kind of money.

At least that's what it would cost in the US...in Russia, you could buy a
small city for that much. ;-)

Yes, but would you want to?



Pat



--
Greg Moore
Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC.

"Pat Flannery" wrote in message
dakotatelephone...
Jeff Findley wrote:
Nearly $17 million has been earmarked for research
this year by Rosatom, the state nuclear corporation,
and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, RIA
Novosti reported Monday.

That's only enough money for a "paper study", or in today's terms, a
PowerPoint study. You're not going to be building flight hardware for
that kind of money.

At least that's what it would cost in the US...in Russia, you could buy a
small city for that much. ;-)

Have you seen how cheap houses are in Detroit these days?

Jeff
--
"Take heart amid the deepening gloom
that your dog is finally getting enough cheese" - Deteriorata - National
Lampoon

"Jeff Findley" wrote:


wrote in message
...

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/...ngine_999.html

I'm not going to argue if that's enough money to build hardware, but it does
illustrate quite nicely that IF the project were to proceed, they're going
to need a fairly massive infusion of cash. This is typical of all studies,
funded to completion or not. I'd like to note that space literature
(including websites) are littered with pretty pictures that were never fully
developed into flight hardware.


In this case, the portions of the web devoted to space related topics
are littered with pretty pictures of Brave Russian Space Initiatives -
most of which never got the funding for studies, let alone hardware.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

"Derek Lyons" wrote in message
...
"Jeff Findley" wrote:


wrote in message
...

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/...ngine_999.html

I'm not going to argue if that's enough money to build hardware, but it
does
illustrate quite nicely that IF the project were to proceed, they're going
to need a fairly massive infusion of cash. This is typical of all
studies,
funded to completion or not. I'd like to note that space literature
(including websites) are littered with pretty pictures that were never
fully
developed into flight hardware.


In this case, the portions of the web devoted to space related topics
are littered with pretty pictures of Brave Russian Space Initiatives -
most of which never got the funding for studies, let alone hardware.

Same for the US. One of my favorite things to do is look at drawings which
came out of the Apollo Applications Project. Lots of cool stuff there. To
say nothing of X-20, orbital M2-F2, MOL, uprated Saturns...

Jeff
--
"Take heart amid the deepening gloom
that your dog is finally getting enough cheese" - Deteriorata - National
Lampoon