![]() |
Russian space officials have drawn immense satisfaction from their role in the Monday launch of the Mars probe from their cosmodrome at Baikonur, Kazakhstan with considerable technical input from Russian technicians and planners.
The European Space Agency's mission to Mars -- its first venture into interplanetary travel -- is to be followed by two similar but better-funded US missions, on June 8 and (provisionally) June 25, and though officials are downplaying the rivalry, considerable kudos will accrue to whoever can be the first to turn up evidence that life-forms exist, or have existed, on Mars.
The withering of Russia's space budget in the post-Soviet era, and particularly the downing of its Mir space platform in 2001, have left Russia feeling overshadowed by US dollar-power in the space race.
Even the February 1 Columbia disaster, which moved NASA to ground its shuttle launch programme for the foreseeable future, brought no benefits as US legislation bars the US agency from providing additional funds to Russia for launches to the International Space Station for as long as it transfers nuclear technology capable of military applications to Iran.
The cash-strapped Russian Space Agency has lately been reduced to offering rides to the ISS to Western businessmen at 20 million dollars a throw.
But in the space of a week, its fortunes appear to have been reversed.
While the Mars Express mission has done much to refurbish Russia's image as a space-exploring nation, possibly even more crucial was the European Space Agency decision in Paris on May 27 to open up its space base at Kourou, French Guiana, to Russia's sturdy Soyuz launchers.
The decision, taken to keep the ESA space programme afloat following the disastrous maiden launch of its Ariane-5 rocket last December, will have mainly commercial implications in the short term -- previously the Ariane and Soyuz launchers had been competitors on the dwindling civilian satellites market.
ESA Director-General Antonio Rodota however saw clearly that the decision to commit 314 million euros (370 million dollars) to building a new launchpad at Kourou to accommodate the Russian launcher was also "a political signal" and a "firm undertaking" towards Russia.
The Russian foreign ministry's senior spokesman said Wednesday that levels of space cooperation between Russia and Europe were now tantamount to a strategic partnership, laying the basis for long-term collaboration in space.
"The ESA decision is not only important for the (space-launch) project, it can also be considered a key factor paving the way to achieving a global partnership between Russia and Europe, including prospects for creating the space transport systems of the future," Alexander Yakovenko said.
The spokesman noted that European space experts too had welcomed the decision to boost Russia-European cooperation as "strategically justified and politically important for Europe."
The ESA embrace both on rocket launches and on the Mars probe comes as a boon to a nation whose self-image draws heavily on its heroic past as a space pioneer.
Despite its penurious state, Russia strenuously plays up its ongoing domestic space launch programme -- at least 20 launches this year, it announced Wednesday -- and has been increasingly developing its space cooperation with regional allies China and India.
In April the government sharply reversed its earlier policy and announced it would allocate additional funding to build spaceships to service the ISS during the break in US shuttle flights caused by the Columbia disaster.
SPACE.WIRE |