The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and the European Space Agency (ESA) are going to sign an agreement in the first quarter of 2013 on Russia’s participation in the European ExoMars mission. “The agreement will be signed. We are starting financing this project,” Roscomos head Vladimir Popovkin told Izvestia newspaper on December 26. Popovkin discussed Russia’s readiness to join the [...]
Post Tagged with: “Roscomos”
Roscosmos Proposes ISS as Mars Analog
With the analog program Mars500 completed last November, Roscosmos now proposes performing a similar experiment in space. In a plan submitted to the Russian government this month, the space agency suggests that the ISS could be used to simulate long term interplanetary spaceflights sometime after 2014, and to train crews for a flight to Mars before its operation is scheduled [...]
The Lost Phobos Grunt: An Overview
With the December 10 declaration by a senior Russian space official that officially pronounced the Phobos-Grunt lost, attention is being shifted to the probe’s inevitable atmospheric reentry. Below is a timeline of events from the launch of the probe to the December 10 announcement: November 9, 2011– The Phobos-Grunt is successfully launched atop a two-stage Zenit rocket from Site 45 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome [...]
Successful Progress M-13M Launch Averts ISS Shutdown
A Progress M-13M cargo resupply capsule was successfully launched today, October 30, 2011, from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Along with the Progress, the rocket carried the 40 kg small satellite Chibis-M, designed to study gamma radiation in atmospheric lightning. The Progress capsule is slated to dock with ISS on Wednesday, averting the first unmanned operation of the International Space Station (ISS) [...]
