Russia 110224 Basic Political Developments

Russia tests new stealth fighter jet

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/24/45880297.html

Feb 24, 2011 11:30 Moscow Time

The new experimental fifth-generation Sukhoi T-50 fighter plane has been successfully tested in Russia’s city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The stealth-designed aircraft is equipped with a new avionics complex and has a capacious inner weapon compartment.

 The T-50 can take off and land on 300-meter-long runways and is capable of reaching velocities of up to 2,000 kilometers per hour.

Second Russian fifth-generation jet fighter completes first flight

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/7298188.html

08:42, February 24, 2011

Russia's second fifth-generation jet fighter successfully completed its first test flight in Russia's Far East region of Komsomolsk-on-Amur on Wednesday, according to local reports.

The warplane was jointly developed by the Russian Sukhoi Aircraft Company and MIG design bureaus. So far, only two models of the type have been built, said chief designer Mikhail Pogosyan.

In 2011, three more fighters of fifth generation would be ready for tests, Pogosyan added.

The designer also revealed the first fifth-generation jet fighter has made 40 flights since last January to test the model's aero-dynamic characteristics and electronic equipment.

The front line multi-purpose jet fighter, which carries missiles along with smart bombs, is equipped with computerized electronic systems that frees the pilot from steering to let him focus on combat tasks.

Source: Xinhua

Russia postpones navigation satellite launch from Plesetsk

http://en.rian.ru/science/20110224/162735653.html

07:11 24/02/2011

The launch of the Glonass-K navigation satellite, scheduled to take place Thursday from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia was postponed for 24 hours, a defense ministry spokesman said.

"For technical reasons, the launch of the Glonass-K satellite is postponed for 24 hours, to a reserve date," spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin said.

The Glonass satellite network is Russia's answer to the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian uses. Both systems allow users to determine their positions to within a few meters.

The Glonass-K, which has a service life of 10 years, will beam five navigation signals - four in the special L1 and L2 bands and one for civilian applications in the L3 band.

The previous launch under the Glonass project, supposed to conclude the forming of the satellite grouping, was unsuccessful as the rocket veered off course and sunk in the Pacific Ocean. The loss cost Russia 2.5 billion rubles ($820 million) in direct damages.

The complete grouping must have 24 operational and 2-3 reserve satellites to ensure global coverage. Russia currently has a total of 22 Glonass satellites in orbit and will launch another three Glonass-M satellites on board a Proton heavy carrier rocket later this year.

MOSCOW, February 24 (RIA Novosti)

US leaves space for Russia

http://rt.com/news/us-russia-space-obama/print/

Published: 24 February, 2011, 08:19

Edited: 24 February, 2011, 10:27

By the end of this year, NASA will no longer be able to send humans into space.

According to Barack Obama’s plan, responsibility will go to private companies, which are expected to come up with cheaper ways to ferry astronauts to low-Earth orbit.

“They know they have a big step to take if they are going to put humans into space. That is going to take the next step. My question is, “How many years? Oh gosh, I couldn’t estimate. They have a lot of work to do,” says NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams.

No one can say for sure when the private American companies will come up with a new spaceship.

For years to come, it will be the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which is going to be the only means for people to reach the International Space Station, which is perfectly fine with the leaders of Russia and the US, but does not sit well with many Americans.

“Americans like to be in charge. And they wonder how could this have happened? Now we have to pay the Russians to take us to space. It’s a matter of wounded pride,” says Marianne Dyson, an author and former NASA flight controller.

Wounded pride also revealed itself in comments by some American lawmakers, astronauts, scientists and former NASA officials.

"We will be largely dependent on the Russians, and that is a terrible place for the United States to be," former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told the Washington Post.

"For the 'world's greatest space-faring nation', this is hard to accept", says John Glenn, the first American to be sent into Earth orbit.

Comedians in the US did not miss out on poking fun at Americans’ sense of pride.

“With the end of manned space flights, America has to ride on the hump in the back seat while the Russians take the wheel to space,” said Stephen Colbert.

But those in NASA who now actually work with the Russians, like astronaut Sunni Williams, have different sentiments.

“I couldn’t imagine when I was going walking on the Red Square or going to a Russian company and working hand in hand with Russian colleagues. We are not competing but we are working together. It’s time for joint collaboration and learning from one another.  That’s just as healthy as the competition that we had in the past,” says Williams.

But it is not the first time Americans have had to rely on the Russians to take their crew to space.

They depended upon Russian rockets during a two-year grounding of US spacecraft after the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

Columbia exploded during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere and all seven crew members died.

Shuttle’s track record includes another tragedy:  in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight.

The Russian Soyuz proved to be the safest way to deliver people to space and now, with the shuttle retiring, it will be the only way.

“We are no longer in a space race. What was once a global competition has become a global collaboration,” said President Barack Obama. 

The leaders of both Russia and the US are saying that space is no longer a place for competition, it is a platform for co-operation, but the question remains: is everyone in the US ready to fully accept it?

February 24, 2011 10:12