Never trust a Russian rocket
Jun. 22nd, 2005 02:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oneirophreniaSo, apparently, Cosmos 1, the new solar-sail trial spacecraft, is kinda-sorta alive...but no one knows where the hell it is or what it's doing.
When I first heard that the launch of the trial craft went wrong, I wasn't surprised. After all, a solar-sail craft really doesn't have any moving parts: it's just a payload surrounded by thin, reflective film. How could something so simple EVER work when the aerospace industry is involved?!
But, it turns out, the reason for the craft's problems are even more ridiculous: the Russian rocket being used to lob it into orbit shut down halfway through its launch procedure. WHAT A SURPRISE. A piece of Russian hardware that doesn't work? Could've knocked me over with a feather.
At one time--during the Soviet Era--Russian space hardware was the shit. Why? Because it was all built on a shoestring budget, making do with what little money and materiel the Russians could scrape together, and BUILT TO LAST. While NASA was dumping millions into designing a "reusable" orbiter that cost a few more million to overhaul between missions and a few million more just to kick into space, the Russians were saving billions of rubles by using simple, inexpensive, bulk carrier rockets that could toss something into orbit and then be melted down and recycled into more bulk carrier rockets. Hell, their only overhead was fuel costs.
Unfortunately, since the demise of the Red Bear, the Russian "space program" has completely caved in on itself. They're still operating on a shoestring budget, making do with little money and materiel, but now they don't even attempt to get their money's worth out of what they're building: they just throw something together when the ESA gives them a call and then they hope it works. Occasionally, it does. More often than not, it doesn't.
So FUCK the Russians and their launch vehicles. If you want something placed into orbit reliably, go with the French or the Chinese. Jesus, people--this ain't rocket science here....
When I first heard that the launch of the trial craft went wrong, I wasn't surprised. After all, a solar-sail craft really doesn't have any moving parts: it's just a payload surrounded by thin, reflective film. How could something so simple EVER work when the aerospace industry is involved?!
But, it turns out, the reason for the craft's problems are even more ridiculous: the Russian rocket being used to lob it into orbit shut down halfway through its launch procedure. WHAT A SURPRISE. A piece of Russian hardware that doesn't work? Could've knocked me over with a feather.
At one time--during the Soviet Era--Russian space hardware was the shit. Why? Because it was all built on a shoestring budget, making do with what little money and materiel the Russians could scrape together, and BUILT TO LAST. While NASA was dumping millions into designing a "reusable" orbiter that cost a few more million to overhaul between missions and a few million more just to kick into space, the Russians were saving billions of rubles by using simple, inexpensive, bulk carrier rockets that could toss something into orbit and then be melted down and recycled into more bulk carrier rockets. Hell, their only overhead was fuel costs.
Unfortunately, since the demise of the Red Bear, the Russian "space program" has completely caved in on itself. They're still operating on a shoestring budget, making do with little money and materiel, but now they don't even attempt to get their money's worth out of what they're building: they just throw something together when the ESA gives them a call and then they hope it works. Occasionally, it does. More often than not, it doesn't.
So FUCK the Russians and their launch vehicles. If you want something placed into orbit reliably, go with the French or the Chinese. Jesus, people--this ain't rocket science here....
