Russian-built International Space Observatory

[mrmorris]

In Astronotes yesterday, there was an article about closer cooperation between the Russian and Chinese space agencies. In that, there was a note:<br /><br /><i>"...China is showing interest in the international space observatory and Phobos-Soil,..."</i><br /><br />Phobos-Soil is obviously a sample-return mission that's been talked about for some time. However -- I've never heard anything about a international space observatory associated with the russians (there's a <b>World</b> space observatory -- but that's not closely tied to the RSA at all). Googling on that term brought me several hits, but nothing that looks right. Has anyone here ever seen anything about this?

 

[holmec]

this is old, but could this be it?<br /><br />http://www.spacedaily.com/news/telescopes-03zp.html<br /><br />or maybe this is it<br /><br />http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4677721/<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>

 

[mrmorris]

It may be the first. I actually recall reading that article when it first came out, but didn't think of it in conjunction with this until seeing it again. The article makes it sound like the plans are very nebulous -- possibly just an optical light observatory with a relatively small mirror (0.6-0.8 meters). Better than a kick in the head, but nothing revolutionary.<br /><br />The second article is about the WSO -- which isn't really associated with Russia in <i>particular</i>. A bunch of countries are pushing for it -- many with little or no space program and/or budget for such. Also -- China was already one of the participants in WSO.