Vostochny Cosmodrome

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CalliArcale

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Russia is apparently planning a new cosmodrome. They've been planning this pretty much since Kazakhstan became an independent republic, but abandoned the idea of converting Plesetsk for manned launches (probably because the ISS would not be accessible from Plesetsk; Mir-2 had been planned for a polar orbit suitable for Plesetsk, but such an orbit would not be accessible from KSC, and so the ISS got a Baikonur-suitable orbit instead). Seems that now they're looking at converting the abandoned Svobodny facility, or perhaps merely building in its vicinity. Anyway, the new complex will be in the Amur region, near China.<br /><br /> Russian plans new space launch site <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>
 
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holmec

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I'm confused about russia's moves with comodromes and launch sites.<br /><br />If its making a new comodrome and also lets Arianespace launch Soyuz and keep Baikonur, does this mean expansion? Or is this primarily about lowering costs? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#0000ff"><em>"SCE to AUX" - John Aaron, curiosity pays off</em></font></p> </div>
 
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3488

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I think it is about politics, as CalliArcale has correctly said, Kazahkstan, currently is<br />a seperate country from Russia, after the downfall of the USSR.<br /><br />So Baikonur effectively is on foreign soil.<br /><br />Also a launch site ideally (unless for polar launches), needs to be a close to the equator as possible<br />to gain the benefit of some 'free energy' provided by the Earth's rotation <br />(approx 1,600 kmh @ the equator for free).<br /><br />Russia therefore needs a new site, in Russia, that is not as far north as Plesetsk.<br /><br />The location near the border with China, is remote too.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>
 
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PistolPete

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This is nothing really new. Vostochny is nothing more than the old Svobdny launch site with a new name. Russia has been wanting to turn Svobodny into its primary manned launch site for almost 15 years, but due to lack of funding hasn't been able to seriously consider it until now<br /><br />Anatoly Zak has a good article on it on his Russianspaceweb.com site<br /><br />http://www.russianspaceweb.com/svobodny.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>
 
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cbased

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As long as there are Soyuz launches Russia will not go from Baikonur. The new site is required for the new Angara rocket. And because military people also have their interests with Angara it's got to be on the russian soil.<br />Another intersting point - it (theoretically) allows for bigger stage diameters. Current architectures are limited in size because they have to be transfered by railway. Having big ports there (Far East) allows you to deliver all parts by ships (or even build some major componets in place)
 
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