The wires were buzzing yesterday with a report that NASA has rejected Russian cooperation in lunar exploration. Or, at least, that’s what Anatoly Perminov, the head of Roskosmos, claimed in an Interfax article, which was picked up uncritically by AFP and AP. “We were ready to cooperate but for unknown reasons, the United States have said they will undertake this program themselves,” Perminov was quoted as saying. Problem is, there was apparently no formal Russian proposal for cooperation according to NASA, which only New Scientist bothered to get a response from. “Nothing was offered and nothing was declined,” a NASA spokesman said, adding that the space agency was still interested in international cooperation, although apparently still sticking to plans to keep the transportation infrastructure all-American.
I’m not sure why the Russians would be offended, given that NASA isn’t going to be building a lunar base anyways, and certainly not one which is mining and shipping back fairy dust. um, i mean He3. But hey, I’m a cynic on this….
It appears that Perminov may not have said what was reported:
http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/fpspace/2007-May/022868.html
I’m going to try to get a copy of the Interfax report. If I find it, I’ll provide a translation of the relevant parts.
It’s just a guess, but I suspect that the Ruskies asked for a part in the Constellation transportation architecture (not NASA’s overall lunar planning) and were rejected because Griffin has ruled that the transportation system must be an all-NASA one. But since Ares 1/Orion won’t fly until 2015 at the earliest and there will be no lunar elements to work on for many years to come, this effectively means to the Ruskies that NASA did reject their cooperation. I always thought that the lack of opportunities for early international cooperation in the ESAS plan would take away one of the major political rationales for spending on human space exploration. But I did not anticipate that NASA would also take heat from the internationals for it.
Anonymous: I always thought that the lack of opportunities for early international cooperation in the ESAS plan would take away one of the major political rationales for spending on human space exploration.
I fully agree. This is yet another big political mistake made by Dr. Griffin (or, possibly, his boss, but I don’t he cares enough to have made the decision).
— Donald