Russia and China Are Planning to Have Their Own Space Stations by 2023

“By 2023, we plan to create our own national space station in orbit; this is something far-off in the future, but also necessary for us from the point of view of our national economy,” said Russia’s President Vladamir Putin.

It was only recently that Russia and NASA had agreed to keep operating and financing the International Space Station until at least until 2024.But with relations between the U.S. and Russia on a downward spiral, the future of joint space projects is on shaky ground.

Russia may build its own space station to rival ISS:

During a marathon call-in session with the nation, Putin said: “Russia needs its own space station to be able to view its own territory properly from space. We use the ISS actively for science and the economy, but from the ISS only 5% of the area of Russia can be seen,” he said.

“Our own space infrastructure and modern network of cosmodromes will allow Russia to strengthen its standing as a leading space superpower and guarantee the independence of space activities.

“In the future, the capacity of the cosmodrome will be expanded… to be used to realize programs to explore the Moon, Mars, and other space objects,” Putin said at Vostochny, near Russia’s border with China, reported City A.M.

But he added that Russia is not progressing as fast as it should be. He said that double the number of workers were needed at the construction site, and that construction was three months behind where it should be at this point.

Exploring the International Space Station:

“From a national station, we should be able to see the whole of the area of our huge country. “It goes without saying we will bring this project to fruition, and without any doubt, it will be under our control,” RTE News reported.

Earlier this year, Russia said that it planned to create its own space station using its modules from the ISS once it has finished its mission. Roscosmos, the head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, said that Russia would work jointly with its U.S. counterpart on a project of a new orbital station, after a meeting at Baikonur.  NASA would not confirm if there was such a plan, saying only that the heads of NASA and Roscosmos discussed future cooperation.

The call-in session with Putin included a video link with workers at Russia’s new cosmodrome under construction, Vostochny in the country’s Far East.

Putin is trying to reduce Russia’s reliance on its rented Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, by building a new launch pad. But the Vostochny project has been delayed with scandals, with the people that are in charge of construction under investigation and suspected of misusing millions of rubles in state funds, said The Economic Times.

China is also planning to have a permanent orbiting space station by 2023. It has plans to become a superpower in space.

China’s new space station and cargo vessel:

It seems that many countries are hell bent on getting into space.

I guess it’s still relatively clean and untouched, but that won’t last long if what we have done to the Earth is anything to go by.

www.visiontimes.com

Source: http://www.visiontimes.com/2015/04/21/russia-and-china-are-planning-to-have-their-own-space-stations-by-2023.html