EU space radar

I'm just pissed --- ".. The first of five SAR-Lupe satellites is due to be launched in December by a Russian Cosmos 3M booster"....?? Russian? WTF?

the link

Russies won't know the good from bad and I for one is enjoying Germans riding hers hi-tech into orbid at no substancial lunch cost. But --- is there anything else to launch load besides russian hardware& US or french could provide it. Sure Russians would sell anything for nothing just to keep left over tech in exchange for an image, but ..if the west pays just few more bucks..and keeps it's R&D going instead of promoting the regime....Please, tell me...Why it should be that way?

It's that Russia's rockets are extremely reliable and have not had a malfunction is quite some time. When launching high-million/billion dollar satellites I would think one would want the 'sure-thing'.

Originally posted by ferretman2
It's that Russia's rockets are extremely reliable and have not had a malfunction is quite some time. When launching high-million/billion dollar satellites I would think one would want the 'sure-thing'.

Sorry ferretman2, I would beg to differ on that.

You see, it wasnt that long ago that I was hoping to see the first solar sail be put into space. Sagan's group (The Planetary Society) opted to us a Russian rocket to put it in space. They used it because it was cheaper, not because it was more reliable. Unfortunatly the Russian rocket failed to reach orbit.

Years of work down the drain. Years more before another solar sail can be attempted.

the launch failed due to an premature shut-down of the first-stage engine caused by a “critical degradation in operational capability of the engine turbo-pump.”

Volna Failure Review Board Reports on Loss of Cosmos 1

So you see, as far as space rockets are concerned, nothing is a "sure-thing". Especially when you go with the lowest price bidder.

Originally posted by Bitdust
I'm just pissed --- ".. The first of five SAR-Lupe satellites is due to be launched in December by a Russian Cosmos 3M booster"....?? Russian? WTF?

the link

Thats a really good read! The article has a ton of interesting information in it... discussing "Lacrosse", etc.

Recommended reading!

Well, if all the others couldn't compete with Russia enough to get the contract, that tells me that Russia deserves it.

Hey, if you don't compete, you're eliminated. Don't get all jealous because your country couldn't do it cheaper.

The Kosmos series is more reliable than the current incarnation of the Ariane - 95.44% success rate vs. 91.67 - in addition to being cheaper and - most importantly - a good fit for the mass-to-orbit requirements of the SAR-Lupe sats.

Sure, Kosmos can loft 1500 kg to LEO, a pittance compared to Ariane's 16,000 kg, you could loft all 5 of the planned SAR-Lupe sats with one shot on an Ariane, but then that nearly 1-in-10 failure rate might come back to bite you in the butt. That and a flyaway cost under $15 million make Kosmos almost a no-brainer for a launch like this.

[edit on 2-7-2007 by PhloydPhan]