Russia is in BIG TROUBLE, NO launchpad for Soyuz-5...
END GAME! Russia is in BIG TROUBLE, NO launchpad for Soyuz...
About ten years ago, Russia's venerable fleet of rockets commanded nearly half of the global share of the commercial launch market. Since then, the emergence of other players, most notably SpaceX, has considerably shrunk the once-dominant Russian position.
In 2017, although Russia made 17 successful orbital launches, only about a third of them have flown for paying customers other than the Russian government or the International Space Station. By contrast, SpaceX has made 16 launches, 11 of which have been for commercial customers. SpaceX projection for the future suggests that disparity would continue to grow if the company continues to increase the flight rate of its Falcon 9 rocket.
Recognizing its dimming market position, the Russian rocket corporation, Energia, has fast-tracked the development of a new medium-class launch vehicle that it is calling Soyuz-5. This rocket could replace the existing Soyuz rocket that carries cosmonauts and astronauts into space while competing with SpaceX for commercial payloads.
According to Russian space reporter Anatoly Zak, Russian officials had high hopes for the launch vehicle. "Even more importantly, the Kremlin saw the new-generation vehicle as the Russian response to the American challenge on the commercial launch market, making the work on the Soyuz-5 booster especially urgent," Zak writes.
Pitifully, six years passed, and Russia has spent nearly $1 billion on the development of the new Soyuz-5 rocket, but Soyuz-5 still has not left the ground yet.
More seriously, Kazakhstan's recent seizure of Russian space assets threatens the Soyuz-5 rocket.
This is the end game for Soyuz-5!
Russia is in BIG TROUBLE, NO launchpad for Soyuz-5...
