Baikonur at Risk?
Russia has announced that it is building a new spaceport in the Far East of Russia near the border with China. With the Plesetsk Cosmodrome located in the far north on the Arctic Sea, there might not be much demand for Baikanur in Kazakhstan, which has been the Russian (and Soviet) main spaceport since the space program began. In fact, The Voice of Russia is reporting that by 2020, Baikanur will only be used for 11% of Russia’s space launches. While the US and other countries also use Baikanur, this news can’t be good for Kazakhstan which gets a fair amount of income from renting the space port out.
On the other hand, if Kazakhstan builds up its education and training and there are enough skilled workers for all the tech jobs necessary to run a cosmodrome, this might be good news as Kazakhstan takes control of the infrastructure in its own territory instead of handing it over to a foreign power.
Subscribe or Share
Culture
- Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
2011-12-05 - Apples, Sure. But THC is from Kazakhstan too?
2011-10-05 - Naked Man Pot
2011-09-23
- Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
Resources
- Oh, CNN
2012-07-21 - What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
2012-07-19 - Books for Kazakh Students
2011-11-06
- Oh, CNN
Politics
- Image
2011-07-28 - Sub Rosa Endorsement
2011-07-26 - The Naked Truth
2011-06-12
- Image
News
- KZBlog is going down
2013-09-10 - Oh, CNN
2012-07-21 - Repentence
2012-07-15
- KZBlog is going down
Fun
- What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
2012-07-19 - Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
2011-12-05 - House Hunters Bishkek
2011-12-02
- What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
Tourism
- Asian Games Torch
2011-01-12 - Wikitravel
2010-08-07 - ALZHIR, the Soviets and Democracy
2010-07-30
- Asian Games Torch
Life in KZ
- Photo Gallery: Almaty Subway
2011-12-07 - Healthcare and the Private Sector
2011-11-30 - Naked Man Pot
2011-09-23
- Photo Gallery: Almaty Subway
how can a launch pad in the artic circle or on the russian/chinese border compete with baikonur? the most economical launch pads are closer to the equator. the closer it is to that line the more the earth’s own spin helps push the rocket into orbit. that’s why the u.s. built its launch pad in florida and the EU has theirs in french guyana.
in the northern hemisphere, the further north it is, the more fuel is required to escape the earth’s gravity well, which means a more expensive launch
Remember that Russia rents Baikanour for around $115 million a year. And there are transportation costs to get stuff there, as well as damages paid when their rockets leak or blow up.
Plus they don’t (theoretically) have complete control over the cosmodrome because it is on foreign territory (although in practice they control everything in that part of Kazakhstan). Russia might also plan to let China and Korea use the eastern launch pad, which is extra income. So there are other considerations besides fuel.
>spaceport
>job.com
oh the irony
How so?
[…] of KazCosmos and well-known Kazakh astronaut, has said they will consider it.As I reported earlier, Russia is building a new cosmodrome and in the future will only use Baikonur for about 11% of its space flight. One wonders what they […]