Possible failure of Roskosmos cooperation with NASA on the moon program Artemis in favor of cooperation with China is “a crazy” step that will help the United States to increase collaborative efforts with partners in this area, but to save the project, writes in The Hill is an expert in the field of Astronautics mark Whittington.
The author drew attention to the July statements of the General Director of rostec Dmitry Rogozin, that Russia is not interested in cooperation with US in the lunar project, since the latter is political in nature and is based on the NATO model. “We kind of joke, but the fact remains that Rogozin makes the serious mistake of casting NASA in favor of the Chinese. With the advent of the commercial team [manned spacecraft Crew Dragon and Starliner] Russia has lost profitable revenue stream,” writes the expert.
Whittington recognizes that the ongoing Rogozin policy has been beneficial to the United States and contrary to the national interests of Russia. “Rogozin would prefer that Russia has joined China as a space partner. For various reasons this step may seem crazy from the point of view of national interests of Russia”, — writes the author.
In addition, Whittington notes that the policy Rogozin beneficial to the United States, as its last statement must be troubled by representatives of the Democratic party of the United States, following the example of the Republican party, fearing the rise of China in space, may decide to provide much more support lunar NASA projects than they did previously. The author reminds that Russia’s participation in the International space station (ISS) allowed the former President-the Republican of the USA Georges Bush — senior to win the support of Democrats who saw in the earth lab project of geopolitical importance.
The publication notes that “if Russians think that they will get respect from China, they had better think again: [the head of China] XI Jinping deeply despises everyone who is not Han Chinese. If Rogozin doubts it, he should ask the Uighurs”. It is also noted that the lunar program, NASA will allow the United States to maintain its status as a world superpower. “Russia can be part of that effort and reap the rewards, but only if she will understand what are her interests,” — says the expert.
In October 2019 Rogozin said that “the only one who can be without professional education in the aerospace industry, is the CEO.” In the opinion of the Manager, this position is political, not technical.
