On January 25, the Government Presidium discussed progress on plans for the development of a new space center in the Russian Far East, the Russian Government press service reports. “The creation of the space center in the Far East is a new large-scale national project, which will help us accomplish our most ambitious goals for space exploration,” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said. “Vostochny will meet the highest international standards.”
The Vostochny cosmodrome will be located in Amur Oblast. The name Vostochny means "eastern" in Russian. Vostochny's geographic location at 51 degrees north means that, to a given orbit, rockets will be able to carry almost the same amount of payload, as they can when launched from Russia’s main launch site at Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
“With the new space center, Russia will become a truly self-sufficient space power, able to launch all types of spacecraft, including cargo spacecraft and space station modules,” the prime minister said. “The facilities of Vostochny will also be used through the programs for manned flights and missions to the moon and Mars. We hope to strengthen Russia’s position on the global market of space technology and services, where we clearly have a competitive edge.”
There are over 20 space centers in the world. China, South Korea, Indonesia and Brazil are building new launch pads. And the project for the Guiana Space Centre is well underway. There is a high demand for space technology and services, and it will continue to grow, Putin noted.
Currently, Baikonur is the only launch site operated by Russia with capability to launch manned flights and satellites to geostationary orbit. The Russian government pays a yearly rent of $115 million to Kazakhstan for its usage. Unmanned payloads to low earth orbit can be currently also be launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwestern Russia. The new site is intended mostly for civilian launches. Roscosmos plans to move 45% of Russia's space launches to Vostochny by 2020, while Baikonur's share will drop from 65% to 11%, and Plesetsk will account for 44%.
The government has set aside 24.5 billion rubles for the construction of the space center in the federal budget from 2011 to 2013, and an additional 57 billion rubles will be needed in 2014 and 2015.
