| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 586.1 | You're kiding! | VOSTOK::LEPAGE | Cosmos---is my job | Wed Dec 13 1989 10:49 | 28 |
| Re:.0
Let me check my calendar... No, it's not April Fool's Day. If this
news item is true, it would seem to be proof positive that the Soviet
Union in general and its space program in particular are desperate for
hard Western currency and that the Japanese are on a mindless shopping
spree. What in the world are the Japanese going to do with this alleged
backup Mir? If it is a backup (to answer the previous noter's question)
it should be space worthy or at least be capable of being made so. But
so what; the Japanese have no way to launch it themselves nor do they
have the capability to send crews or any sensible cargo. In
addition, I would dare say that Mir's systems (especially electronic)
are very crude by Japanese standards.
IMHO, one of two different things will happen (assuming that this
item is NOT a hoax):
1) The Japanese are on the verge of a massive (and probably very
profitable) joint space program with the Soviets basicly thumbing their
noses at the US, NASA, and the Freedom Space Station (which has proved
to be one hell of a headache for all of the international partners
including the Japanese). The center piece of this joint venture would
involve this backup Mir.
2) The Japanese are just going to put this backup Mir in a museum or
make it into some sort of amusement park ride.
Drew
|
| 586.2 | 100 Million dollar space station | HYDRA::BIRO | | Wed Dec 13 1989 11:50 | 10 |
| Think of it this way, 10Million for the station, 20Million to
refurbush, 40Million for a Soviet Launch, 10Million per
person for taining, so for 100Million you can have your
space station, not a bad deal. Most likly you could not
do the proposal in the U.S. for that kind of change.
john
ps if not, it sure would make a nice attaction at Disney Land Japan
|
| 586.3 | | VCSESU::COOK | House of Suffering | Wed Dec 13 1989 13:29 | 6 |
|
Next thing you know Donald Trump will have his own space station. 8-)
100 million would be a drop in the bucket for him.
-The Cookster
|
| 586.4 | | PAXVAX::MAIEWSKI | | Wed Dec 13 1989 16:10 | 8 |
| It would be interesting to know if they are taking possession and
moving it to JAPAN or if they just bought it as part of a deal where
by they give the Soviet's lots of money for future cooperation in
joint space ventures.
Could by a by/lease back type of thing.
George
|
| 586.5 | Let's get NASA in the bidding... | DECWIN::FISHER | Burns Fisher 381-1466, ZKO3-4/W23 | Thu Dec 14 1989 11:47 | 8 |
| Sounds like a good deal. Maybe NASA should offer them a couple Gigabucks for
it, and do the same for the Soviets to refurbish and launch it. The Japanese
would make a good profit, the Soviets would get a big wad of hard currency, and
NASA would save big on Station Freedom.
Maybe not so :-)
Burns
|
| 586.6 | they bought a KVANT too | HYDRA::BIRO | | Thu Dec 14 1989 14:27 | 6 |
| Komsomolskaya Pravda said that not only did the Japanese trade
firm by a MIR exhibition mockup but they also bought a space
module KVANT from the USSR Glavkosmos organization for 2.5 Million
U.S. dollars
|
| 586.7 | The Latest | VOSTOK::LEPAGE | Cosmos---is my job | Tue Jan 09 1990 11:45 | 7 |
| I've got some more info on the Japanese purchase. They bought a
"high fidelity ground engineering mockup" and not an actual flight
unit. It appears that the intention of the Japanese is to study the
model to gain some insight in space station design.
Drew
|