russian_gov_mir_001013 A recent budgetary decree approved by the Russian government could keep the venerable Russian space station Mir aloft -- at least in the near term.
The agreement, signed Thursday October 12 by Russian Federation Chairman Mikhail Kasyanov, states that 70 percent of the revenues generated from patent rights to the results of government scientific research and experimental design will be used for scientific research, including continued support for piloted operation of the Mir space station.
The decree does not specify how long after the end the year the government plans
to keep the aging Russian outpost in orbit. It also remains unclear how much money the state intends to raise during the remaining two and a half months left in 2000 to support Mirs operation, whose annual cost considerably exceeds $200 million. But this does seem to be a vote of confidence for the aging outpost, which has been beset by
financial difficulties. Mircorp, the international company that funds Mir, recently announced plans for an IPO. This is the latest in a rash of schemes to save the 14-year-old outpost.
Mir could live beyond the late winter of 2001 under another scenario -- MirCorp, the private international company that provided funding for a human mission earlier this year, could find a sponsor for
businessman Dennis Tito's flight to the station. The flight would cost about $20 million. Tito is set to fly to the station with cosmonauts Salizhan Sharipov and Pavel Vinogradov in February 2001.Finding money to pay for Mirs flight next year isn't the Russian space program's only headache. Funding must be found to rescue RKK Energia, Mirs designer and operator, from economic collapse. According to Yuri Semenov, Energias president and general designer, the corporation is in debt for $71.7 million (2 billion rubles). Included in this sum is $21.5 million (600 million rubles) owed to the government.
advertisement
