After Putin sacked Russia’s space chief, the rumor mill is running red-hot

None of this can be confirmed, of course.

It is also possible that Borisov was simply fired because of the generally poor state of affairs at Roscosmos, which is saddled with myriad problems, including: corruption, a lack of investment, low wages and poor employee morale, Russia’s war against Ukraine draining talent, a reliance on technology half a century old, and shrinking commercial markets.

The bottom line is that Russia simply does not have the state budget to support significant investments in its space programs, and the country’s technical efforts are bent on weapons rather than spaceflight. It also has virtually no commercial space market, as everything is controlled by Roscosmos or its state-owned subsidiaries.

The Ukraine war has exacerbated Russia’s decline in space. The country’s space program survived the breakup of the Soviet Union a quarter of a century ago by partnering with the West. It formed the coalition of nations that built the International Space Station, with NASA providing significant financial support. European companies bought launches on the Soyuz rocket. American launch companies bought Russian rocket engines. But most of that is over now, and the future looks fairly bleak, with Europe closing off its markets to Russian markets and NASA and Roscosmos likely ending their space station partnership by 2030.

Cows on Mars

In the meantime, Putin appears to be shuffling chairs at Roscosmos and daydreaming about missions to Mars.

During a rally with college students in the city of Yaroslavl, Putin was speaking about how Russia would advance into the future. As part of this, he awarded the “Presidential Prize” to several young scientists, including an aerospace engineer named Natalia Cherkashina. She won an award for an anti-radiation composite material.

“Natalia Igorevna, can you please tell me if today’s modern radiation-protective composites will allow, say, cows to fly to Mars and return? Or bunnies? Or cats? Or dogs?” Putin asked.

“Why not? Of course they will,” she replied.

Later on, Putin said he was just kidding around. “I was joking about cows; we need cows here to make cheese and milk,” he said. Under his watch, Russia’s space program has become something of a joke, too.

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