Copyright Ars Technica
One of Russia’s most important projects over the last 15 years has been the construction of the Vostochny spaceport as the country seeks to fly its rockets from native soil and modernize its launch operations. However, the initiative has been a fiasco from the start. After construction began in 2011, the project was beset by hunger strikes, claims of unpaid workers, and the theft of $126 million. Additionally, a man driving a diamond-encrusted Mercedes was arrested after embezzling $75,000. Five years ago, there was another purge of top officials after another round of corruption. Through it all, there has been some progress. In 2016, a Soyuz-2 rocket launched from the first pad, “1S.” And eight years later, a second pad, “1A,” opened with a successful Angara rocket launch. Eventually, the Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, would like to operate seven launch pads at the Vostochny in the far eastern area of Russia, so development work continues. And therein lie the current problems. Turn out the lights The latest bit of skullduggery involves the non-payment of sizable electric bills by the primary contractor building the spaceport, the Kazan Open Stock Company (PSO Kazan). According to the Moscow Times, the Far Eastern Energy Company cut off electricity supplies to the areas of the spaceport still under construction after PSO Kazan racked up $627,000 in unpaid energy charges. The electricity company did so, it said, “to protect the interests of the region’s energy system.” (Rob Mitchell translated this Russian-language article for Ars). The energy company also intends to file a lawsuit against PSO Kazan to declare the entity bankrupt. “The energy supplier emphasizes that it has repeatedly appealed to the management of the debtor company, demanding that the full amount of the debt be paid, but the builders did not react to these demands,” the Moscow Times reported. “In the absence of full payment of the debt, the restrictive measures will be strengthened.” The operator of the Vostochny facility said the spaceport’s two active launch pads have not been affected by the dispute. Officials with the spaceport also said PSO Kazan would repay its debt by the end of November. (Probably best not to hold one’s breath). The fall and rise of PSO Kazan As minor as this dispute may seem, it’s remarkable that PSO Kazan is working on a spaceport in Russia at all. PSO Kazan won the contract to build the launch site’s second pad, 1A for the Angara rocket, in December 2017. The pad was due to be completed in time for an Angara launch in 2021. The company is owned by a Russian billionaire from the city of Kazan, Ravil Ziganshin, previously known for building sports arenas in the Republic of Tatarstan on the other side of the country from Vostochny. The adventure into spaceport construction did not go well. According to Russian Space Web, the contract for spaceport construction was not signed until October 2018. Months later, amid allegations of criminal activity and delays, Roscosmos moved to cancel the contract with PSO Kazan. Other firms emerged as bidders on the contract to build the Angara launch pad, among them the Crocus Group. However, they and others later backed out, saying the Russian government was offering to pay far less money than it would actually cost to build the launch site. “I said I was ready, but not for that amount of money,” Aras Agalarov, founder of the Crocus Group, explained in an interview at the time. “When they asked me, I said there were two pieces of news. The first was that the second phase of the cosmodrome could be built in two years. The second was that it couldn’t be built with the money allocated. If you increase the cost, you’ll get everything in two years. If not, I’m sorry.” A toxic reputation? And so Roscosmos—under the leadership of Dmitry Rogozin at the time—went crawling back to PSO Kazan to lead construction of the Angara launch pad. “Independent observers were puzzled by the sudden about-face and wondered whether Roscosmos had such a toxic reputation in the construction business that it had failed to attract any other contender for the job and, as a result, the State Corporation had no choice but to keep the original contractor on the hook,” Russian Space Web concluded about the decision. After years of delays and cost overruns, the Angara pad was eventually completed, with its first launch last November. There does not appear to be too much demand, however, as there has not yet been a second launch from the A1 pad since.
