Oh. I almost couldn’t make up my mind on that one. From a purely scientific standpoint, I wanted it to succeed and find the evidence of water they were hoping for, because that would be helpful to the worldwide scientific community.

At the same time, though, I didn’t want Putin to get something to brag about. I also wanted another reminder to the world that all our international sanctions are seriously hurting Russia.

Ultimately, I’m glad the lander crashed.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's a question here tho:

Was this because of the sanctions, or because, one might suggest, that russian space tech hasnt advanced as you'd expect the last few decades? Maybe because the people who built the roscosmos stuff back in the cold war are now dead from old age, taking some important knowledge with them to the grave? :o

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Well, I read a story yesterday which said they couldn’t make the lander as sophisticated as they wanted to because they no longer had access to lighter materials, equipment, and electronics. Foreign stuff was simply better than Russian-made alternatives. I don’t know why the lander crashed, but I’m guessing that it might not have if they could use foreign components.

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