France and Russia on Tuesday signed a five-year, 200-million

[Олигарх]

Недавно на spacedaily.com:

France, Russia Ink Deal On Rocket Launchers
File illustration of an earlier Orel 6 design for a flyback booster system
Paris (AFP) Mar 15, 2005
France and Russia on Tuesday signed a five-year, 200-million-euro (260-million-dollar) deal for joint research into a next-generation rocket launcher, the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) said.
The deal on the so-called Orel project was signed in Paris by CNES and the Russian space agency Roskosmos, the agency said in a press release.
Scientists from the two countries will build and test prototype engines fuelled by hydrogen, oxygen and methane as well as a first-stage rocket booster that would glide back to Earth after launch so that it can be refuelled for another mission.
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1.   Как понимать эти 200 млн евро? Французы нашим платят за исследования?
2.   Насчет Орла. Это проект ЦиХа? Нельзя ли о нем поподробнее?
И о других проектах и в целом о всей этой сделке.

И на эту же тему:
2005-03-18 16:31     * RUSSIA * SPACE * FRANCE * COOPERATION *
FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON VIA PARIS MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Andrei Kislyakov) It is safe to say that a European space union will soon be established, and it will become the world's largest space exploration organization. While talking to Le Figaro on March 16, Yannick D'Escatha, the president of the Center National D'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), said France viewed a powerful strategic alliance with Russia as a key element of developing new launch vehicles. Anatoly Perminov, the head of Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos), and his French counterpart recently signed an agreement on future launch vehicles and manned space missions in Paris. France's URAL cooperation program will take on a European scale. D'Escatha says Russia has studied virtually every launch option since the beginning of the Space Age, which means it has a huge amount of valuable information. Cooperation with Russia will therefore help generate new ideas for all of Europe. Accordingly, the process that started when Russia and France signed an inter-governmental agreement on space exploration in fall 2003 is developing today toward the establishment of a European space infrastructure featuring Russia. Not only will Russian rockets be launched from the European Space Agency's Kourou equatorial space center in French Guyana, but new-generation transport systems and inter-planetary probes will also be developed. Europe is seriously considering the possibility of phasing out its Ariane-5 workhorse. Indeed, D'Escatha says a new rocket will be developed with Russia and the first Russian-European launch vehicle should blast off in 2020. However, Russia already has a wide range of launch vehicles on offer. Perminov said in an exclusive RIA Novosti interview late this February that the Khrunichev Spacecraft Center was developing an entire family of Angara light, medium and heavy-duty launch vehicles. They will be able to put spacecraft with a mass between several hundred kilograms and 24 tons into different orbits, including geostationary orbits. All these rockets feature advanced technologies. Angara-class rockets should lift off within the next one or two years. Moreover, work is being conducted to extend the service life of the Soyuz rocket and expand the range of spacecrafts it can carry by modernizing the Soyuz-2 launch vehicle. Digital guidance and telemetry systems, as well as a new, improved engine are being installed. Scientists are also redesigning the rocket's third stage and fairing. Payload mass will increase by 1,100-1,200kg for low circular orbits. A revamped Soyuz-2 launch vehicle was successfully tested last year, ending the first stage of modernization. A recent Roskosmos press release read that the agency and its International Space Station partners were discussing missions to the Moon, Mars and other planets. Perminov believes the ISS is a key element in creating the orbital infrastructure required for work on inter-planetary expeditions. "We are open to dialogue with our colleagues to identify cooperation within our national programs," the press release states. It seems that when the Russian-French initiatives are implemented, the European space exploration plan will eclipse national programs

[ronatu]

Shin, please delete it as repeatition - see WOW
Thanks

[ESA Vega]

With the signing of a formal agreement between Arianespace and Russian Space Agency on April 11, 2005, the countdown for the construction of the launch pad officially started on April 26, 2005. According to the contract, the Moscow-based KBOM design bureau had to be ready for the "all out" tests of the launch pad with the Soyuz-2 (Soyuz-ST) rocket within 35 months from the beginning of the construction. The tests were expected to last for two months, culminating with the actual launch of the first mission sometime in 2008, or 37 months after the beginning of the construction. The excavation for the pad was expected to start at the end of the monsoon season of 2005. As many as 50 Soyuz launches were expected from Kourou over a 15-year period. (220)
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/kourou.html
Союз Technical description
The launch complex for the Soyuz rockets in Kourou featured considerable differences from its original launch pads in Baikonur and Plesetsk. Since the potential commercial payloads only allowed vertical integration with the rocket, the launch complex designers have decided to install payload module onto the rocket after it is rolled out and erected into vertical position on the launch pad. To provide a climate controlled environment for the integration of the payload with the launch vehicle, a movable service tower was introduced. The design of the tower would enable its further extension in the future, including accommodations for the crew access into the manned spacecraft.


Russia Hopes To Launch Reusable Spacecraft In 2012
http://www.physorg.com/news10644.html
...Normal landing, Sevastyanov said, would be possible at the Russian Baikonur Space Center and French Kourou Launch Site; emergency landing will be safe enough at many operational airports. The Kliper concept includes the prospect of developing Energia's huge tourism program, which offers a week at the International Space Station and a flight around the Moon

Союз, Soyuz  at Europe's Spaceport
An agreement will soon be signed to enable the Russian Soyuz launchers to use Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana as a launch base. The launch of Soyuz from the Spaceport in French Guiana will consolidate Europe's access to space for medium-size missions and Russia will benefit from the many advantages provided by the Spaceport and from improved access to the commercial market.
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ESA_Permanent_Mission_in_Russia/SEMAM1X4QWD_0.html
Work has already begun on preparing the launch facilities at the Spaceport to ensure that these installations are ready for the first Soyuz launch, scheduled to take place in 2007.