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19.11.2014
On the 25th anniversary of the historic flight of the Soviet space shuttle Buran, Russia's Roscosmos space agency has formed a working group to prepare "within weeks" a roadmap for the revival of the Energia super-heavy booster rocket.
The group led by Oleg Ostapenko, the new head of Roscosmos Federal Space Agency, is set to draw up proposals on the design of a super-heavy launch vehicle capable of delivering up to 100 tonnes of payload to the baseline orbit, former Soviet minister of general machine building, Oleg Baklanov, said on Friday.
"You have assumed the responsibility and dared to head the group, which is supposed to find an answer to the question how we can regain the position we demonstrated to the world with the launch of a 100-tonne spacecraft [Buran in 1988] within a few weeks," the ex-minister told Ostapenko at the event dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the flight of the Buran shuttle spacecraft.
The new carrier rocket Angara is set to become the base for the ambitious project that could bring Russia back to its heyday of space exploration. It could be launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome which is now being constructed in Russia's Far East, and will replace Kazakhstan's Baikonur as Russia's main launchpad.
The 1988 launch of the Energia super-heavy rocket carrying the Buran space shuttle proved the rocket was capable of delivering 100 tonnes into orbit. That was five times more than the Proton-M rocket with a 20-tonne payload, thus making it the most powerful Soviet/Russian booster rocket ever developed.
As the International Space Station is scheduled to be taken out of service around 2020, ex-minister Baklanov explained that such a powerful rocket would allow the construction of a new orbital station "larger in its weight and dimensions." Also, a booster similar to the Soviet Energia would be indispensable for "exploring outer space in a wise manner, working in shifts on Mars, the Moon and so on," he added.
At the same media conference, president of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation Vitaly Lopota announced that Russia will soon need super-heavy rockets to create a shield against possible future space weapons - which means deploying into orbit massive communications satellites and electronic warfare platforms.
'Nothing better has been created'
On the 25th anniversary of the Buran flight, Ostapenko acknowledged that the Soviet Union's achievements in space exploration remain an example for today's research.
"Human ingenuity created the Energia-Buran system 25 years ago," Ostapenko told the audience. "I am confident that events comparable by their scale are in store for us," he said.
In his speech, ex-minister Baklanov claimed that "nothing new has been designed" in the 25 years which have passed since the creation of the Energia-Buran system. He warned that "a point of no return is very close," and said there are only years left to recuperate the space industry to the previous level and keep the groundwork.
"We have a colossal amount of work to do," Ostapenko said, pointing out that only the experience of previous generations of scientists could ensure success.
"Our country has got huge potential; all we need to do is let the experienced professionals do their job the best way to ensure their self-actualization. I know we can do it. We've got strong support from the government, we've got thorough understanding of the tasks lying ahead," Ostapenko said.
Comparable to the US Space Shuttle, Buran completed only one unmanned spaceflight in 1988, as the Buran program was scrapped in 1993 following the collapse of the Soviet Union and lack of funding.
Soviet shuttle ahead of its time
The Soviet Union's Energia/Buran exceeded the American space shuttle program by practically all capabilities, according to a report prepared by experts of the All-Russian Research Institute of Aviation Materials. The analysis is dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Buran's only performed launch into space.
Buran could stay in orbit for 30 days, while the American shuttle had a 15-day time limit. It could deliver into orbit 30 tonnes of cargo, compared to the US shuttle's 24 tonnes of cargo. It could carry a crew of 10 cosmonauts, while the American shuttle could carry seven astronauts. Preparation for the Energia/Buran launch at Baikonur Cosmodrome only took 15 days. However, it took one month of preparations before the US shuttle was launched from Cape Canaveral.
The Energia rocket booster could be used to launch various payloads into orbit, whereas the American shuttle's booster was one-task. A year and a half before the Buran launch, Energia was launched with a full-scale mock-up of the Skif-DM orbital combat laser platform weighing 77 tonnes, measuring 37 meters long, and over four meters in diameter. Though the mock-up failed to reach the desired orbit and fell into the Pacific, the Energia booster did its job fine, delivering the huge space platform into intermediate orbit, 110 kilometers above the earth's surface.
But the most important difference from the American model was that the Soviet spaceship could perform the flight and landing in totally automatic mode, which it brilliantly demonstrated on November 15, 1988.
Buran's American counterpart used to land with switched-off engines, meaning it could make only one landing attempt. The Soviet spacecraft could take several tries if needed.
When Buran approached Baikonur Cosmodrome and started landing in 1988, its sensors registered too strong side winds and the robotic system sent the huge machine for another rectangular traffic pattern approach, successfully landing the spacecraft on a second try.
The Buran shuttle was designed to perform 100 flights to space, while its engines were ready to do 66 flights without replacement. During its flight, it lost just eight of its unique thermal-insulation tiles out of 38,800.
The Energia/Buran program, which cost 16.5 billion Soviet rubles, lasted 18 years and united over 1,200 industrial sites throughout the Soviet Union.
Thirty-nine principally new materials and around 230 absolutely new technologies were developed during Buran's creation. Most of them are actively used in Russia's aeronautical and space industries today.
But the most important difference from the American model was that the Soviet spaceship could perform the flight and landing in totally automatic mode, which it brilliantly demonstrated on November 15, 1988.
Buran's American counterpart used to land with switched-off engines, meaning it could make only one landing attempt. The Soviet spacecraft could take several tries if needed.
When Buran approached Baikonur Cosmodrome and started landing in 1988, its sensors registered too strong side winds and the robotic system sent the huge machine for another rectangular traffic pattern approach, successfully landing the spacecraft on a second try.
The Buran shuttle was designed to perform 100 flights to space, while its engines were ready to do 66 flights without replacement. During its flight, it lost just eight of its unique thermal-insulation tiles out of 38,800.
The Energia/Buran program, which cost 16.5 billion Soviet rubles, lasted 18 years and united over 1,200 industrial sites throughout the Soviet Union.
Thirty-nine principally new materials and around 230 absolutely new technologies were developed during Buran's creation. Most of them are actively used in Russia's aeronautical and space industries today.
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Quelle: Voice of Russia
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Update: 18.02.2014
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Angara mockup installed on Plesetsk Cosmodrome’s launch pad
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The Angara class of rockets comprises four types of vehicles, with payload capacities ranging between 3.7 tones (light class, intended for low orbits) and 28.5 tonnes
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A mockup of Russia’s new Angara carrier rocket was taken out of the assembly shop at the northern Plesetsk Cosmodrome and installed in the launch pad area, a spokesperson for the Airspace Defense Troops, Colonel Dmitry Zenin, told ITAR-TASS on Monday, February 17.
Angara is one of the priorities in the development of the Plesetsk spaceport. In November 2013, a full-scale mockup of the rocket was for the first time put up at the launch pad. It was a fully operational rocket but intended for ground testing only, not for launching.
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He recalled that the Russian president signed a schedule for creating rocket complexes - light-class Angara and heavy-class Angara
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Russia’s heavy-class rocket Angara carrying manned spacecraft will be launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome, the Amur region in Russia’s Far East, in 2018, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview with Rossiya 24 television channel.
“By 2018 we should be absolutely ready, we have such plans and they will be translated into reality,” he said. “We will make a manned flight on heavy-class Angara from the second launch pad of the Vostochny cosmodrome.”
He recalled that the Russian president signed a schedule for creating rocket complexes - light-class Angara and heavy-class Angara.
“Light-class carrier rocket Angara had already been delivered to the Plesetsk cosmodrome (in the Arkhangelsk region, northern Russia). It is now undergoing tests,” Rogozin said. “We plan that already next year we will make the first launch of light-class Angara. In compliance with the schedule this will be May-June 2014. By the end of next year we should launch heavy-class Angara from Plesetsk.
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Creation of ground infrastructure for the new rocket and preparing an Angara launch is part of the federal program aimed at developing Russia’s cosmodromes in 2006-2015.
Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Chief Oleg Ostapenko said earlier that work on the Angara carrier rocket was proceeding as scheduled.
“We stick to the schedule. Work is now in progress to create a medium lift launch vehicle and in parallel with that we will move over to the heavy version -- Angara-5. Work is also underway to create the Soyuz-2 rocket and space system, and we plan to use the builders’ capacities for constructing the launch pad for Angara,” Ostapenko said.
A super-heavy lift launch vehicle will be able to carry a payload of 80 tonnes to low-earth orbits. In the future, its capacity can be increased to 160 tonnes and more.
The launch site for super-heavy lift vehicles will be built at Russia’s new Vostochny Cosmodrome now under construction in the Far Eastern Amur Region.
Khrunichev Space Centre Director-General Alexander Seliverstov said that the Angara development had reached the flight test stage and the focus was on finalizing the launch site in Plesetsk.
The Angara 1.2 vehicle was shipped to Plesetsk in late May 2013 to allow adequate time for extensive testing and interface verification efforts being performed prior to the planned launch in the first half of 2014. The Angara 5 vehicle is expected to launch later in 2014, he said.
Seliverstov said that light and heavy versions of Angara rockets would be launched in 2014 and work was proceeding as scheduled.
“The first rocket is to be launched in 2014,” Seliverstov said.
A heavy version of the rocket is being assembled. “Work is proceeding as scheduled. We have to make the heavy version before the end of the year as its launch is scheduled for the end of 2014,” he said last year.
Angara will allow Russia to launch all kinds of spacecraft to any orbit. Now Russia can launch heavy satellites only aboard Proton rockets from Baikonur, which it leases from Kazakhstan for about 115 million U.S. dollars a year.
According to Khrunichev, a big advantage of the new rocket carrier is that “it is a universal space rocket system” capable of taking three types of rockets into space: light with a payload of up to 3.5 tonnes, medium with a payload of up to 14.6 tonnes, and heavy with a payload of up to 24.5 tonnes.
Medium lift and heavy lift launch vehicles can take payloads to the geostationary orbit as well.
The vehicle uses a unique engineering solution: the carrier can be assembled of the same modules. Their maximum number is five in a heavy version, three in a medium version, and one in a light version. They can all be launched form the same pad, not like now at Baikonur where each carrier requires its own launching pad.
The Angara class of rockets comprises four types of vehicles, with payload capacities ranging between 3.7 tones (light class, intended for low orbits) and 28.5 tonnes.
The rockets are based on a universal rocket module powered by the RD-191 engine using kerosene and liquid oxygen. One such module makes up the first stage of the light class Angara 1.1 and Angara 1.2 boosters. Their second stages are different. The medium and heavy class boosters Angara-3 and Angara 4 are an extension of the light class types with additional three or four universal modules. Depending on the specific tasks, the booster can be equipped with the Briz-M or KVRB accelerator units.
Quelle: ITAR TASS
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Update: 19.02.2014
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New Russian Rocket Mock-Up Rolls Out to Launch Pad
A full-scale mock-up of Russia’s first large post-Soviet rocket has been rolled out to a launch pad at the Plesetsk space center.
The mock-up of the Angara, built by the Khrunichev aerospace research and production center, will be used to test ground support systems ahead of the maiden launch of the vehicle scheduled for later this year.
The Angara is expected to launch both government and commercial satellites either as a single rocket or in several configurations of booster stages clustered together for heavier payloads.
The modular launcher will be able to cover a wide range of payload classes now served by rockets built by a number of Russian manufacturers, including the Proton, the country’s largest booster.
The engine developed for the Angara will burn kerosene and liquid oxygen, which is deemed by an order of magnitude more environmentally friendly than the toxic hydrazine used in the Proton.
The environmental impact of that rocket has soured relations between Russia and Kazakhstan, which leases the Baikonur space center to Russia for $115 million per year.
Russia is building a launch complex for the Angara at the country’s new Vostochny space center in the Far East to reduce dependence on Kazakhstan for space launches.
The Angara will complement the country’s venerable Soyuz manned rocket, currently the only vehicle in the world capable of launching astronauts to the International Space Station.
Last month, Oleg Ostapenko, the head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, said that a decision would be made in the near future about building a new super-heavy rocket that would be, in its expanded form, the largest in world history.
Quelle: RIA NOVOSTI
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Update: 20.04.2014
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“The launch is set for June 25, with the 26th as a backup date,” the official said.
He added the rocket would be fired without an orbital payload from the Plesetsk space center, located about 800 kilometers north of Moscow.
The Angara family of rockets, in development since 1995, is planned to be built in light, semi-heavy and heavy versions to lift a variety of payloads between 2 and 40 metric tons into low earth orbit.
The rocket has a liquid-oxygen and kerosene powered first stage and hydrogen-oxygen fueled second stage, so-called “green” fuels that will make the rocket both more ecologically friendly and safer for support personnel than the country’s current largest rocket, the Proton.
Angara is designed to complement the country’s venerable Soyuz rocket, currently the only vehicle in the world capable of launching astronauts to the International Space Station.
Quelle: Ria Novosti
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