Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #1

Big_Gazza wrote:

kvs wrote:

marcinko wrote:Let`s not kid each other, that is old school bad QC. Period.

Sabotage ? Lame excuse, President Putin really has to go Stalin on those bastards responsible.

The Proton always fails at the Breeze-M stage.   If the rest of it can have normal QC, then why would the final
stage have such grossly distorted failure statistics.   Nope, the sabotage is real.   Where there is a will, there is
a way.  And Uncle Sam has plenty of will.   Russia is bar none the main competition to the US dominance of both
commercial and military space.   America operates like a collection of gangsters.   Any dirty trick will be used to
secure its business interests.

Briz-M has had a bad run, and had its share of reliability problems, but many Proton failures have had nothing to do with the 4th stage:

Proton fail 05-12-2010 (Glonass x3) - vehicle was lost due to excessive fuel loaded to upper stage, which resulted in too much weight and an inability to reach orbit.

Proton fail 02-07-2013 (Glonass x3) - vehicle lost control immediately on launch. Fault was traced to yaw sensors installed upside down.

Proton fail 15-5-2014 (Express AM4R) - Proton third stage vernier (steering) engine failure at T+542 seconds due to turbo-pump pipe leak (or bearing failure?)

And now we have MexSat-1 failing in circumstances that appear very similar to Express AM4R.  Given that the Proton 3rd stage has been reliable for the previous 30 years, this looks suspicious to say the least...

That is the "official story".. but the FSB is on record saying it was sabotage..they even use
lie detectors on people.. so im sure Russia Government takes seriously whatever their intelligence agencies say... Russia official version is just Public relations. just like countless others examples i can give you.. where the Official version deny what the FSB says..

The fact that it took Putin 15 YEARS!!!! to confess in a recent interview that US embassy was helping the Chechen terrorist attacking CAucaus in chechen war ,even facilitating transportation to them..and that the FSB intercepted communications of American Embassy with them.. Shows
beyond doubt that the Russian Government will NOT reveal anything scandalous unless is really
necessary . FSB have told in more of one time of Sabotage in Russia space program.. im sure
they are not idiots and are paid for intelligence collection.. not for propaganda or public relations. IF any agency in the government is more better informed of anything it had to be
the FSB.

Failed launches cast shadow over Russian space program

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Failed-launches-cast-shadow-over-Russian-space-6277764.php

"numerous instances of fraud, abuse of office and falsification of documents, resulting in economic damage of 9 billion rubles (more than $180 million)."

"With such degradation in the leadership, a high accident rate isn't a surprise," Rogozin said.

"admitted that U.S. space industries are now nine times more efficient than Russia's space industry."

"the previous accidents have been triggered by manufacturing flaws and human error."

In one example, a dramatic Proton crash in July 2013 shown live on national television was traced to an ill-qualified worker rudely violating assembly instructions and placing orientation sensors upside down with the help of a hammer.


Ya it's US sabotage!

Russia corrects ISS orbit

http://technology.iafrica.com/news/993635.html

AirCargo wrote:Failed launches cast shadow over Russian space program

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Failed-launches-cast-shadow-over-Russian-space-6277764.php

"numerous instances of fraud, abuse of office and falsification of documents, resulting in economic damage of 9 billion rubles (more than $180 million)."

"With such degradation in the leadership, a high accident rate isn't a surprise," Rogozin said.

"admitted that U.S. space industries are now nine times more efficient than Russia's space industry."

"the previous accidents have been triggered by manufacturing flaws and human error."

In one example, a dramatic Proton crash in July 2013 shown live on national television was traced to an ill-qualified worker rudely violating assembly instructions and placing orientation sensors upside down with the help of a hammer.


Ya it's US sabotage!

That's just Rogozin trying to save his job, cause ultimately all this falls under his department....it's good that he's honest at least

AirCargo wrote:Russia corrects ISS orbit

http://technology.iafrica.com/news/993635.html

nice! oh and sabotage isnt likely imo- open that can of worms and the other side will find a lot more juicier, and vulnerable assets of theirs going up in smoke.

Rogozin: Corruption, Accidents in Spáce Sector Cause for Determined Reform

Rogozin emphasized that "if in the aviation industry we cannot imagine the creation of new aircraft without digital modeling, at Roscosmos, design offices are still working on a drawing table, pencil in hand."

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150524/1022520048.html#ixzz3b5vRatvB

If these events encourage stricter state control it will be a good thing IMO.

MexSat1 Proton failure investigation solved, design failure caused failure of steering pump rotor...

RT/Ria Novosti and Anatoly Zak reporting on the issue...
Interestingly they now believe they can pin down 2 previous crashes to the same issue, which had previously been chalked up to production defects.
The issue resolves around a part which under marginal high temperature conditions becomes prone to deformation which may induce critical vibrations.
The issue was isolated in this case due to vibration sensors (feeding telemetry) which were installed after previous failures.
They plan to fix the problem by changing rotor material and increasing protection vs. vibration via rotor calibration and augmented mounting.

Now I'm going to have to try and return all that special anti-particle-beam clothing I bought to protect myself against 5h columnist saboteurs...

mutantsushi wrote:MexSat1 Proton failure investigation solved, design failure caused failure of steering pump rotor...

RT/Ria Novosti and Anatoly Zak reporting on the issue...
Interestingly they now believe they can pin down 2 previous crashes to the same issue, which had previously been chalked up to production defects.
The issue resolves around a part which under marginal high temperature conditions becomes prone to deformation which may induce critical vibrations.
The issue was isolated in this case due to vibration sensors (feeding telemetry) which were installed after previous failures.
They plan to fix the problem by changing rotor material and increasing protection vs. vibration via rotor calibration and augmented mounting.

Now I'm going to have to try and return all that special anti-particle-beam clothing I bought to protect myself against 5h columnist saboteurs...

Ah, VERY interesting... sounds like a above-board investigation, ie they didn't simply blame some poor slob of an under-paid factory hand, but admit to a design issue. The fact that they had added extra accelerometers to the vernier engine as a result of previous failures demonstrates a competent technical approach, so there may be hope yet for poor old besieged Krunichev.

If they have cracked it, they may just get a decent run of Proton launches going, as apart from the 3rd stage failures, all others were attributable to either human error or Briz-M problems, and the signs are promising that Briz issues may have been dealt with at last. Anyhow, fingers crossed

mutantsushi wrote:MexSat1 Proton failure investigation solved, design failure caused failure of steering pump rotor...

RT/Ria Novosti and Anatoly Zak reporting on the issue...
Interestingly they now believe they can pin down 2 previous crashes to the same issue, which had previously been chalked up to production defects.
The issue resolves around a part which under marginal high temperature conditions becomes prone to deformation which may induce critical vibrations.
The issue was isolated in this case due to vibration sensors (feeding telemetry) which were installed after previous failures.
They plan to fix the problem by changing rotor material and increasing protection vs. vibration via rotor calibration and augmented mounting.

Now I'm going to have to try and return all that special anti-particle-beam clothing I bought to protect myself against 5h columnist saboteurs...

It still smells. Look at one of the characteristics of this failure: degradation due to temperature of the turbopump rotor material. This
is a bizarre defect from organizations that pioneered high temperature steels for rocket engines. It was believed in the USA until
the early 1990s that such materials could not be made until they saw the details with their own eyes. But somehow Russian companies
can't deploy the right materials for a secondary engine on the third stage. BS.

We have a failure from 1988 lumped in with two failures after 2013. This is strange as well. If this was a design defect as severe as it
is being made out to be, then there would have been failures routinely from 1988 until 2015. There would not be any gaps accounting
for over 95% of the time interval. So the real problem here is manufacturing around 2013 and not design. Perhaps the design is "marginal",
but that is besides the point and not the source of the problem.

Photo gallery of construction works at  'Vostochny'
http://www.ampravda.ru/2015/05/21/057532.html

.

US spending more to keep space hegemony


The United States Air Force (USAF) is to boost its budget for its space defense system against threats from China and Russia . The US space systems are facing "advanced demonstrated and evolving threats," primarily from China and Russia, said secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James, cited by US magazine National Defense. "We need to be ready. We must prepare for the potentiality of conflict that might extend from Earth one day into space,

General John Hyten, head of US Space Command, said the Chinese are "close to fruition" in developing their anti-satellite weapons. ( they have such weapons already )

The US administration is aware of the potential vulnerability of US space systems and is proposing US$5 billion for a five-year defense plan to develop technologies in response to the perceived threat, said Hyten.

About half of the funding will go to classified programs. Others will be spent on improving ground stations and space situational awareness, including the space fence, a ground-based radar system that detects spacecraft and debris, which is to be completed by 2019.

The US has categorized all man-made space objects larger than 10 centimeters and is moving towards categorizing all those that exceed the size of 2 centimeters, which make up 20% to 30% of all orbiters.


Jiang Chunliang, a researcher with China's Academy of Military Science of the PLA, said that US is the world leader in defense support program satellites, navigation and positioning satellites and communications satellites. The emergence of potential rivals has given the US an excuse to beef up its military investment for more advanced space technology.

The US's space defense program is aimed at preventing its rivals from destroying its satellites and systems, so as to carry out its military strategy, secure its leading position in the space technology and monopolize the resources in the space


http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=&id=20150524000011

max steel wrote:  US spending more to keep space hegemony    



http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=&id=20150524000011

Good luck Uncle Sam, you are going to be able to do exactly f*ck all. All that it takes to destroy any satellite
is to launch debris in a counter-oriented identical orbit. Every satellite is in purely ballistic motion and is orbital
parameters can be determined to arbitrary precision.

Geo stationary satellites are still moving in orbit and rather fast even if they hover over the same point over the
equator of the Earth. The debris will do its job.

But I am being to fancy, the debris just has to intersect the orbit of the satellite at the right time to wipe it
out.

There is no way that the US could create any counter-measure in orbit that would stop what I am describing.
They can't fire Federation phasers and Romulan disruptors at the debris to vapourize it. And any system they
launch can be targeted itself.

This is yet more war propaganda from Washington, which is getting all its citizens all riled up with "threats" from
evil Russia and China. It is the USA that is the biggest threat to everyone who does not become its vassal.
It is Russia and China who should be talking about the US threat to their space systems.

CNN: $1,8 billion stolen out of Russia's space program: http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/25/technology/russia-space-corruption/index.html

Never show faith in CNN spinoffs .

max steel wrote:Never show faith in CNN spinoffs .

CNN being stupid as usual. But the number is correct but overblown in reasons. It is believed that it was due to poor choices not pocketing of money. At least that is what Rogozin states.

With Roscosmos being merged with various entities/manufacturers, expect less losses in budget.

sepheronx wrote:

max steel wrote:Never show faith in CNN spinoffs .

CNN being stupid as usual. But the number is correct but overblown in reasons. It is believed that it was due to poor choices not pocketing of money. At least that is what Rogozin states.

With Roscosmos being merged with various entities/manufacturers, expect less losses in budget.

Vostochny Cosmodrome heads coming out and admitting that they're a full 2 years behind schedule, while workers staged a hunger-strike over non-pay?
Slipping quality control on launches and production; huge sums being spent on new satellites and scientific projects only for it to literaly all blow up in their faces?

Actually I think the CNN figure is right about in the right sort of ballpark.

Albeit this is really more a case of even a broken clock being right twice a day.

The issue with the cosmodrone isnt fault of government but contracters. I believe an investigation with possible sueing is underway. The gov was pretty damn pissed about this and Rogozins ass is being lit on fire, not just over this, but over the upper stage, BrizM constantly failing. That is also fault of the manufacturer if latest reports are true. Is this corruption or incompetence? Corruption on contracters end, incompetence in manufactures end. Unfortunately, both tied to roscosmos.

Consolidating many of the assets could potentially fix the issue. Besides cosmodrone issue, which would require firing the conteacters and getting someone else to do it.

When RosCosmos' JOB is facilitating contractors for their projects, yes, that fault does come down on RosCosmos as well.
If there needs to be different structural/legal regime to achieve good outcome, RosCosmos should have made that happen,
or at least done their part in clarifying the situation and putting forth concrete proposals for other parts of government to act on,
in the mean time making the best of the tools at their disposal.
Likewise with ongoing evidence of failures with Vostochny and Briz-M, they did not effect functional remedies.

mutantsushi wrote:When RosCosmos' JOB is facilitating contractors for their projects, yes, that fault does come down on RosCosmos as well.
If there needs to be different structural/legal regime to achieve good outcome, RosCosmos should have made that happen,
or at least done their part in clarifying the situation and putting forth concrete proposals for other parts of government to act on,
in the mean time making the best of the tools at their disposal.
Likewise with ongoing evidence of failures with Vostochny and Briz-M, they did not effect functional remedies.

And which remedies would that be? There may be only one supplier for Briz M parts, that is beyond them. They could though go to court over the cosmodrome issues.

With them merged with the manufacturers, it will give them more power/oversight on the manufacturing end. As for contractor building cosmodrome, that is now up to government to deal with. Havent heard much since the bad news.

Karl Haushofer wrote:CNN: $1,8 billion stolen out of Russia's space program: http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/25/technology/russia-space-corruption/index.html

It turns out this figure is BS.

http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150405/1020496791.html

Earlier this month, Lenta.ru reported that Dalspetsstroy could not provide the General Prosecutor's Office with details on 16 billion rubles ($281.6 million) worth of funds allocated for the site's construction. Komsomolskaya Pravda explained that up to 1.8 billion rubles ($31.7 million) may have been stolen by Dalspetsstroy's former administrators, adding that up to 500 million rubles ($8.8 million) of the stolen funds may have been spent on the construction of a shopping center in Khabarovsk, while another 400 million ($7 million) could have been pilfered via schemes known as 'one day firms'.

CNN deliberately mistranslated 1.8 billion rubles as dollars. There is $281.6 million unaccounted for but the project is sufficiently behind
schedule that this is to be expected.

ISS crew successfully evacuated from descent capsule

The Mission Control Center specified that commander Shkaplerov was the first to be evacuated. Cristoforetti was the second and Virts the last one to be taken out

KOROLYOV /Moscow Region/, June 11. /TASS/. Search and rescue groups have evacuated the astronauts, who returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS), from the descent capsule of the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft, the Moscow Region-based Mission Control Center said Thursday.

The descent capsule of the Soyuz TMA-15M manned spacecraft with three members of an international crew on board - Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, American astronaut Terry Virts and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti - landed at the estimated time in Kazakhstan.

The Mission Control Center specified that commander Shkaplerov was the first to be evacuated. Cristoforetti was the second and Virts the last one to be taken out.

The crew worked in orbit since late November 2014. The astronauts were to have returned May 14 but had to stay in orbit longer due to April’s accident involving the Progress M-27M spacecraft.

Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Korniyenko, as well as NASA astronaut Scott Kelly remained on board the space station. The next manned spacecraft - Soyuz TMA-17M - will blast off toward the ISS July 24.

The Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft was launched on April 28 from the Baikonur space center on a Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket. The rocket took the spacecraft to a higher orbit than required to dock with the ISS. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get control of the spacecraft, experts gave up the idea. The Progress was taking food, oxygen and other cargos to the ISS crew. It burned in dense atmosphere May 8.

Roscosmos concluded that the cause of the accident was "abnormal separation" of the Soyuz third stage and the Progress due to decompression of the rocket’s fuel tanks, caused by an unaccounted design property.

Russian astronomer discovers new asteroid potentially dangerous for humans

Russia to grant 21 Soyuz carrier rockets to Arianspace

MOSCOW, June 25 /TASS/. Russia will grant 21 Soyuz carrier rockets to Arianspace, European multinational company, between 2017 and 2019 for launching OneWeb mobile communications satellites, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) said in a report received by TASS on Thursday.

"The Arianespace and One Web have announced plans in London to sign a contract for commercial launches of One Web mobile communications satellites by using Soyuz carrier rockets between 2017 and 2019. Twenty-one Soyuz carrier rockets, including 15 from the Baikonur space launch facility in Kazakhstan, will have to be launched to fulfil these plans," the report said.

Roskosmos clarified that if implemented successfully, the contract provides an option for at least five additional Soyuz launches after 2020.

"The contract is going to be the biggest in the history of providing launching services," the report quoted Roskosmos Chief Igor Komarov as saying.

"The choice of a Soyuz carrier rocket is a sign of great marketability of Russian rockets and other space crafts.

Roskosmos also said that the contract with Arianspace would provide a number of enterprises in the Russian rocket and space industry with work and orders for years ahead.

Russian rockets will launch satellites weighing up to 150 kilograms. Under the contract, 672 satellites of the base group will be put in orbit the near-polar orbit at an altitude of 1, 200 kilometers. The head enterprise of the Airbus Defence and Space Corporation in Toulouse, France, will manufacture a satellite for a demonstration flight scheduled for late 2017. All the other satellites will be produced by a Florida-based joint venture set up by the OneWeb and Airbus Defence and Space companies.