Russian Launch Vehicles and their Spacecraft: Thoughts & News

miketheterrible wrote:When EU builds their own space station, doesn't rely on 50% of it being Russian and actually have their alternative to GPS and Glonass in active service, come back.  Not impressive for such a large collaboration.

miketheterrible wrote:When EU builds their own space station, doesn't rely on 50% of it being Russian and actually have their alternative to GPS and Glonass in active service, come back.  Not impressive for such a large collaboration.

miketheterrible wrote:When EU builds their own space station, doesn't rely on 50% of it being Russian and actually have their alternative to GPS and Glonass in active service, come back. Not impressive for such a large collaboration.

The ISS is made up of 16 pressurized modules: five Russian modules (Zarya, Pirs, Zvezda, Poisk and Rassvet), eight US modules (BEAM, Leonardo, Harmony, Quest, Tranquility, Unity, Cupola, and Destiny), two Japanese modules (the JEM-ELM-PS and JEM-PM) and one European module (Columbus).

GarryB wrote:The ISS station is MIR2....

Hole wrote:The west didn´t subsidize Russia, they paid for the technology they got. Without russian help the west would still be trying to build a Docking module.

PapaDragon wrote:

Hole wrote:The west didn´t subsidize Russia, they paid for the technology they got. Without russian help the west would still be trying to build a Docking module.

USA paid for everything starting from construction costs down to food for the workers.

USA was to build their own modular space station and many people in NASA were severely pissed off when they were ordered to work with Russians and donate part of their already meager budget to them just because those drunk clowns were unable to keep their anorexic gophers from selling sensitive tech to first​ Arab or Nork with more than 100$ on him.

PapaDragon wrote:
Russia will present for the first time a model of super-heavy rocket at the forum " Army-2018"

https://ria.ru/space/20180801/1525746959.html

PapaDragon wrote:
Russia will present for the first time a model of super-heavy rocket at the forum " Army-2018"

https://ria.ru/space/20180801/1525746959.html

BlackArrow wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:
Russia will present for the first time a model of super-heavy rocket at the forum " Army-2018"

https://ria.ru/space/20180801/1525746959.html

A model of a rocket?

......

The program for launching Proton rockets from the Baikonur cosmodrome will last until 2026, RIA Novosti reported in the Aerospace Committee of the Kazakh Defense Ministry (Kazkosmos).   The department added that after this period the prospects for launching the "Protons" are not considered.

Earlier it was reported about the imminent closure of the Proton missile program. The decommissioning of one of the launch sites for these missiles at the Baikonur was planned in 2023.

The fact that the missile program Proton will soon be closed and now it is necessary to promote "environmentally friendly" carriers of Angara, the current head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin said while still vice-premier for the defense industry. The fact that the production of the "Protons" "is coming to an end in the near future," and the Khrunichev Center is moving to the construction of the "Angara-A5" and "Angara-A5M," he claimed and in his new position.

In addition, the general director of Energomash, which produces engines for the Protons, Igor Arbuzov said in an interview with RIA Novosti that the production of engines for these missiles will end in late 2018. According to him, enterprises that previously produced engines for the "Protons" will load orders for gas turbine engines, power plants, as well as pumps and pump stations for the oil and gas industry.

At the same time, Andrei Pankratov, deputy general director of the Khrunichev Center for Foreign Economic Affairs, told RIA Novosti in May that the plans of the center until 2025 are to launch 24 "protons" of various modifications. A source of RIA Novosti at the Baikonur reported that the volume of contracts for the launch of Proton-L missiles, that is, the average modification of a heavy carrier, without a third stage, had reached almost a billion dollars.

ZHUHAI /China/, November 9. /TASS/. The RD-180 engine may be mounted on Russia’s super-heavy carrier rocket and modernized Soyuz-2 launchers, Energomash CEO Igor Arbuzov told TASS at the Airshow China exhibition on Friday.

"As part of the work to develop a concept of the super-heavy carrier rocket, the option of using the RD-180 engine on the second stage of the carrier rocket is being considered," the chief executive said.

"Also, in view of its reliability and indisputable leadership in its class, the possibility of using it on newly-created and modernized domestic launchers is being considered. In particular, its use for modernizing Soyuz-2 rockets may be considered," he added.

As Energomash Chief Designer Pyotr Lavochkin explained, "This is consonant with the concept, which suggests that all the parts of the super-heavy rocket should be flight elements featuring their serial production and the statistics of launches."

RD-180 engines are used on the first stages of US Atlas space launch vehicles and have never been mounted on domestic rockets. An engine variant was planned for its use in the project of the Russian Rus-M carrier but the program was halted.

Contracts signed by Energomash for the delivery of RD-180 engines to the United States are valid through 2020 when six such engines are scheduled to be transferred to the US side. Energomash may also exercise an option on the delivery of RD-180 engines to the United States in 2021.

In 2014, the US Congress imposed a ban on the use of RD-180 engines amid a deterioration of relations with Russia but lifted it in 2015 when it became clear that the United States would be unable to manufacture rocket engines on its own in the next few years. However, as NASA Chief Jim Bridenstine said in August, the United States will continue developing alternatives to RD-180 engines.
Super-heavy carrier rocket

Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin earlier said that all of Roscosmos’s design bureaus would participate in developing a super-heavy carrier rocket.

According to Rogozin, Energia Space Rocket Corporation has already examined proposals on the rocket’s technical design and a plan of organizational measures.

In accordance with the designers’ plans, the Russian super-heavy carrier rocket should be able to deliver more than 70 tonnes of cargo into low near-Earth orbit at the first stage. Its basic task is to provide for a possibility of flights into deep space, in particular, to the Moon, Mars and other planets. The construction of infrastructure for this rocket is due to begin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East in 2026 and its first launch is scheduled to take place in 2028.

The concept of creating a super-heavy carrier rocket envisages maximally utilizing the accumulated technological potential. The super-heavy carrier rocket will also incorporate the elements and technologies of the medium-class Soyuz-5 launch vehicle, which Russia is developing. In Roscosmos’s estimates, the work to create a super-heavy carrier rocket and build the required infrastructure for it will cost 1.5 trillion rubles ($22.7 billion).

As was reported earlier, Roscosmos has started preparations for drafting a federal target program for creating a super-heavy carrier rocket.