Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #2

miketheterrible wrote:I think there is no major rush for Angara since Soyuz 2 works fine and Proton is being chased out eventually but no major need for Angara right now.

Angara is delayed by the unexpectedly lengthy process of building the fabrication facility in Omsk, training up all-new personnel, and perfecting the manufacturing documentations, procedures and testing regimes to achieve certification to serial build flight-worthy units. Proton is available for 22T-ish class payloads so there is no driver to throw money at it to speed the process.

Its frustrating to have to wait 5 years between first test launch of "hand-made" A-5 prototype (Dec 2014) until the first serial A-5 mission (Dec 2019?) but thats life, and Russia is paralleling a lot of projects across the board, so the competition for funds is tight.

Russia shows off upgraded world’s most powerful rocket engine meant for Soyuz-5

A Russian rocket engine producer has offered a sneak peek of its latest creation, the RD-171MV, which is slated to be part of Russia’s next workhorse launch vehicle and, later, a super heavy-lift rocket.
The RD-170 family is the legacy of the Buran/Energia program, which remains the world’s most-powerful multi-combustion chambered rocket engine. Its producer, NPO Energomash, has adapted it to several launch vehicles over the years, from the two-chamber RD-180 variant for the US Atlas V rocket to the modified RD-171M for the Russian-Ukrainian Zenit-2 launches.

Last month the producer created the first engine meant for the future Soyuz-5 rocket, the RD-171-MV. On Tuesday, Energomash and Roscosmos presented a promo video of the new engine variant, confirming some of its characteristics.



https://www.rt.com/russia/453617-new-russian-rocket-engine/

Big_Gazza wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:I think there is no major rush for Angara since Soyuz 2 works fine and Proton is being chased out eventually but no major need for Angara right now.

Angara is delayed by the unexpectedly lengthy process of building the fabrication facility in Omsk, training up all-new personnel, and perfecting the manufacturing documentations, procedures and testing regimes to achieve certification to serial build flight-worthy units. Proton is available for 22T-ish class payloads so there is no driver to throw money at it to speed the process.

Its frustrating to have to wait 5 years between first test launch of "hand-made" A-5 prototype (Dec 2014) until the first serial A-5 mission (Dec 2019?) but thats life, and Russia is paralleling a lot of projects across the board, so the competition for funds is tight.

Problems that will not exist today if Putin was not the president and someone else
with real ambitions for Russia into the future.. When you have the Top Head of Roscosmos
saying in public that Russia Space program the major problems it face is lack of funding...
that is currently 1/20 of Chinese Space program , then you have to take his word for it..  Putin and his cronies at the kremlin spend most of Russian budget in Bullshit sports olympics and in parks and in promoting Russia agriculture industry..  Russia need a scientific and technology race aimed in first place at Space leadership .. not a  bananas and potatoes race.. or in football or any olympics meaningless medals..  The only Gold medals that should matter for Russia are in space.. Replace Putin and you will see things dramatically improve for Russia space program. and funding will show up.. Russia have a lot of money , is just the traitors at Moscow ,that their incompetence make them do mistakes in how Russia should be developed..  it should not be as an agriculture power or sports power.. but as the Leader in Space explorations...and in space tourism..

https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/118004/
"Roscosmos" has started creating a National space centre


The state Corporation "Rosatom" jointly with the city of Moscow, 22 February 2019, has developed a comprehensive plan of development of Moscow the territory of the Center Khrunichev, a key element of which is to create National space centre (NCC). The reorganization of the present territory of the Khrunichev Centre near Fili will reduce the financial burden of one of the largest enterprises of the space industry more than 600 million rubles a year and realize at the released areas of the rocket plant is a large-scale project of research and production cluster, which will be the largest in the capital.

State Corporation "Roscosmos" has already started the work on creation of the National space centre. Now the project is at the stage of refinement of operating parameters. The national space centre to appear in Moscow in January 2020. The order gave the President of Russia on February 27.

Nice.

New RD-171MV engine.

https://www.rt.com/russia/453617-new-russian-rocket-engine/

The Soyuz-FG rocket with the Soyuz MS-12 manned spacecraft launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome link

BIKONUR / Kazakhstan /, March 14. / TASS /. The Russian Soyuz-FG medium-class launch vehicle with the Soyuz MS-12 manned spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome, TASS correspondent reports from the scene.

The rocket took off from the 1st launch pad of the cosmodrome ("Gagarinsky start") at 22:14 Moscow time. The cosmonaut of Roscosmos Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronauts Nick Haig and Christina Koch set off to the International Space Station (ISS) on board the spacecraft.

Soyuz MS-12 separated from the third stage of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle and began an autonomous flight to the station.

...

The flight of the spacecraft to the ISS is planned according to a short six-hour scheme - the Soyuz will make four orbits in orbit around the Earth, while the traditional scheme implies a two-day flight to the station. The docking of the ship with the ISS is scheduled for March 15 at 04:07 Moscow time.

Previous physics material moved to this thread:

https://www.russiadefence.net/t3897-physics-general-subjects-thread

Regarding the article about Nauru, it would certainly help the natives with a bit of trade with Russia and the locals could be trained to take part in the space activities too, plus a nice pacific island for Russians to visit that is not hostile...

The only problem is Australia and New Zealand and the US who will all see it as a threat of Russia moving in on their turf... they would probably not invest anything like what Russia is proposing to invest in the country and the western investment would likely lead to foreign ownership of the infrastructure on the island, which is not going to be so good for the natives, but the west would rather see the island under water than friends with Russia... just look at Venezuela... the US is offering all the help and money they need for their coup... where was all this money and support when Porto rico had a serious storm and no power for 11 months, or Haiti is still in a terrible state despite the Clinton foundation taking lots of donated money to help them...

IMO, it will be a luxury they can live w/o. R. tourists can go to many other exotic places for le$$ closer to home & they'll have super powerful Angara rockets to launch anything from Baikonur &/ inside Russia.
The article was probably sponsored by an oligarch/developer dreaming of building hotels & other real estate there.
OTH, I saw an old map showing a sea mount just 11' below the surface of the S. Pacific that could be be build up into an island, albeit at enormous cost.

Soyuz MS-12 crew enters ISS after docking complete

More:
http://tass.com/science/1048751

Moved some posts to TB thread... but I see there are a couple more needing to be moved...

New research module Nauka for ISS to undergo pre-flight tests — Roscosmos chief

Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said earlier that the launch of the Nauka module was scheduled for summer of 2020

MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. A new multifunctional laboratory module Nauka (Science), which is expected to be launched to the International Space Station in 2020, will be transported from Moscow’s Khrunichev space research center to the RSC Energia for pre-flight tests in August, Dmitry Rogozin, chief of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, wrote on his official Twitter account on Saturday.

"The multifunctional laboratory module Nauka will leave the workshops of Khrunichev center this August and will be taken to RSC Energia [the Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation] to undergo pre-flight tests," Rogozin wrote.

The decision was made at a meeting with chief designers, he added. "The work on the multifunctional laboratory module has been put back on track," he said.

Development of the Nauka module began back in 1995. It was initially planned to be launched to the ISS as a Zarya substitute. The launch was repeatedly suspended. In December 2013, the module was sent back to the Khrunichev research center due to a problem in the engine system. The Khrunichev Center and RSC Energia have teamed up to work on the module.

Earlier, Rogozin said that the launch of the module was scheduled for summer of 2020.

The Nauka module has a launch weight of over 20 tonnes and can accommodate up to 3 tonnes of scientific equipment. The module is designed to provide a docking port for Soyuz and Progress spacecraft, ensure the pumping of fuel from Progress spacecraft’s fuel tanks to the ISS and take care of the station’s roll control with the help of engines. The module is also expected to generate oxygen for six people and regenerate water from urine.


More:
http://tass.com/science/1048982

Russia plans to fit ISS with equipment for mapping out the sky

The contract to build the equipment was signed in late 2018

MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. Scientific equipment to create a detailed map of the sky within three years will be installed on Russia’s segment of the International Space Station (ISS), a leading Russian space scientist told TASS on Wednesday.

"The complex will be installed at a Russian module of the ISS. There are some universal slots on its hull, so it will be installed in one of them," said Mikhail Pavlinsky, the dead of the High Energy Astrophysics department of the Russian Space Science Institute.

He said the contract to build the equipment was signed in late 2018. "We hope that it will be ready by year-end," Pavlinsky said.

According to the scientist, the system, allowing to "create a map of 83% of the sky," will be delivered by a cargo spacecraft as early as in 2020 if it is manufactured in time.

Initially, the project was scheduled to begin in 2012.


More:
http://tass.com/science/1049483

Roscosmos is consolidating satellite companies

https://iz.ru/859655/2019-03-22/roskosmos-konsolidiruet-kompanii-po-sozdaniiu-sputnikov

In Russia, on the basis of five existing enterprises that are engaged in the construction of satellites, it is planned to create 2-3 large companies. This was announced by Director General of the Roscosmos State Corporation Dmitry Rogozin on March 22 in an interview with the Russia 24 TV channel.

“We will assemble satellite-building firms. Now there are five of them, this is too much, they are beginning to compete with each other, make parallel decisions. We want to consolidate. This does not mean that you need to "slap" everything. There should be 2-3 large firms, ” TASS quotes him .

Currently, satellites in Russia are creating the Russian Space Systems JSC, JSC Academician MF Information Satellite Systems JSC. Reshetnev ", JSC" Scientific and Production Association named after S.A. Lavochkina ", JSC" Corporation VNIIEM "and JSC" Rocket and Space Center "Progress".

Good move

Kalashnikov comes to mind. Before consolidation two nearly broke companies building the same weapons, now Kalashnikov builds drones and even small ships. And makes money!

Hole wrote:Kalashnikov comes to mind. Before consolidation two nearly broke companies building the same weapons, now Kalashnikov builds drones and even small ships. And makes money!

Same with UAC, before Yak/Mi|G were on verge of bankruptcy... Simply bigger company has always more resources, money, people to move forward. Startup sized one can focus on on tech but not complex structures.

"Roskosmos" confirmed the possibility of launching ships to the ISS from the "East"

Russian space firm ready to boost Soyuz-MS production to 5 spacecraft a year

More:
http://tass.com/science/1049886

Russian neutral buoyancy pool for space training to resume work in May-June

The facility was closed for reconstruction in 2014



MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. The Hydro Lab of Russia’s Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in the Star City near Moscow, which includes a neutral buoyancy pool for weightless environment training of cosmonauts, will resume its operations in late May or early June after a lengthy reconstruction, the center’s head Pavel Vlasov told TASS on Sunday.

"It will start functioning in late May or early June. By that time, we will complete procedures needed to put it back into operation. Once they are over, we will be able to use it again," Vlasov said, adding that cosmonauts will start practicing there some time later.

The Hydro Lab was created in early 1980s to provide weightless environment training to cosmonauts. It includes a 12-meter-deep neutral buoyancy pool, in which about 5,000 dives have been performed by cosmonauts wearing Orlan spacesuits.

At first, it was equipped with mockups of Russia’s Salyut and Mir space station segments. Now it features modules of the International Space Station (ISS).

The facility was closed for reconstruction in 2014. It was scheduled to be over in 2015, but numerous delays followed.


More:
http://tass.com/science/1050216

One of the few swimming pools in the world where even after years of use there is no human urine in the water...

Sorry, I shouldn't take the piss...

Roscosmos vows to keep ISS on orbit if NASA withdraws from the project

Fourteen countries participate in the ISS project

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. The Roscosmos state corporation will preserve the International Space Station (ISS) on the orbit even if the American side withdraws from the project, Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin told journalists.

"This is Roscosmos’ proposal. We believe that we can keep the station in case the Americans decide to withdraw from this project, through other countries and partners. We have technological and technical capabilities to keep the station on the orbit and fully provide both electric energy and water there," Rogozin said.


Roscosmos’ director general explained that the Russian section may add new modules on the basis of the Science-Power Module (SPM), the first version of which will be launched to the station in 2022. "Here the Russian Federation has a unique opportunity. We can duplicate the SPM. Its design makes it possible to turn into home for other states - there can be the SPM-2, SPM-3, SPM-4, they may grow further, extending the international part of the station. We formulated this proposal, and we suggest our new partners doing it," Rogozin said.

Fourteen countries participate in the ISS project: Russia, Canada, the US, Japan and 10 member states of the European Space Agency (Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Switzerland and Sweden). The station’s operation was initially planned to end in 2015-2016. However, the ISS’ operation term was prolonged until 2020 at the meeting of the ISS member states in Paris on November 4, 2014. Then they agreed to run it until at least 2024.


More:
http://tass.com/science/1050285

SIRIUS isolation experiment crewmembers to keep video blogs

The crew members have already started to transmit to the ground-based control center

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. The participants in the SIRIUS experiment simulating a flight to the Moon will tell about their life in isolation in video-blogs. Their video materials will be available on the Facebook and YouTube pages of the Institute of Biomedical Problems, the Institute’s press office told TASS on Monday.

The international crew of six persons entered the SIRIUS ground-based experimental compound on March 19 to spend the next 120 days in a simulated flight to the Moon and prepare for future deep space missions.

"Each crew member will record a personal video blog. They will be posted on the Facebook page of the Institute of Biomedical Problems, on the Institute’s channel in the YouTube and on the official website of the SIRIUS project," the Institute’s press office said.

The participants in the experiment have been requested to share their emotions, interesting events and how they spend their day, the press office said.

"It is of interest for us to see their vivid perceptions of their life and work rather than their statistical reports. They will be telling about what happens over a day," the Institute’s press office said.

The crew members have already started to transmit the first video files of their blogs to the ground-based control center. These vlogs are due to be published already in early April, the press office said.

Pursuant to the commission’s decision, the crew comprises four representatives of Russia and two representatives of the United States. The commission has approved cosmonaut Yevgeny Tarelkin as the crew commander and Daria Zhidova (Russia) as the flight engineer, Stefania Fedyai (Russia) as the crew doctor, Reinhold Povilaitis (USA), Anastasia Stepanova (Russia) and Allen Mirkadyrov (USA) as test researchers.

Over the four months of the experiment to simulate a flight to the Moon, the crew will fly to the Earth’s natural satellite, choose a place for a future lunar base and reach the Moon’s surface. The experiment’s scenario will reproduce the basic characteristics of a space flight to the Moon. Besides, the crew will be performing the programs of researches into physiology and psychology and in other areas. Overall, 81 experiments are planned.

The SIRIUS (Scientific International Research in Unique Terrestrial Station) experiment will simulate a flight to the Moon: the travel to the Earth’s natural satellite and a flight around it to search for a landing place, the landing of crewmembers for operations on the surface, the stay in the Moon’s orbit and the remote control of a lunar rover to prepare a base and return to Earth.

The experiment is being held by the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences jointly with NASA and in cooperation with partners from Germany, France, Italy and other countries. It envisages a series of experiments to prepare for deep space flights.

The first of the series of joint Russian-US SIRIUS experiments was held in November 2017 and lasted 17 days. The crew was tasked to conduct over 60 various experiments, ‘capture’ satellites by a manipulator arm and control a rover on the Moon’s surface. Now a four-month isolation experiment has begun and it will be followed by an eight-month experiment that will give way to a twelve-month research.


More:
http://tass.com/science/1050417

Russian space agency considering NASA’s request to reschedule Soyuz spacecraft’s launch

NASA motivated its request by considerable delays with the trials of the US Crew Dragon spacecraft

MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos is considering NASA’s request to reschedule the launch of a manned Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS), Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday.

NASA applied to Roscosmos on Thursday with a request to reschedule the flight of the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft for late July and extend the space expedition to the orbital outpost from December to February 2020. NASA motivated its request by considerable delays with the trials of the US Crew Dragon spacecraft.

"We are considering NASA’s request. We will make a decision taking into account the opinion of ballistics experts from the Energia Space Rocket Corporation. So far, it [the launch of the Soyuz MS-13] is scheduled for July 6," Rogozin said on Twitter.

A source in the Russian space industry earlier told TASS that the launch of the Crew Dragon spaceship with crewmembers on its board planned for July might be rescheduled for late November 2019 due to critical remarks on its qualifications.

Meanwhile, NASA Associate Administrator for the Human Exploration William Gerstenmaier told journalists that astronaut Andrew Morgan who is due to travel to the ISS on July 4 together with Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano will stay in orbit longer than planned.

The Crew Dragon made by the US SpaceX was launched for the first time to the orbital outpost with a spacesuit-clad dummy on March 2 and it docked to the space station on March 3. After its descent by a parachute, the spacecraft splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean.


More:
http://tass.com/science/1051140

Rogozin announced the dismissal of several responsible for the creation of the ship "Federation"

https://www.militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=0&nid=505283&lang=RU

Moscow. April 2nd. INTERFAX-AVN - Work in the Energia rocket and space corporation on a number of projects in the past was poorly organized, in particular, to create a new reusable spacecraft Federation, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said.

“The work was not organized properly. However, like many other projects of RSC Energia. As a result, careless comrades had to be dismissed. Now the work is done. Hopefully in 2022 we will go on flight tests,” Rogozin told Twitter.
The Federation is a reusable manned transport spacecraft of a new generation. Its development is conducted by PSC RSC Energia after SP Korolev.
The ship is designed to deliver people and cargo to space stations in near-Earth orbit, as well as one of the key elements of the existing concept of the Moon's exploration. To create it, technologies are used that sometimes have no analogues in the world space program.
In particular, the ship’s return vehicle will be made using the latest composite materials, and a reusable docking unit is provided. Modern on-board electronic equipment will more effectively solve the problems of rendezvous and docking, increase the safety of the crew at the stages of launching and descending to Earth.
The number of crew "Federation" up to four people. In autonomous flight mode, the ship will be able to stay up to 30 days, while flying as part of an orbital station - up to one year. The total mass of the ship when flying to the orbital station will be equal to 14.4 tons (19 tons when flying to the Moon), the mass of the returned vehicle is 9 tons. The length of the Federation is 6.1 meters.
For the launch of a spacecraft into a near-earth orbit, it is planned to use the Soyuz-5 medium-class launch vehicle, called the Irtysh, the head developer of which is also RSC Energia. Mining unmanned ship launches are scheduled for 2022-2023 years. The manned flight and docking with the ISS is planned in 2024, but in the future it will not be used to deliver crews to the International Space Station.
Recently D.Rogozin announced a new name for the ship, which so far refuses to disclose.

KOROLYOV /Moscow Region/, April 4. /TASS/. A Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with a Progress MS-11 space freighter has blasted off to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Russia’s Flight Control Center announced on Thursday.

More:
http://tass.com/science/1052100

GunshipDemocracy wrote:

Rogozin announced the dismissal of several responsible for the creation of the ship "Federation"

https://www.militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=0&nid=505283&lang=RU

Moscow. April 2nd. INTERFAX-AVN - Work in the Energia rocket and space corporation on a number of projects in the past was poorly organized, in particular, to create a new reusable spacecraft Federation, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, said.

     “The work was not organized properly. However, like many other projects of RSC Energia. As a result, careless comrades had to be dismissed. Now the work is done. Hopefully in 2022 we will go on flight tests,” Rogozin told Twitter.
    The Federation is a reusable manned transport spacecraft of a new generation. Its development is conducted by PSC RSC Energia after SP Korolev.
    The ship is designed to deliver people and cargo to space stations in near-Earth orbit, as well as one of the key elements of the existing concept of the Moon's exploration. To create it, technologies are used that sometimes have no analogues in the world space program.
    In particular, the ship’s return vehicle will be made using the latest composite materials, and a reusable docking unit is provided. Modern on-board electronic equipment will more effectively solve the problems of rendezvous and docking, increase the safety of the crew at the stages of launching and descending to Earth.
    The number of crew "Federation" up to four people. In autonomous flight mode, the ship will be able to stay up to 30 days, while flying as part of an orbital station - up to one year. The total mass of the ship when flying to the orbital station will be equal to 14.4 tons (19 tons when flying to the Moon), the mass of the returned vehicle is 9 tons. The length of the Federation is 6.1 meters.
    For the launch of a spacecraft into a near-earth orbit, it is planned to use the Soyuz-5 medium-class launch vehicle, called the Irtysh, the head developer of which is also RSC Energia. Mining unmanned ship launches are scheduled for 2022-2023 years. The manned flight and docking with the ISS is planned in 2024, but in the future it will not be used to deliver crews to the International Space Station.
    Recently D.Rogozin announced a new name for the ship, which so far refuses to disclose.

It's not clear what is going on. This project did not have any obvious lapses due to "corruption" and was basically waiting for a new carrier rocket
since it is, by design, too big for the Soyuz. So the story here may be that some people associated with this project got busted but the project
itself was not compromised. It would not be surprising if there a multiple such cases in Roscosmos since corruption starts from the top. And you
can hate on Rogozin all you want, but he is doing his job and cleaning house.

BTW, in the west such rot is covered up and deliberately ignored by the MSM. This creates the illusion of "optimal operation" in the west and
"corruption incompetence" in Russia. It is all about optics and transparency. Corruption and crime are endemic in all groups of humans, but the
difference is how this is handled.