Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #4

Russia is ready to repel strikes from space, Rogozin said. 

The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, in an interview with the Gazeta.ru told how Russia is preparing to resist the militarization of outer space — the placement of weapons there on a permanent basis.

He explained that, according to analysts, if the next serious war takes place, it will start in space, as the parties to the conflict will try to "blind their enemy" by disabling its orbital constellation of satellites.

"Russia has experienced so many wars and huge losses, so we are certainly ready to repel any attack, including in outer space." – Rogozin said. 

The head of the state corporation also pointed out that all the latest developments that Elon Musk's SpaceX company is implementing are connected with the Pentagon.

For example, a beautiful idea that was immediately supported by our enthusiasts is an intercontinental fast delivery of people.<...> Ordinary passengers will never use these services, it's ridiculous. This is an overload, an emotional shock. This is all a story for special forces. To transfer specially trained people from one continent to another, such technologies will be good. But this is not at all in order to open up to humanity the opportunity to fly across the ocean in a matter of minutes" – Rogozin explained.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly called on other countries to cooperate in space, but have categorically opposed its militarization. At the same time, Moscow pointed to the desire of the United States to keep this area outside of international legal regulation for as long as possible.

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Russia's space agency postpones rocket testing after donating ‘almost all’ its liquid oxygen to Covid-19 patients in hospitals

https://www.rt.com/russia/533425-roscosmos-postponed-testing-rocket-engines/

"Russia's space agency Roscosmos has postponed testing of its rocket engines because almost all the liquid oxygen that it produces is instead being delivered to Covid-19 patients who have been affected by the pandemic's third wave.

That's according to Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin, who wrote on Twitter on Sunday that the state-owned space agency is "helping in any way" it can.

"We have been transferring almost all the oxygen produced by our enterprises to medical institutions for three months now, forcing us to postpone the testing of rocket engines," he explained."

RSC Energia will create a returnable cargo ship on the basis of Orel. 

The Energia Rocket and Space Corporation plans to create a new returnable cargo spacecraft based on the promising Orel manned space vehicle under development in the future. This was stated in an interview with TASS by the general designer of the enterprise, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Solovyov.

"On the basis of the "Orel" (Eng: Eagle) we want to make a cargo-returnable ship" – Solovyov said.

According to the general designer, this ship will replace the existing "Progress", which now solve the problems of cargo delivery to the International Space Station, refueling, and orbit correction. "Progress has a serious drawback - we cannot return a payload from orbit on it. The downside is that it burns down" – he explained.

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RSC Energia starts preliminary design of the Russian space station. 

Rocket and Space Corporation Energia has started creating a preliminary design of the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS). This was stated in an interview with TASS by the general designer of the enterprise, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Solovyov.

"We have started creating a draft project, which will be funded from January 2022" – Solovyov said.

According to the general designer, the groundwork for the preliminary design is being created: work is underway on the terms of reference, work is being done.

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Cosmonauts found cracks in another ISS module. 

Cosmonauts during the survey of the Russian segment of the ISS found new non-penetrating cracks in the first and oldest module of the station - Zarya, Vladimir Solovyov, general designer of the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, flight director of the Russian segment of the ISS, cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, told RIA Novosti in an interview.

"Several such places with non-penetrating cracks were found in the Zarya module" – he said.

According to Solovyov, he does not like this situation. And the discovery of previously through cracks in another Zvezda module leads the general designer to the idea that over time, the cracks in the Zarya will begin to spread.

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Already posted just above!

Rogozin gave an interview to CNN:

Putin was shown a mock-up of a Russian nuclear tug. 

The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, presented a mock-up of a nuclear tug that will be launched in 2030 to President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny cosmodrome.

"This is a transport and energy module. This is our joint work with Rosatom. Space nuclear power is the only real opportunity today to move around instead of chemical engines as an interplanetary tug. By 2030, we will have created the entire infrastructure from here, we will bring it to a height of at least 800 kilometers - this is the safest height to turn on a nuclear reactor" – Rogozin said, showing the mock-up.

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RSC Progress has prepared a preliminary draft of the first reusable methane rocket in Russia. 

The Progress Rocket and Space Center (RSC) (part of Roscosmos) has sent a draft design of the Amur (Soyuz-LNG) methane launch vehicle with a returnable stage to the main research institutes of the rocket and space industry. This was reported to TASS in the press service of the enterprise.

"Currently, the preliminary design for the Amur-LNG space rocket complex is undergoing examination at the main research institutes of the rocket and space industry" – the press service noted.

As specified in the RSC "Progress", the majority of research institutes issued positive conclusions on the materials of the draft project. At the same time, the company did not rule out the possibility of increasing the terms of its development.

"JSC RSC Progress does not exclude the possibility of changing the final deadlines for the draft project, taking into account the need for its completion" – the press service noted.

The possible revision and improvement of the draft design, the RSC explained, is connected with additional proposals from the head customer to connect Gazprom PJSC organizations to the project, as well as the reconnaissance work carried out in advance at the Vostochny cosmodrome.

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The "business card" of Vostochny: A mobile service tower.

Even when the Soyuz-2 rocket is installed on the launch complex, many operations are required before launch. For this purpose, there is a special unit at the Vostochny cosmodrome — a Mobile service tower. A huge structure runs over two rail tracks and closes the rocket from all sides.

Up to an hour before the launch, it serves as a workplace for dozens of employees of the cosmodrome. Seven tiers inside give personnel access to all levels of the launch vehicle. MBO protects the rocket and workers from rain, snow, wind, etc. It has an emergency evacuation system from all levels.

The height of the Mobile Service Tower is 52 m (comparable to a sixteen-story house). Working platforms allow you to get to the highest level of the space head part-a height of 37 m.

The Soyuz-2.1v rocket was successfully launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. 

The space forces of the Russian Aerospace Forces conducted a successful launch of the Soyuz-2.1v launch vehicle from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense told reporters.

"On Thursday, September 9, at 22: 59 Moscow time, a Soyuz-2.1v light-class launch vehicle was launched from the launcher number 4 of the site number 43 of the State test cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Plesetsk Cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk Region by the combat crew of the Aerospace Forces of the Aerospace Forces with a spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry" – the ministry said.

They clarified that all pre-launch operations and the launch of the Soyuz-2.1v space rocket were carried out in normal mode. Ground-based means of the Space Forces of the VKS carried out control of the launch and flight of the launch vehicle.

The launch of the Soyuz-2.1v light class launch vehicle, whose flight tests began at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in 2013, was carried out by the combat crews of the Space Forces for the seventh time.

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The trace of the Soyuz-2.1v last night over Finnish Lapland

Roscosmos announced the completion of tests of the second engine for the Soyuz-5 rocket. 

Russian engineers have completed fire tests of the second copy of the RD-171MV engine for the Soyuz-5 rocket, the press service of Roscosmos reported.

According to the state corporation, the test program has been completed in full. The unit was tested in the normal mode.

"Now the following copies of the RD-171MV are being assembled on the slipways of our assembly shop, and the production workshops are manufacturing parts for engine components and assemblies that will be put on the slipway next year" – Igor Arbuzov, the head of Energomash, said. 

He stressed that the company meets all the deadlines for the production of aggregates. This will make it possible to start flight tests of the Soyuz-5 rocket in 2023.

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The alleged launch of the first new Razbeg (Eng: Run-up) reconnaissance satellite. 

According to the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, on September 9, 2021, at 22: 59 Moscow time, a successful launch of a Soyuz-2.1v light-class launch vehicle (LV) with a spacecraft in the interests of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation was carried out from the launch pad No.4 of the Site No.43 of the State Test Cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (Plesetsk Cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk Region.

All pre-launch operations and the launch of the Soyuz-2.1v space rocket were carried out in normal mode. The means of the ground-based automated control complex for spacecraft of the Russian orbital group controlled the launch and flight of the rocket. 

The launch of the Soyuz-2.1v light class launch vehicle, whose flight design tests began at the Plesetsk cosmodrome in 2013, was carried out by the combat crews of the Space Forces for the seventh time.

Further, on the morning of September 10, it was reported that the spacecraft was put into the target orbit and taken over by the ground facilities of the Main Test Space Center named after G. S. Titov of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces.

The launch of the Soyuz-2.1v launch vehicle and the launch of the spacecraft into orbit were carried out in normal mode.

A stable telemetry connection has been established and maintained with the spacecraft. The onboard systems of the spacecraft are functioning normally.

After being taken over, the spacecraft was assigned the serial number "Cosmos-2551".

About 300 military personnel and specialists of civilian personnel were involved in ensuring the launch of the spacecraft, as well as more than 30 spacecraft controls, systems and complexes for collecting, processing and displaying telemetric information of individual command and measurement complexes of the Main Test Space Center named after G. S. Titov.

On the part of bmpd, we note that, according to Western data, during the specified space launch under the serial number "Cosmos-2551", the lead new optical reconnaissance satellite of the "Razbeg" series for the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation was put into orbit.

Recall that the "Razbeg" is considered a small-sized optical reconnaissance satellite of a new generation. According to Western publications, the satellite was developed by AO "Scientific and Production Corporation" Space Monitoring Systems, Information Management and Electromechanical Complexes named after A. G. Iosifyan (JSC "Corporation "VNIIEM", former All-Russian Research Institute of Electromechanics-VNIIEM, Moscow) under a contract signed with the Russian Ministry of Defense on November 1, 2016. The satellite project was probably designated as MKA-V ("Small High-resolution Spacecraft"). Presumably, the" Razbeg" has a mass of about 250 kg. Apparently, it is equipped with a digital camera developed by JSC "Peleng" (Belarus), which has a maximum resolution of 0.9 meters in panchromatic mode.

According to Western assumptions, the Russian Ministry of Defense intends to create a group of "Razbeg" satellites, which should play the same role of a mass supplier of satellite images with relatively low resolution for military needs, which in the West is played by commercial remote sensing satellites, whose images complement images from special military optical reconnaissance satellites.

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Cosmonauts training.