Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #4

"Roskosmos" for the first time showed the scheme of operation of the nuclear tug "Zeus"

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MOSCOW, April 10 - RIA Novosti. Roskosmos for the first time published a diagram of the operation of the Zeus apparatus based on the Transport and Energy Module (TEM) with a nuclear power plant, the principle of operation is described in the Russian Space magazine (link).

According to the presented scheme, the coolant, which is the gas, is pumped through the reactor, where heat is released under the action of the decay of atomic nuclei. The heated gas rotates a turbine, which is connected to a generator to generate electricity, and a compressor, thanks to which the coolant circulates in a closed circuit.

When the coolant is pumped through the heat exchangers, heat is released. In order to implement this process, the secondary coolant is simultaneously fed into the radiators-emitters. Energy is received by the payload and electric rocket engines. As noted in the journal, their specific consumption of the working fluid is more than twenty times lower than that of their chemical counterparts.

The magazine also demonstrates one of the variants of a megawatt-class reactor and a TEM unit assembled on the basis of such a reactor.
The nuclear tug has been developed in Russia since 2010. Earlier, Yury Urlichich, First Deputy General Director of Roscosmos , spoke in one of his presentations about plans for the first flight into orbit in 2030 for flight tests. It was reported that the nuclear tug will be designed for flights to the moon and the planets of the solar system. It was named "Zeus", and the research and development work itself is called "Nuklon".

The first Russian Zeus mission to Jupiter will take 50 months and will last from 2030 to 2034. Zeus and the payload module will be launched into orbit from the Vostochny cosmodrome on separate launch vehicles. They will dock, go to the Moon, fly around it and return to Earth . Then another payload module will dock to Zeus, after which the station will fly towards Venus, perform a gravity maneuver and head towards the moons of Jupiter. The mission will be fully automatic.

Roskosmos will remove European instruments from Russian lunar vehicles

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MOSCOW, 13 April. /TASS/. Roskosmos, in response to the decision of the European Space Agency (ESA) to suspend participation in Russian lunar programs, will remove their instruments from Russian vehicles. This was stated by the Director General of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin.

"So, let's remove their devices from our devices. A European woman with a cart, a Russian mare is easier," Rogozin wrote in his Telegram channel .

Earlier, the European Space Agency announced the termination of cooperation with Russia on its missions "Luna-25", "Luna-26" and "Luna-27" due to the special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine. ESA also reported on a comprehensive review of all activities currently carried out in cooperation with Russia and Ukraine.

The first lunar mission in the history of modern Russia is planned for 2022 ("Luna-25"), the Luna-26 mission should be launched in 2024, Luna-27 - in 2025, Luna-28 - in 2027 -2028.

Roscosmos: the suspension of cooperation with Europe will not affect the launch of "Luna-25"

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MOSCOW, 13 April. /TASS/. The decision of the European Space Agency (ESA) to suspend participation in Russian lunar programs will not affect the timing of the launch of the Luna-25 automatic station. This was announced by the head of the press service of Roscosmos Dmitry Strugovets.

"The ESA's decision to suspend cooperation with Roscosmos on lunar projects, including the Luna-25 mission, will not affect the timing of the launch of the device," Strugovets wrote in his Telegram channel .

According to the head of the press service, the European navigation camera Pilot-D was to be tested on the device, the ESA decision will not affect the tasks of the automatic station of the Russian Federation.

A variant of such a camera was also planned to be installed on Luna-27. "Besides, Luna-27 was expected to install the European drill Prospect, but we have the opportunity to make it ourselves," he stressed.

Strugovets also advised his European colleagues to think first and act later.

Luna-25 is pretty small to fit on a Soyuz
all the Soviet landers flew on Protons and are a lot bigger

Luna-27 will be the same size as the Soviet landers
and fly on the Angara A-5 instead of the Proton

the job will get easier ....
go into the storage warehouse
and pull out the Soviet landers stored there ....
they know they worked ... and have mountains of data from them
no need to re-invent anything really ...

Luna-26 is a satellite ... hardly a challenge for them

and they have a proven Moon rover the big Lunokhod and its lander
why re-invent that too ?

who needs ESA ? .....

Source: Arrived at Baikonur "Proton-M" will launch the satellite AngoSat-2

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MOSCOW, April 16 - RIA Novosti. The Proton-M heavy rocket, which arrived at the Baikonur cosmodrome the day before, will launch the AngoSat-2 Angolan telecommunications satellite into orbit in 2022, a source at the cosmodrome told RIA Novosti.

Earlier, Roskosmos reported that a train with blocks of two Proton-M launch vehicles and upper stages arrived at the Tyuratam railway station. After inspecting the train, it will be handed over to the Yuzhny space center, and rockets with accelerators will be delivered to the Baikonur technical complex.

"A train with two Proton-M rockets arrived at the cosmodrome, one of them will be used to launch the AngoSat-2 satellite," the source said.

So much for Eurotrash claims that Russia would not be able to launch Angosat-2 without the use of Euro-peon technical services associated with their electronic components.

The Europeans do have 705 space cadets in the European Parliament ..... that is something Russia doesn't
all unelected ....

and let's not forget the UK space cadets

they have a space command too .... the House of Lards
over 700 of them .... none elected also .... apparently there are only 300 odd actual seats .... a remarkable use of "space"

and
let's not forget the recently created .... wait for it ! ..... [drum roll ] .... [trumpet crescendo]
ta da da da dah !

United Kingdom Space Command ( UKSC) ....
the wankers can't even launch a toaster into space ......
talk about a bunch of delusional has-beens .....

on a more serious note ... as I understand it

Russia has fallen a bit behind in the use of electronics that don't require a pressurised compartment in space
its not that their electronics don't work .... they just need to be in a pressurised compartment which adds a lot of weight and cost

eg Glonass M vs Glonass K
M uses pressurised compartment and hence is much heavier as a result around 1500kgs
K doesn't and weighs around 1000 kgs

but as they have lots of launch capacity it isn't the end of the world ...

they say they will be able to do all electronics in vacuum by 2024 with domestic components according to Rogozin
and that recent purchase of the Yaroslav Radioelectronics business by Roscosmos is part of all this

MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. Roscosmos will be able to independently
serially produce radio-electronic equipment for space purposes. Such an
opportunity appeared after the state corporation acquired a stake in PJSC
Yaroslavl Radio Plant from AFK Sistema, Roscosmos Director General
Dmitry Rogozin said on Monday in his Telegram channel.
"This deal is a landmark event in the rocket and space industry, since
thanks to it, the Roscosmos State Corporation now has the ability to
independently serially manufacture radio-electronic equipment for
space purposes. Now we have a full cycle of serial production of payload
modules for promising communication and relay satellites, navigation
satellites, as well as Earth remote sensing satellites," Rogozin wrote.


... that 2024 date pops up .... time after time ..... in the aircraft industry too doesn't it

you also sense that all that brainpower and resource currently working in the rocket engine field
is going to be doing lots of stuff to help UAC and its domestic engine programs for civil aircraft
for the next 3-4 years .....

makes total sense

sounds like they are now looking at the space and aircraft industry as 1x big strategic conglomerate ....

Soviet-era spacecraft used air-cooled electronics, but Russia has been using vacuum-rated components at an increasing rate. Its been a slow process as I suspect that they have managed the changeover on a budgetary shoe-string, but they have made good progress even if there is still work to be done. At the end of the day, Russia is close to completing the building of a complete independent national-controlled space industry that will be essentially impervious to foreign bullshittery and politically-inspired sabotage. Her critics will continue to write their stupid articles belittling the Moskal mud-hut dwellers, but the unfolding reality is biting those corrupt scribblers and their paymasters firmly in the balls.

There is an attack coming on Russia to sabotage this ....
West doing everything it can make sure no parts are available for this first satellite so they loose their "booking" of their chosen orbit
see 2nd paragraph below ....

"One of the planned priority tasks is the creation of a satellite-demonstrator of the high-speed Internet access system in orbit at medium altitude
"Skif". It is planned to launch the device as early as 2022.

This is one of the obligations of the Russian Federation to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Its implementation will allow Russia to secure the allocated orbital frequency resource and begin the deployment of the orbital constellation

(excellent source article from that French Kosmosnews site
https://kosmosnews.fr/2022/01/07/sfera-passage-a-la-mise-en-pratique/ )

but something tells me that the 36x Oneweb satellites confiscated recently in Baikonur .... I mean "stored"
will quickly fix this issue re parts required ..... for Skif

interesting they are going for medium altitude not low for high speed internet
you will need fewer satellites that's obvious
maybe also better suited to high latitudes ? I'm not sure

Russia has been producing vacuum rated satellites for a while. This is why the lifespan of their GLONASS and communications
satellites is now over 10 years. The Soviet type pressurized satellites would fail in less than 5 years because the air leaks out
no matter how good your design. But the Soviet type were designed for a high turnover since money was not an issue.

It is a bit peculiar that there would be a vacuum rated electronics problem. I doubt the newer Russian satellites are dependent
on imported electronics to a show-stopper extent.

http://www.promweekly.ru/archive/ramg/2022/RAMG_03_2022.pdf ignition systems were tested.

Russia has been producing vacuum rated satellites for a while. This is why the lifespan of their GLONASS and communications
satellites is now over 10 years. The Soviet type pressurized satellites would fail in less than 5 years because the air leaks out
no matter how good your design. But the Soviet type were designed for a high turnover since money was not an issue.

Most western experts used to look down their noses at the short lifespans of Soviet satellites, but I remember one pointed out that having the capacity to renew the satellite fleet quickly was a side effect of this issue and that also electronics date so the more often you replace them the more often you update them and improve their capabilities too.

He claimed that to start with the west had an advantage because their electronics were better... but after a few years the Soviets would replace their satellites which would of course get better while the western satellite remained as it was when launched.

He also pointed out that any potential losses of damaged satellites can be quickly replaced by the Soviets because they have greater launch capacity because they are launching rather more satellites than the west is.

It is a bit peculiar that there would be a vacuum rated electronics problem. I doubt the newer Russian satellites are dependent
on imported electronics to a show-stopper extent.

Wasn't there an article a short while back about Russia selling the rocket motors they sold to the US in return for micro electronic technology... I would think vacuum rated electronics would be high on their list of information to acquire, and the Chinese would certainly benefit from the added rocket power... and lets face it the secret is already out with the US buying so many anyway.

The Chinese could have stolen the plans for the rockets from the US, but instead they traded with Russia... makes you think they might only be the bad guys when they have to be... unlike the US which seems to have the opposite problem.

Reshetnev are the leading satellite makers in Russia

"It does not matter whether it is the replacement of a microcircuit, a microelectronic module, a set, or even a separate board.
Yes, something will be a little heavier, something will require further development, but the good legacy of the Soviet Union in the form of our launchers, the rockets being created, as well as the technology that we have developed jointly with the Russian Academy of Sciences for the launch of satellites using our own electric propulsion engines allow us to compensate for the possible increase in weight.

In some cases, due to the creation of new circuits, designs, technological solutions, it is necessary to clarify the schedule of work.
We have done a lot, but there is still a lot to be done. And our current state allows us to fulfill the orders of all our customers without loss of functionality, without loss of quality of our products.
And the launch program for 2022-2023 remains unchanged, as the launch vehicles of these years are at a high degree of technological readiness."

.... so a little bit heavier .... who cares if you build decent rockets and engines it's not a big deal .... as long as they work

and ... bureaucracy ...

"There are other aspects that need to be moved forward. In the previous conditions, development work, the production of spacecraft and many other things have acquired a large number of regulations, instructions, commissions, reviews, documents that can exist in calm times, but today a breakthrough is necessary.
And, first of all, we expect our customers - and Roscosmos is most actively involved in this - to simplify procedures, exclude or temporarily suspend regulations that, while essentially correct or possible, nevertheless slow down the production process. All this is necessary, but now they have to be postponed.
Such a "cleansing" of regulations will allow us to compensate for the extra time that occurs in the process of import substitution."

..... or possible ......
seems to be saying that "possible" is the attempt to equal or better western devices .... which isn't important right now
as long as they perform the task .... lets build them now ... "catchup" later

many western "standards" are in fact hidden barriers to entry to markets .... forcing you to buy their technology
WTO doesn't "investigate" these ....

here's the link

https://kosmosnews.fr/2022/04/23/substitution-des-importations-un-nettoyage-de-la-reglementation-est-necessaire/

The pressurization of Soviet satellites was not about the radiation protection. The range-energy relations for electrons and protons
in air show that on the scale of a typically satellite there is almost no attenuation. As noted by another poster it was related to cooling
but I think it was also related to the issue of changing material properties from degassing. This would not pertain to the electronics but
to the various materials in which they are packaged and the circuit board.

The research apparatus that I have been involved with from the output analysis end was tested in vacuum chambers before being
assembled into satellites launched for Earth monitoring missions. It is not just a matter of throwing components together.

The radiation resistance of the electronics is a design feature. I do not see why Soviet electronics would be degraded faster by
radiation than western analogues. I am a bit tired of the "west is best" reflex that contaminates every freaking activity in which
Russia engages. As if Russians do not have the IQ and the science and engineering expertise to solve the problems presented to
them. Westerners should worry more about the PC affirmative action hiring that dilutes the work talent pool at enterprises.

re Satellites above ... agree there is never 1x "Best" solution to anything

In fact having been in manufacturing of electronics controlled stuff most of my life
we were always looking for a cheaper solution to the problem .... not the "best"
but as a compromise usually we bought the "2nd best" .... to play it safe
( until the Purchasing Dept got onto US-style "performance bonuses" .... then the "performance" of our electronics plummeted
after they bought the cheapest .... )

meanwhile Glonass ....
Rogozin has a point .... how do you expect to get more investment in Rus tech if Rus are too lazy to use it themselves ...

once again being brainwashed by the "best" ....
oh it's not as accurate as GPS ..... at 1-2 metres vs what 30cm ? or whatever

a passenger jet flying at 900 kph .... that's 250m /s ...... what is the difference ? 1% ?
that is statistically irrelevant .....

https://kosmosnews.fr/2022/04/22/remplacement-du-gps-par-glonass-sur-laviation-russe/

The GPS and GLONASS satellites have very different trajectories which actually makes the GLONASS satellites more useful in awkward places like in mountainous areas or indeed in cities with tall buildings all around and indeed inside buildings the GLONASS signal is reportedly better.

A few years ago some American senator was complaining that US rescue services were using GLONASS as well as GPS and that they should stop using the bad guys navigation system.

The response was that GLONASS works better in cities and buildings and in mountains. What they didn't mention was that it also works better near both poles so north pole and south pole because the orbital paths of the GLONASS system makes more satellites visible with less sky visible at any one time.

The rescue services got to keep using GLONASS because it helps save lives.

Saw a new report the other day that western airlines should expect GPS signatls to be turned off over Russia at any time because now western airlines are banned from Russian airspace in response to Russian airlines being banned from European airspace, western airlines don't need GPS signals over Russia so they might just turn them off.

Over time improved GLONASS satellites will gradually replace the older models and precision will improve further.

A focus on the rest of the world might lead to GLONASS tracking stations in different countries which is also important for improving accuracy around the world too.

I'm not sure they can turn it off completely ?
they can significantly dial back the accuracy you receive ... no question ... I experienced it

I was on a sailing boat between Fiji and Vanuatu when the US Military decided to blow Iraq up .... 1st time think it was

they dialed back the GPS signal to very general accuracy - like a few kilometres
anyway the shortwave radio lit up .... every boat in the Pacific started calling each other .... it was chaos during the nights
nobody slept we all had to keep watch for other ships .... especially big ones
then we slept during the day ....

( I do however still remember staring at the Milky Way from the middle of a black ocean .... it was so clear it was utterly spellbinding
I had always thought ancient Egyptians and Mayans were crazy until then ..... but not after that )

the US Navy reasoning was so that "the enemy" could not use their own system to attack them ... I assume irate Muslims were the perceived enemy ?

as I understand it GPS is focused on the oceans as it is a US Navy system ....
Glonass is better for the Northern latitudes where it is mostly focused

fn Americans got me again re Iraq .... the 2nd time
I was on a work flight to Italy from Oz
we landed in BKK .... then instead of flying over ME
we went .... get this .... up over the Himalayas over China then into Russia
we flew past Moscow and Warsaw then turned south to Frankfurt ....

most incredible plane trip I have ever had .....
the engines were being thrashed as they clawed their way over Tibet plateau .... you could see the cars etc below driving in the snow
then later on the massive lights of Moscow .... biggest city in Europe and then a short while later Warsaw

I've never forgotten that either ....

Construction of the National Space Center (NCC) and the Khoroshevo-Mnevniki area (March 2022).



They must be building this new center because "Russia is bankrupt"....  

Bench tests of new engines for ultralight launch vehicles were held in Russia

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MOSCOW, 23 April. /TASS/. Russian scientists have successfully carried out bench tests of new models of engines for ultralight launch vehicles and an interorbital tug. The creation of flight models of equipment is expected in 2025, TASS was told on Saturday in the press service of the National Technology Initiative (NTI) Platform.

The development of engines is part of the preparation plan for the promising Cosmos 2.0 pulling project, which involves the creation of capabilities for launching cargo up to 250 kilograms into near-Earth orbit.

“This year, we have successfully fire tested a low-thrust hydrogen liquid engine for a small orbital upper stage. It implements an innovative “gas + gas” scheme. For this, a design scheme has been developed, manufacturing technologies have been developed. <…> Testing a wide-range rocket engine -carriers, [in turn], showed an advantage in specific impulse of the developed scheme over a traditional liquid rocket engine with a Laval nozzle at altitudes up to 20 km," the press service of the NTI Platform quoted Igor Volobuev, CEO of VNH-Energo, as saying. , which together with the Baltic State Technical University "Voenmeh" named after. D. F. Ustinova (St. Petersburg) tests the developments.

Volobuev explained that the advantage of a wide-range engine is that it can operate in modes close to the calculated ones, both at the Earth's surface and in airless space - the pressure at the nozzle exit is approximately equal to the pressure in the environment. Therefore, when flying in space, such an engine forms a compact jet that does not pollute the satellite's structural elements and instruments.

The development of small upper stages is necessary for the deployment of multi-satellite constellations of communications and remote sensing of the Earth, which will help strengthen the country's defense capability, and will also make data more accessible for agriculture, geodesy, mapping, monitoring the Earth's surface and the atmosphere.

"The engines are being created as part of a project to create a small upper stage or the so-called space tug. So far, the developers are planning to create experimental bench samples of the main systems in 2023, a prototype of a small upper stage in 2024, a commercial flight model in 2025 ", - explained TASS in the press service of the NTI Platform.

"Gas + gas scheme". Isn´t that the formula on which Biden works?

I'm not sure they can turn it off completely ?
they can significantly dial back the accuracy you receive ... no question ... I experienced it

They can and they do... they can selectively degrade accuracy down to any level they please but they can also turn off the civilian signal completely when it suits them like just before the Olympic games in 2008 when Georgia invaded South Ossetia they turned off civilian GPS signals in the region so they didn't work at all. Soldiers on the Russian side were forced to use cell phones using cell phone tower signals to get rough locations...

It was a huge wake up call for Russia where they realised the west was actually against them still despite all the bullshit promises made and also that they can only rely on themselves so that was when they started taking drones seriously and invested in C4IRSTAR and the like and seriously turning around their military.

They had GLONASS in service of course but not complete and there were very few actual receivers in service in their military which made using it ironically difficult... spending enormous amounts to get satellites in orbit but your troops can't use it because receivers were too big and bulky and expensive.

New GPS receiver technology for cellphones made the difference because it could also receive GLONASS signals as well.... even modern western GPS devices include GLONASS receivers too for accuracy.

Ironically accuracy down to cms is nice for construction, but most military uses a GLONASS guided weapon like a cruise missile will normally use an optical or radar based terminal guidance for the required level of accuracy.

Rogozin is a full-on socialist isn't he ...
he is like a pig in shit now ....

"After the deployment of the broadband access and Internet of Things combination, it is this company that will produce the civil and military dual-use communications," Rogozin told reporters during a visit to the Yaroslavl radio plant.

The boss of Roscosmos recalled that the deployment of the Express-RV constellation will begin in 2025, and that a demonstrator of the Skif spacecraft will be put into orbit this year. They are part of the Sfera program. And the equipment of the subscribers for them will be manufactured at the Yaroslav factory.


"Skif" is the demo satellite for that "booked" orbit for the Russian version of Starlink .... but at medium altitude
they have to get something up there or lose their booked orbit

Rogozin is sinking capital into this place ..... I noticed the term "civil and military dual-use"
the military has very deep pockets ...

In addition, Roscosmos, after buying shares in PJSC Yaroslavl Radio Plant, offered the company to master the technology of creating equipment for chemical energy sources. This was announced by the general manager of the company Vladimir Filimonov.

"We have been offered to study chemistry, we have excellent opportunities for specialists in the chemical industry. I mean rechargeable batteries, solar batteries. I think we're going to deal with the base of elements, I'm not talking about the base of semiconductors, but passive elements of a radio engineering device, 70% are passive elements, switching products. The factory can develop, master and produce this," Filimonov told reporters.

https://kosmosnews.fr/2022/04/25/rogozine-en-visite-a-yarz/

I think a lot of mergers and acquisitions will happen in the entire electronics area in Rus .... and software
as interests re-align .....