Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #4

If you look at the engines of the MiG-25, those enormous air intakes are opened wide on takeoff to get enough airflow through the engines... Tu-22M3s have suction relief doors for takeoff to allow extra air into the engines at low flight speeds... if you can imagine the long air intakes on a Tu-22M3 are like sucking air through a straw so putting holes in the sides of the straw increase the amount of air going into your mouth... bad for a straw which is supposed to suck up liquid but good for a jet engine sucking in as much air as it can take.

When the MiG-25 and Tu-22M3 are flying along at mach 2 however the volume of air flowing past the aircraft every second is enormous because of the flight speed so when flying near top speed the intakes and suction relief doors are all as far closed as they will go reducing the amount of air going into the engine so it can be slowed down to subsonic speeds before it gets to the hot section where fuel is added and burned.

With a scramjet you are using complex geometry to enable the fuel to burn but you don't want to slow the airflow down... if anything you want to speed it up because the faster it is going when you add liquid fuel and it burns and turns into a gas then you greatly increase the volume of gas going through the engine which has no blades or plates... it is a tube.

At the speeds these objects will fly at there can be no blades or disks because they would rip themselves apart at the speed they are going.

For the same reason high speed cars and motorbikes getting to supersonic speeds on salt flats in the US don't use rubber tires because the rotational speed would shred them in seconds. They use metal wheels.

Hypersonic aircraft engines don't even have those wheels... at 3km per second even metal turbine blades would be ripped apart.

The SR-71 engine was clever it has a long pointy nose cone... on the ground and for takeoff the cone moves back and the gap around the edge is the air intake for a turbojet engine... but there is a space around the turbojet engine where bypass air can flow... like a turbofan but with no fan blades forcing air around the core turbojet engine.

As the SR-71 climbs and accelerates the cone moves forward and gradually blocks all air off from the turbojet engine so all the airflow goes round the bypass airflow area essentially operating as a ramjet.

When the SR-71 flies at mach 3.2 its turbojets are idling and all the airflow is blowing through the bypass venting with fuel added in the rear acting like a ramjet.

Having an air intake that opens one way for takeoff and landing with a turbojet and another way to direct the airflow through a scramjet to accelerate and climb to high speed and high altitude is a very straight forward thing to do... once you get the scramjet right of course.

The turbojet doesn't need to be amazing or fuel efficient... it just needs to be reliable and able to get the entire aircraft up to speed to switch over to the scramjet...

They would only be used on the ground and after you have gained altitude and speed to where you can light up the scramjet and rocket away.

In a few years time that turbojet could be electric... for acceleration a scramjet should be very good because the airflow can be max all the way without restriction to keep the airflow inside the engine subsonic, which means it can operate like a rocket all the way.

Pulse detonation techniques could also be used to further increase thrust too.

I agree regarding the first manned hypersonic vehicle being largish, but the first hypersonic vehicles are missiles... and they might actually get bigger and longer ranged and could even challenge ballistic missiles because they are rather more fuel efficient...

Nauka assembly continues and is essentially complete 

Cosmonauts integrated a radiator-heat exchanger on MLM "Nauka

MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, who is also a special correspondent for TASS, have completed the integration of the radiator-heat exchanger of the Nauka multi-purpose laboratory module (MLM) during extravehicular activity (EVA). The broadcast is conducted on Friday on the website of the state corporation.

Prokopiev and Petelin opened the radiator panels and filled it with coolant. While the coolant was filling the hydraulic circuits of the heat exchanger, the cosmonauts worked with the ERA manipulator, installing two halyards on it. After that, the astronauts integrated the contours of the radiator and the Nauka module.

As follows from the cosmonauts' negotiations with the Earth, Prokopyev and Petelin quickly coped with the tasks of the EVA and will return to the station sooner than originally planned.

The third spacewalk in 2023 is being carried out to integrate the Nauka MLM radiator-heat exchanger. Cosmonauts Sergei Prokopiev, dressed in an Orlan-MKS spacesuit No. 5 with red stripes, and Dmitry Petelin, working in an Orlan-MKS spacesuit No. 4 with blue stripes, carry out work outside the station. The exit hatch of the Poisk module was opened at 18:47 Moscow time, it is expected that extravehicular activity will last 6 hours and 18 minutes.

The two previous EVAs under the Russian program took place in the early morning of April 19 and on the night of May 4. During the first visit to the MLM "Nauka", a radiator-heat exchanger was moved and installed, the integration of which is part of the tasks of Prokopiev and Petelin today. As part of the second EVA, an airlock chamber was installed on the module, thanks to which the station crew will be able to conduct experiments without going into outer space. According to Dmitry Petelin, after the deployment of the radiator, the MLM will be "practically ready for its intended purpose.

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Further details:

Russia's Satellites Will Be Taking Earth's Images With Google Maps Resolution - Developer, 05.26.2023.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia's new generation Kondor-FKA-M radar satellites will be capable of taking images of the Earth's surface at a resolution of up to half a meter (1.6 feet) in detailed imagery, Alexei Rabochiy, the chief designer at the NPO Mashinostroyenia space and rocket company, has told Sputnik.

"The main and most interesting modernization is the change of radar geometry to an oblique-cutting option and the replacement of the horn radiator with an irradiator with an active antenna-feeder array," Rabochiy said.

"Among other things, it fundamentally changed the main characteristics of the radar survey, and the angles of electronic scanning along two planes increased, which makes it possible to achieve up to 0.5-meter resolution in detailed surveying."

He added that the space platform's disposable power and radar energy characteristics would also be increased on the new generation spacecraft, which should significantly improve the characteristics of the received radar images.

The Kondor-FKA-M satellite to search for natural resources is expected to be launched into orbit in 2025. NPO Mashinostroyeniya design bureau Director General and Designer General Alexander Leonov has earlier said that the launch dates of the aircraft were unknown due to constant budget sequestration of Russian space corporation Roscosmos, but the development of the satellite continues.

On May 27, the first Kondor-FKA radar satellite will be launched on a Soyuz-2.1a rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. The system will consist of two satellites, with the second one scheduled to be launched in the summer of 2024.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230526/russias-satellites-will-be-taking-earths-images-with-google-maps-resolution---developer-1110595306.html

Progress MS-23 launched fom Baikonour.



Docking at ISS after 3 hrs of flight time

A couple of renditions on what the Kondor FKA No1 bird looks like.

Two hours later, Roskosmos reported that the Condor-FKA satellite No. 1 had separated from Fregat. "The separation of the spacecraft from the upper stage was successful. The first radar satellite was launched into a given orbit," the state corporation said in a statement.

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For the first time, Russia deployed a full constellation of hydrometeorological satellites to the GEO

MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. For the first time in the history of domestic cosmonautics, Russia has deployed a full constellation of hydrometeorological satellites in geostationary orbit (GSO). This was announced on Tuesday in Roskosmos.

"Geostationary hydrometeorological spacecraft "Electro-L" No. 4, created by the enterprises of the state corporation "Roscosmos", after completion of tests in orbit, began to be used for its intended purpose. "consisting of three satellites," the message says.

Hydrometeorological satellites "Electro-L", while in geostationary orbit, make it possible to obtain and process multispectral images of cloudiness and the underlying earth's surface of the entire observed disk of the Earth, receive hydrometeorological data in orbit, perform telecommunication functions in terms of distribution, exchange of hydrometeorological and heliogeophysical data, as well as relay signals from emergency beacons of the Cospas-Sarsat system.

The first Elektro-L satellite was launched in January 2011; in October 2016, communication with it was lost. Elektro-L No. 2 went into orbit in 2015, and No. 3 in 2019. They continue to work at the moment.

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https://t.me/rscc_rscc/5591

Limitations in the operation of the Express-AM5 spacecraft

On June 3, 2023 at 04:30 Moscow time, there was a failure of the liquid cooling circuit of the thermal control system of the Express-AM5 spacecraft (140° E) (hereinafter referred to as the SC), which led to the excess of the threshold thermal operating modes of the SC. To avoid overheating of the satellite and maintain its operability, RSCC together with JSC RESHETNEV developed and implemented a number of measures to maintain the operability of the spacecraft. In accordance with the operational documentation and recommendations of the Chief Designer of RESHETNIEV, some of the transponders were turned off. After that, the satellite continued its work, but the availability of its payload was partially reduced. Most of the users were able to retain the possibility of receiving services on Express AM5. The rest of the customers were offered to switch to Express AMU7 (145°E) and Express AMU3 (103°E). Some of them have already made the transition. Work with the remaining users continues.

It was launched 10 years ago.  Given that older Soviet/Russian satellites with pressurised instrumentation compartments rarely lasted more than a few years I think AM5/AM6 have done fairly well.

Also given that both seem to have suffered a late-mission failure of the same type, there may be a design or manufacturing issue with the Express 2000 spacecraft bus and its cooling system.

Zlatti71
@djuric_zlatko
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13h
Russia launched 42 spacecraft into orbit today

This is a record!

The Soyuz-2.1b rocket was launched from Vostochny. 39 Russian (including hydrometeorological spacecraft "Meteor-M" No. 2-3) and three foreign vehicles were launched into orbit.

Roskosmos proposed to build a new station in orbit together with Africa, 06.30.2023.

The head of Roscosmos: Russia offered Egypt and Algeria to build an orbital station together.

North African countries Algeria and Egypt may take part in the construction of a new Russian orbital station. Roskosmos offered them to build their own modules for the station.

Russia has offered the authorities of Algeria and Egypt to participate in the construction of the Russian orbital station, Yury Borisov, the head of Roskosmos, said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. The broadcast was conducted by the TV channel "Russia 24".

He said that he had recently paid a visit to these countries, where he met, among other things, with the heads of national space agencies. “I offered them participation in the Russian orbital station. Moreover, full-blooded, not just the training of astronauts, but up to the construction of national modules,” he said.

In May, Roscosmos reported that the countries participating in the International Space Station had not yet made a final decision on the timing of its decommissioning. This comment related to the statement of the head of NASA Bill Nelson, who said that the ISS is planned to be deorbited in 2030-2031. Back in February 2022, the American side presented a plan for flooding the wreckage of the station in the Pacific Ocean. At present, the operation of the ISS, including the Russian segment, has been extended until 2028.

https://www.rbc.ru/technology_and_media/30/06/2023/649f10039a794783a0a4dbc6

The Russian orbital station is planned to be fully formed by 2032

Head of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov expressed hope that the efficiency of the future station will be much higher than the Russian segment of the ISS

MOSCOW, 30 June. /TASS/. The formation of the Russian orbital station must be completed before 2032, it will be much more efficient than the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS). Yury Borisov, Director General of Roscosmos, reported this to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

“From 2024, we need to start full-scale work on the formation of the Russian Orbital Station, complete the main work by 2030, and fully form the station by 2032,” Borisov said at a meeting with the president.

The head of Roscosmos also expressed the hope that the efficiency of the future station will be much higher than the Russian segment of the ISS.

Borisov recalled that the formation of the station is not a cheap undertaking. "We are constantly in the zone of criticism of our colleagues from the financial and economic bloc," the head of the state corporation said.

In April 2021, the idea of ​​​​creating its own orbital station in Russia was announced. At the moment, its preliminary design is underway. In October 2022, Deputy Prime Minister - Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov told reporters that the preliminary cost of creating a promising ROS is already known.

As Deputy General Designer of the Rocket and Space Corporation (RKK) Energia (part of Roscosmos), Chief Designer of ROS Vladimir Kozhevnikov, reported in February in an interview with TASS, at the moment, the launch date of the first, scientific and energy, module is planned for the end of 2027, node, gateway, base and target modules - for the period 2028-2030.

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The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) announced the launch date of the first mission to the Moon in the history of modern Russia, 07.17.2023.

RAS: the first in the history of modern Russia, the launch of the apparatus to the moon will take place on August 11.

The first launch of the Luna-25 spacecraft to the Moon in the history of modern Russia will take place on August 11, Igor Mitrofanov, head of the Department of Nuclear Planetology at the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told TASS .

“The launch is scheduled from Vostochny (Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Amur Region.  - RBC ) [for] August 11, the spare day is August 12,” Mitrofanov said.

Roskosmos previously reported on plans to launch a device to the Moon in August . The specific date - August 11 - was announced in June by the Russian space tourism operator RocketTrip.

https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/64b5cbd19a79474bf5f2c68a

RSC Energia submitted the draft design of the Russian Orbital Station for expert review

SAINT PETERSBURG, July 29. /TASS/. Rocket and Space Corporation (RKK) Energia has sent a draft design of a promising Russian Orbital Station (ROS) for examination to the head research organization (GNIO) of Roscosmos. This was announced to TASS by the Director General of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa summit.

"RKK Energia has handed over the preliminary design of the ROS to the GNIO Roskosmos, at the moment it is under examination," Borisov said in response to a relevant question.

According to the head of Roskosmos, in August the preliminary design will have to pass the defense.

As Deputy General Designer of RSC Energia, Chief Designer of ROS Vladimir Kozhevnikov reported in February in an interview with TASS, at the moment, the launch date of the first, scientific and energy module is planned for the end of 2027, the nodal, gateway, basic and target modules - for the period 2028 -2030 years.

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