Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #1

russianspaceweb.com

MLM module faces lengthy delays

During 2013, the launch of the MLM module was re-scheduled to April and then to June 2014. In the meantime, tests of the MLM at RKK Energia revealed a leaking fueling valve in the propulsion system of the spacecraft. The damage was serious enough to require a complex procedure of cutting away the valve and welding in a new one. Before committing to the repairs, engineers had to practice it on a full-scale prototype of the MLM module known in Russian as Kompleksny Stend, KS.

Further inspections of MLM at RKK Energia apparently found contamination inside the propulsion system, which would require a lengthy cleaning. According to some reports, it would take up to 10 months to resolve all the issues with the spacecraft.

As a result, it was decided to return the MLM back to GKNPTs Khrunichev for repairs. On Oct. 22, 2013, the Interfax news agency reported that all the repairs at GKNPTs Khrunichev would take a year and a half to complete. According to a poster on the online forum of the Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine, latest plans called for the launch of the MLM module in September 2015. The head of RKK Energia Vitaly Lopota told the RIA Novosti news agency that no decision for the return of the module back to GKNPTs Khrunichev had been made yet. At the same time, Lopota admitted that he had not certified the spacecraft for launch.

To make matters worse, the European Space Agency, ESA, responsible for the ERA mechanical arm onboard the MLM module reportedly had enough with all the delays and resulting cost overruns. ESA reportedly refused funding for the program beginning from 2014 onwards. As a result, the Russian government would likely have to pick up the tab for all further cost increases in the project.

By the end of 2013, NASA documents indicated that the MLM module would not fly before November 2015.

2014: From bad to worse

On Jan. 10, 2014, the head of RKK Energia Vitaly Lopota told the official ITAR-TASS news agency that the MLM module had been returned to GKNPTs Khrunichev on Dec. 31, 2013. Lopota promised that the repair schedule for the spacecraft would be issued by the end of the month. However only in April, Lopota was able to estimate that fixing all the damage to the crippled module would take no less than nine months, while its exact processing schedule would not be set until the end of the month. By that time, the launch of the MLM in 2015 was practically ruled out. To save at least some time, plans were made to ship the MLM from GKNPTs Khrunichev directly to the launch site, letting RKK Energia to conduct all final tests of the spacecraft in Baikonur, instead of its testing facility in Korolev, near Moscow.

On April 26, a poster on the web forum of the Novosti Kosmonavtiki magazine reported that the new development schedule had been approved, targeting February 2017 for the launch of the module. The tanks of the spacecraft were found to be unaffected by the contamination, however almost all propellant lines running on the exterior of the module would have to be replaced. Moreover, the module's engines had already exceeded their warranty and had to be replaced as well. The manufacturing of the new propulsion systems would take up to eight months, the poster said.

With its central position in the architecture of the Russian segment, the MLM's troubles also stall the launch of all subsequent Russian components of the station, including the Node Module, UM, (already under construction) and the NEM laboratory and power supply module, whose full-scale development started in 2012.

Given such a prolonged delay, combined with worsening political relations between Russia and its partners in the ISS project, the questions were raised whether the MLM module and the successive components of the Russian segment could be grounded until the assembly of the new all-Russian station in the post-ISS era. Under such a scenario, the troubled spacecraft could play a role of an early hub for the future orbital outpost.

magnumcromagnon wrote:

Morpheus Eberhardt wrote:

GarryB wrote:

Despite the availability of necessary documentation and legal rights for producing RD-180 in the United States, NASA is considering development of an indigenous core stage engine that would be "capable of generating high levels of thrust approximately equal to or exceeding the performance of the Russian-built engine." NASA considered in 2010 to produce a fully operational engine by 2020 or sooner, depending оn partnership with the U.S. Defense Department.

If NASA is considering that, then I am also considering to produce my first batch of RD-180 engines in, my garage, by lunch-time tomorrow. I am considering that the batch would consist of 2X10^1000 engines. Of course, the majority of the people on the mp.ret would believe all of this.

I agree, I'm very skeptical of the thought that they could replace the RD-180's so easily, if they could than they would of done so already. Do people really believe the Pentagon is willingly dependent on the Russian Federation for rocket engines by choice? The Pentagon has no choice but to buy from the Russians, just like Pentagon needed to buy titanium from the Russians to build the SR-71 (and probably for the SR-72), just like the U.S. military needed Russian Empire to recognize the independence of the original 13 Colonies, and to deter the British Empire from further invading the U.S. after that they got done burning down the White house in the war of 1812, just like they needed the Russian's to take up the greatest share of the burden of WW1 & WW2.

And Alaska, don't forget Alaska Magnumcromagnon....you let go that pretty cheap too!  
PS You need to do some research on Space-X as well.

AirCargo wrote:

magnumcromagnon wrote:

Morpheus Eberhardt wrote:

GarryB wrote:

Despite the availability of necessary documentation and legal rights for producing RD-180 in the United States, NASA is considering development of an indigenous core stage engine that would be "capable of generating high levels of thrust approximately equal to or exceeding the performance of the Russian-built engine." NASA considered in 2010 to produce a fully operational engine by 2020 or sooner, depending оn partnership with the U.S. Defense Department.

If NASA is considering that, then I am also considering to produce my first batch of RD-180 engines in, my garage, by lunch-time tomorrow. I am considering that the batch would consist of 2X10^1000 engines. Of course, the majority of the people on the mp.ret would believe all of this.

I agree, I'm very skeptical of the thought that they could replace the RD-180's so easily, if they could than they would of done so already. Do people really believe the Pentagon is willingly dependent on the Russian Federation for rocket engines by choice? The Pentagon has no choice but to buy from the Russians, just like Pentagon needed to buy titanium from the Russians to build the SR-71 (and probably for the SR-72), just like the U.S. military needed Russian Empire to recognize the independence of the original 13 Colonies, and to deter the British Empire from further invading the U.S. after that they got done burning down the White house in the war of 1812, just like they needed the Russian's to take up the greatest share of the burden of WW1 & WW2.

And Alaska, don't forget Alaska Magnumcromagnon....you let go that pretty cheap too!  
PS You need to do some research on Space-X as well.

Space X? You know back in the 1960's they made the claim that the private space agencies would take over NASA within a couple decades, fast forward 2014 and it still hasn't transpired. This is due in large part because Space Exploration is expensive, dangerous, the fruits of their labor do not transpire soon but in the long term and when a astronaut dies in a accident, bond holders tend be get scared that their initial investment will dry up and disappear if they end up getting sued by the family of the astronaut and lose in civil court (burden of proof in civil courts need less evidence to convict than in Federal court). Losing investor confidence would be rather easy considering the benefits in space exploration bears fruit in the long term and not in the short term which is actually diametrically opposed to what bond/stock holders demand in the private investment capital model of business. I'm not the only one who's skeptical in the "private takeover" in space exploration, Neil Degrasse Tyson has expressed skepticism an concern in such a move in the direction of space exploration:

Neil deGrasse Tyson Says Private Companies Won’t Take The Lead In Space Exploration

Famed scientist and science popularizer Neil deGrasse Tyson talked about the importance of space exploration today during his keynote at South by Southwest     Interactive. Despite advances by private companies, particularly SpaceX, he said they won’t be the ones making the biggest breakthroughs.

Tyson admitted that for him, the appeal of space travel is the simple fact that it’s “a frontier.” However, there are more practical reasons to go into space. For one thing, we need to be able to respond if we find out that an asteroid is headed for Earth.

“You know the dinosuars would have if they could have,” Tyson said. He joked that failing to pursue a space program when we have the scientific and technological capability would make us “the laughing stock” of other intelligent species: “They’d have human bones on display in their museum. ‘Here they are, not building a spaceship.’” He also suggested that space travel is tied to other forms of significant innovation like transportation, energy, and health — which he contrasted with people “who innovate because you want to make a buck” and are trying to figure out “the next app.”

Tyson described space travel as “a long-term investment”: “It’s an investment that private enterprise cannot lead.” He recalled the excitement around SpaceX’s delivery of cargo the International Space Station, which sparked discussion about whether private companies would replace government as the main engine behind space travel. Tyson’s response? “They brought cargo to the space station! NASA’s been doing that for 30 years!” The problem, he said, is that it’s hard to predict the risk and return on investment on “doing anything big and expensive first.” He noted that the first Europeans to come to America were not the Dutch East India Company, but Christopher Columbus and his crew, whose expedition was paid for by Spain. After the initial exploration, there will be opportunities for private companies. “The first trillionaire in the world is going to be the person who first mines the asteroid
belt,” Tyson said.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/08/neil-degrasse-tyson-sxsw/

Vann7 wrote:
What other sites are doing is zooming the image so blind people like you could see.. but for me
with perfect vision

I think you were partially correct it is the fault of semi skilled Russian labour which participated in

Proton assembly at Khrunichev entreprises.

proton-rocket-failure-sabotage

Sabotage considered in Proton rocket crash – investigator

The botched launch of the Proton-M rocket this month may have been caused by sabotage,
the chair of the investigating commission said. This conspiratorial version is being
considered as part of the probe, although it’s not a likely scenario.

“All variants are being analyzed in detail. As of today the most likely version involves the failure
of a bearing unit in the turbine pump assembly. But, I repeat, all versions are under consideration,
” Aleksandr Danilyuk, who chairs an inter-body commission investigating the May-16 incident, said.

“The sabotage version has not been ruled out,” he added.

It is extremely impossible to replace the skills of old age people with younger age people.

I think some young russ enggineers  who took part in Proton assembly did some faulty assembly or did not follow
the specifications and thats why this failure.

The bulava failures were also blamed on young (new engineers) who could could build the assembly with proper specifications.

0.5 bin $ for 6 rides ...    

NASA bought 6 more places to fly on Russian "Soyuz" for $ 458 million

WoW - anyone knows something about this madness   

Russia to Launch Fleet of Mini Satellites in June

This year, the Dnepr rocket is set to launch more than 34 mini-satellites  — which are typically single-purpose machines that are cheap to make and easy to replace

Apparently one is for Saudi Arabia

"Satan" will deliver a satellite into orbit Saudi Arabia

Interesting   

2014Russia's new super-heavy RN receives methane engine

The investigation into ExpressAM4R satellite loss is completed.
Any details on that so far..??

gaurav wrote:The investigation into ExpressAM4R satellite loss is completed.
Any details on that so far..??

They announced the cause of the launcher failure was a bearing failure in the third stage's RD-0214 steering engine.

gaurav wrote:The investigation into ExpressAM4R satellite loss is completed.
Any details on that so far..??

It seems that they caught the bastards   

Ministry of Internal Affairs opened a criminal investigation into the sabotage of the Khrunichev Center

33 satellites from 16 countries successfully installed in orbit on Satan missile

All satellites separated from the carrier rocket "Satan"

Russian Dnepr rocket lofts record haul of 37 satellites

sepheronx wrote:They need to really improve the finances of Khrunichev Center.  30,000 roubles a month?  A person working at a fast food in Moscow for private firm makes more.  I can see why they cannot get good scientists or are finding it hard.  They need to pay more.  Greedy company.  If they payed more and provided more like Sukhoi does (give homes to workers), then they could probably find it easier to get specialists.

Probably this among other things is the main idea driving the reorganization process now in motion - other is efficiency of course



7 more days until first Angara lifts off

The first launch of "Angara" will be held June 27

Hopefully the fact that it wasn't functioning properly means they were working on a new replacement and can launch it in the near future...

Great   

Russia creates super-heavy rocket for Lunar, Martian programs - space agency head

Roscosmos initiates creating a new super-heavy carrier as the Angara rocket carrier potential is not sufficient to the goal the space agency is facing, Ostapenko said.

"We have calculated - at the first stage we able to make a rocket, which will bring 70-80 tonnes useful cargo to the low-Earth orbit. Then, upon modernizing it, [we able to make] the rocket, which will carry from 120 tonnes and more, and up to 190 tonnes in future," Ostapenko said.

And excellent explanation of all the things necessary   

Russian rocket designers set their sights on the Moon and Mars

Three new communication satellites to be launched tomorow   

Russian Defense Ministry is going to be put into orbit three communication satellites

Three new satellites communication installed in orbit   

Russia Launches Rokot Carrier Rocket with Three Satellites

5 more days until new lift off

Carrier rocket "Soyuz" July 8 will orbit once seven satellites

Soyuz-2.1b with 7 satellites lifts off

"Soyuz 2.1b" Tuesday will orbit once seven scientific satellites

Soyuz 2-1B lofts Meteor M2 and Scotland’s first satellite

i have a question of the last photo ..

It quite unfortunate ,Russia never seems to care much about the quality of their infrastructure , that place
looks like and old soviet launching pad. The rails looks rusty and not clean place. .That something i really don't like about Russia. They seems so careless about the quality of their military or scientific installations. Is that supposed to be Russia "new space facilities"?   

Is disgusting for example to see videos of Pak-fa taking off from fields that have half a meter of grass ,same with Ka-52 hellicopters.. they looks nice ,but their military base in terrible condition. grass not cut and military airports roads in less than perfect conditions . This is not the way US military base are.  Something so expensive like the angara Rocket ,which is the biggest pride of Russia should have facilities that look like Sochi and very modern and as spectacular as the rocket.. not old soviet launching pads quality place with rusty rails.