Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #2

On Monday, President Vladimir Putin held a meeting on the prospects for the development of the rocket and space industry.
As it became known to Kommersant, the approach to the construction of launching tables for a family of carrier rockets of the Angara type was approved in principle.
It is assumed that their number at the cosmodromes of Plesetsk and Vostochny will be reduced in aggregate from four to two, and the construction of the launch at the latter will be conducted with the assistance of the Ministry of Defense.
So "Roskosmos" can meet the budget, estimated at about 340 billion rubles.

On May 11, a meeting with the president with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roskosmos Igor Komarov, representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ministry of Finance and top managers of the branch enterprises of Kommersant reported on May 11. On Monday, in an open part of the meeting, Vladimir Putin suggested discussing the prospects for the development of Earth remote sensing satellites (by 2020 their grouping should consist of at least 15 apparatuses). "You can think about the further commercialization of these services and the expansion of services in the domestic and foreign markets," he said.


That the general director of the Khrunichev Center, Andrei Kalinovsky, spoke about the future of the Angara and Proton
The closed part of the meeting was devoted to other topics, say two sources of Kommersant in the space industry. One of the main issues was the development of infrastructure at the cosmodromes Baikonur, Plesetsk and Vostochny for the period until 2025. It was assumed that the federal target program (FTP) would be approved at the end of 2015, but at a special meeting with the president, the deadlines were shifted for 2016: the maneuver was associated with the construction of the second phase of the Eastern. Subsequently, monetary disagreements also affected: the first versions of FTP were estimated by experts in the amount of about 1 trillion rubles, but under pressure from the government's financial and economic block, the amount was reduced by about a quarter. In his last interview with Kommersant, Igor Komarov admitted that even the abbreviated parameters "do not fully fit into the current budget possibilities," but this "only concerns the period 2017-2019." The total amount of the program, which the head of Roskosmos called in December 2016, was to be about 550 billion rubles. Of it more than 400 billion rubles. It was planned to start on the East, and the remaining funds - for the reconstruction and modernization of the objects of Baikonur and the military cosmodrome Plesetsk.

However, on Monday after the meeting, Igor Komarov said that the FTP was included in the government: "I think that with a funding limit, we are ready to meet the volume of about 340 billion rubles." According to him, "some optimization of starting facilities is likely" and, in addition, "thanks to this program, further development of our relations with Kazakhstan and the development of joint projects will be ensured." According to Kommersant's information, "certain optimization" means refusing to build four launching tables for the Angara space rocket complex: there will be one launch in Plesetsk and the East. Moreover, the construction of the launch facility on the East will be conducted with the assistance of the Ministry of Defense, which laid the funds for the construction of the second site in Plesetsk. Thus, Roskosmos will be able to compensate for the reduction in the volume of FTP without serious losses, and the military will use it to withdraw their vehicles. At the same time, at the meeting it was decided to abandon the construction of a separate installation and testing building for the Angara and spacecrafts on the East (the already built MIC for the Soyuz-2 and MIK missiles for satellites will be used). On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that all the programs planned for the East have not undergone any changes. "By 2021, we plan to ensure the launch of the Angara, so the launch pad is being built. Already after the year 25 we will have to ensure the launch of the Angara already with a hydrogen block (it will be built on the RD-0150.- " Kommersant " engine), "the Deputy Prime Minister stressed. The site on the East, we will note, will be unified both for "Angara-A5P", and for "Angara-A5B".

Separately, with Vladimir Putin, rocket engineering was discussed. So, the president set the task to accelerate the development of the superheavy missile, which was originally planned to be developed within the framework of the Federal Space Program until 2025, but because of the program's reduction almost doubled (to about 1.5 trillion rubles), the project was postponed for the future.

The theme of the Baiterek project, which involves the reconstruction of the launch pad for joint Russian-Kazakh launches, was raised separately. "We plan to immediately begin developing a medium-range missile with the expectation that it would be competitive on the commercial services market with the latest American developments, so as not to lose this market," the vice premier said. He specified that its carrying capacity would be about 17 tons. In terms of its parameters, it will be as close as possible to the Ukrainian Zenit rocket that was assembled at Yuzhmash, that is, to launch it at Baikonur it will not be necessary to build a new start-it will be enough to modernize the one from which Zenit's took off. The very design of the missile, called "Soyuz-5", will become part of the work to create a superheavy missile.

Big_Gazza wrote:
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Image from Zak Libtardski website - note the comparison to the proposed Angara-5V upgrade in the lower RHS corner (personally I feel the A-5V would be a useful intermediate launcher for 35T category, but then the same could be acheived with E-5V with reduced strap-ons and upper stages)

Rmf wrote:my god the situation is worse then even i predicted , and i was right about everything so far , so its going to get worse. loss of focus ,bickering ,and smaller and smaller funds, with infinite postponements ,dark days ahead.

kvs wrote:.......

To save money the heavy launcher is going to be based on Sunkar class modules powered by RD-171M four nozzle rocket engines.  That is rather clear from all the press coverage.  

MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. Roskosmos plans rescheduling the first launch of the Federatsiya crewed spacecraft from 2021 to 2022 and to make it from Baikonur on the Feniks new middle-class carrier, sources at the space sector told TASS on Saturday.

Formerly, the first launch was planned for 2021 from the Vostochnyi pad on the Angara class carrier.

"Roskosmos suggests reviewing the plans to launch the Federatsiya crewed spacecraft and to relocate the launch to the Baikonur port. The launch will be made on a new carrier of the middle class, which is being made now under the Feniks project. This project will be implemented in the framework of the Bayterek complex. This would not require major changes to the spacecraft, as the new carrier would be using RD-170M forced engines, and the tests of this complex are planned for 2022," the source said.

Besides, the source continued, organization of the infrastructures for piloted launches from the Vostochnyi spaceport (assembly-testing facility for manned spacecraft, life support systems on the launch pad, infrastructures to accommodate crews) may be postponed until super-heavy carrier for Moon flights is designed.

"Due to the changed carrier for the spacecraft’s launch, the decision is to refuse from work on a piloted version of Angara-A5P carrier. Manned programs will return to the Vostochnyi cosmodrome only in the beginning of construction of the launch complex for the super-heavy carrier after 2025," the source said, stressing the new plans would not affect construction of the Angara launch complex, which is still due by 2021, though the launch now is planned not with a piloted spacecraft, but with unmanned payload.

The super-heavy carrier will be used in the piloted program to fly around the Moon and land on it. For that, the industry will be working on a heavier and bigger 20-tonn version of the Federatsiya spacecraft.

"The first stage of work on the super-heavy carrier will be implemented at the Baikonur spaceport, as the Feniks carrier and Federatsiya spacecraft are tested," the source said.

Roskosmos has given no comments.
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(Rest of the text is obsolete tripe)