Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #4

Russia’s ART-XC telescope of the Spektr-RG space observatory will continue its observations while Germany’s eROSITA telescope is off, the scientific head of the project, Rashid Syunyayev, has told TASS.

https://tass.com/science/1417731

The launch complex of the Vostochny cosmodrome is ready for launches of rockets on naphthyl

The Soyuz-2 launch complex at the Vostochny cosmodrome is fully prepared for launches of launch vehicles using a new type of fuel - naphthyl. The transition of the complex from kerosene to naphthyl began in October 2021, and was carried out by specialists from the branches of TsENKI JSC - the Vostochny Space Center and the Research Institute of Launch Complexes named after V.P. Barmina (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation).

A number of special operations were carried out to change the fuel. All kerosene was drained from the storage facilities and sent to the supplying enterprises, and the storage tanks were purged with nitrogen and air. After reaching the optimal ratio of oxygen and air inside, the tanks were cleaned. The cosmodrome specialists also connected the necessary technological equipment to the refueling system.

In December 2021, autonomous tests were completed on the naphthyl filling systems of the third stage of the launch vehicle, the “package” fueling system (the assembled first and second stages of the launch vehicle), the fuel cooling system and on the automatic control system for technological equipment. After carrying out autonomous tests, in fact, we can assume that the Launch Complex has been converted to naphthyl. However, to complete the full cycle, it is necessary to pass more complex tests. This type of test is carried out directly during the preparation of the launch vehicle for launch, when it is already installed in the launch system and has passed a full cycle of preparation at the SC before the start of refueling.

During the preparation of the ILV for launch, it will be necessary to refuel and drain the fuel. Based on the results of this operation, a final decision is issued on the complete transition of the Launch Complex to a new type of fuel.

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Russia terminates launches of EU military satellites into orbit

https://tass.com/science/1429173

The Aariane 6 is not going to be cheaper than the Soyuz.

kvs wrote:The Aariane 6 is not going to be cheaper than the Soyuz.

Hell no it wont be cheaper.

Europeans dont do anything that is remotely cheap. Neither does the US. They may fudge the numbers as best as they can but in the end they cant make it cheaper. Soyuz has been in production since forever and even newer model made in Russia has been made in excessive amounts. That alone is what makes it cheaper with already existing and long established production line.

The Soyuz also has the best reliability of any rocket system. The Airane 6 is going to have to go through a debugging phase.

Same goes for manned launches to the ISS. Musk's rides are not guaranteed to be safe.

Preliminary design of the Russian Orbital Service Station to be completed in 2022

MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Rocket and Space Corporation Energia will complete the preliminary design of the advanced Russian Orbital Service Station in 2022. This is stated in the message of Roskosmos, distributed on Tuesday.

"Dmitry Rogozin said that in the manned program, the state corporation focuses on the deployment of the Russian Orbital Service Station, whose draft design of RSC Energia named after S.P. Korolev (part of Roscosmos) should be completed this year," Roscosmos said in a statement following the results meetings of the CEO of the state corporation with representatives of the expert council.

In April 2021, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Yuri Borisov said that the state of the ISS leaves much to be desired, so Russia can focus on creating its own orbital station. The Energia Rocket and Space Corporation was tasked with ensuring the readiness of the first module for the new domestic orbital station in 2025, which will be the scientific and energy module, which was previously supposed to be launched to the ISS in 2024.

The Scientific and Technical Council of Roscosmos recommended that work on the creation of a technical design for a new orbital station be included in the Federal Space Program - 2025

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Nice.  Get ROS flying by 2027 and dump the ISS.  Screw the damned Murkans and their Eurotrash and Jap cuckolds.  Their investments will end up re-entering over the Pacific Ocean and they won't have a spare USD200B to build another (and their existing station module technologies are inadequate as they no longer operate shuttles to carry out orbital assembly).

The Luna-25 high-precision landing system has successfully completed tests

MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Tests of the high-precision landing system for the Luna-25 interplanetary automatic station, scheduled for launch in 2022, have been successfully completed. This is stated in the message of Roskosmos, distributed on Tuesday.

"Despite the sanctions, tests of the high-precision landing system for the Luna-25 automatic station have been successfully completed," Roscosmos said in a statement following a meeting between the state corporation's CEO Dmitry Rogozin and representatives of the expert council.

In November 2021, the press service of Roscosmos told TASS that experts had identified a malfunction in the Doppler velocity and range meter (DISD-LR), which should ensure a soft landing of the Luna-25 interplanetary automatic station. In turn, a source in the rocket and space industry told TASS that "the device could not show the correct data during the descent from the tower."

"Luna-25" should become the first domestic apparatus in modern Russia on a natural satellite of the Earth. The purpose of the project is to launch an automatic probe for research in the region of the south pole of the moon. It is planned that the module will be landed near the Boguslavsky crater. The launch is scheduled for May-July next year.

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Very nice.  

Their investments will end up re-entering over the Pacific Ocean and they won't have a spare USD200B to build another (and their existing station module technologies are inadequate as they no longer operate shuttles to carry out orbital assembly).

A space shuttle is about the most expensive way possible to assemble a space station in space.

Russia did not use space shuttles to assemble Mir.

GarryB wrote:

Their investments will end up re-entering over the Pacific Ocean and they won't have a spare USD200B to build another (and their existing station module technologies are inadequate as they no longer operate shuttles to carry out orbital assembly).

A space shuttle is about the most expensive way possible to assemble a space station in space.

Russia did not use space shuttles to assemble Mir.

Agreed, but its all the Murkans have experience with, and now its a defunct capability. Russians (and now Chinese) can build modular stations from free-flying modules. Murkans with their shuttles chose to sneer at mud-hut dwelling Ruskies having such "inefficient" methodologies, but who is laughing now?

The launch of the Luna-25 mission from the Vostochny Cosmodrome was scheduled for August 22

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MOSCOW, April 8 - RIA Novosti. The launch of the first domestic mission to the Moon in 46 years from the Vostochny cosmodrome is scheduled for August 22, Alexander Mitkin, deputy general designer for electrical systems at NPO Lavochkin, said.

Previously, it was planned that the Luna-25 automatic station, created by NPO Lavochkin, would go to the Earth's natural satellite in July. The main objective of the mission will be to develop the basic technologies for a soft landing in the circumpolar region and conduct contact studies of a given region of the south pole of the moon .

The Luna-26 mission for mapping is expected in 2024, Luna-27 for soil exploration - in 2025, Luna-28 for collecting lunar soil and working out the landing scheme for Russian cosmonauts - in 2027-2028.

Russia is going to isolate herself even more on the Moon  only Russians and Chinese were there... no free world yet

Supervisory Board of Roscosmos decided to start creation  a new Russian orbital station

[quote]   Moscow. April 8th. Interfax - The Supervisory Board of Roskosmos has decided after defending the preliminary design to start developing and creating modules for the new Russian orbital station, Roskosmos reported.
      "The Supervisory Board heard reports on the prospects for the further use of the International Space Station and the creation of the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS), as well as on the progress of the construction of the National Space Center in Moscow. Based on the results of the discussion, it was decided, after defending the outline design of the ROSS, to begin developing design documentation and creating its modules," the state corporation said in a statement.
      The state corporation also reported that the Supervisory Board agreed on the "appointment of Anton Lobanov as CEO of the Research and Production Corporation "Space monitoring systems, information-control and electromechanical complexes" named after A.G. Iosifyan (JSC VNIIEM Corporation) and Igor Maltsev as CEO" Research and Production Center for Automation and Instrumentation named after Academician N.A. Pilyugin "(NPTSAP).
      In addition, Chairman of the Supervisory Board Yuri Borisov noted the principled state and civil position of Roscosmos in the face of sanctions pressure on the country.
      On February 26, the head of Roskosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, announced that the decision to create the station would be made after the preliminary design was submitted.
      Against the background of the aggravation of Russian-American relations due to the conflict in Ukraine, Rogozin said that further continuation of cooperation is possible only if sanctions are lifted from the Russian space industry. On April 2, Rogozin announced that the state corporation would prepare its proposals to the country's leadership on the timing of the termination of Russia's participation in the ISS project.
      "The final decision on ROSS, with which we link the future of Russian manned cosmonautics, including as a transit point on the way to the Moon, will be made after the completion of the preliminary design of the station," Rogozin said in an interview with Russian Space magazine.
      As reported, Russia is considering the possibility of creating a new national station, which will replace the ISS. It is assumed that the station will be in a high-latitude orbit with an inclination of 97-98 degrees, where an increased level of radiation is observed. Because of this, it is proposed to make it visitable rather than permanently inhabited.
      On November 9, 2021, Sergey Krikalev, Executive Director of Roscosmos for manned programs, said that the state corporation is considering several options for creating a Russian orbital station, including using the Russian segment of the ISS.
      "The scenarios are different, we have just those studies and those preliminary designs that should be done, they should consider different options, including the option of using the current station to create a new generation station," Krikalev said at a scientific and technical conference scientists and specialists of RSC Energia.
      On August 23, 2021, Rogozin told Interfax that the decision to include the modules of the Russian segment of the ISS in the new station would be made after the development of a draft design.
      As Rogozin reported earlier, the scientific and technical council of the state corporation must decide how the appearance of the new Russian orbital station will be formed. "Either by building up the Russian segment and the subsequent possible separation or high-latitude station," Rogozin noted.
      On November 17, 2021, Alexander Bloshenko, executive director of Roscosmos for advanced projects and science, told Interfax that the state corporation doubts the advisability of creating a new station based on the existing Russian segment of the ISS, but experts should give an exact answer.
      According to him, the development of a draft design of a new Russian orbital station will begin in 2022, it will take about a year and a half.
      Russia, as reported, decided to build its own orbital station, is considering withdrawing from the ISS project, and this is due to the deterioration of the technical condition of the Russian segment of the station.
      The head of Roscosmos reported that about 80% of the equipment of the Russian segment of the ISS has exhausted its resource and the cost of maintaining it after 2025 will be comparable to the cost of creating a new station.
      According to Vladimir Solovyov, Flight Director of the Russian Segment of the ISS, at the first stage the (Russian) station will consist of four modules, and in the future their number will be increased to six. The crew of the station will be two to four people, the volume of pressurized compartments will be 667 cubic meters at the second stage. At the same time, the number of external jobs will reach 48. Cosmonauts will visit the station once or twice a year, and it is also planned to send up to three cargo ships to the station a year.[/quote]
https://www.militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=1&nid=572422&lang=RU

"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.

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.

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.

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.