Russian Space Program: News & Discussion #4

MOSCOW, June 4 - RIA Novosti. Roskosmos will restore the operation of the eROSITA telescope at the Spektr-RG orbital observatory, which was turned off by German colleagues, Dmitry Rogozin, general director of the state corporation , said on the Russia-24 TV channel.

"I instructed to begin work on restoring the operation of the German telescope in the Spektr-RG system together with the Russian telescope," he said.

The head of Roskosmos stressed that this is necessary for science. According to him, those who, for political reasons, decided to stop the work of the German telescope, had no moral right to do so.

...

Shortly after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine , German specialists put the eROSITA telescope into safe mode. According to Rogozin, this led to losses for Roskosmos, so the state corporation intends to bill Germany. In addition, we had to change the observation program for Spektra-RG.

Russia considers "kidnapping" a deep-space telescope

Scorpius wrote:The Russian Academy of Sciences is concerned about the plans of Roscosmos to turn on one of the two telescopes (eROSITA) disabled by Germany at the Spektr-RG space observatory
https://www.interfax.ru/russia/844905

MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. The Glonass-K satellite, intended for the development of the GLONASS orbital constellation, was delivered to the Plesetsk cosmodrome, the Siberian Sputnik newspaper of the Reshetnev ISS enterprise reported on Friday .

"At the enterprise, the Glonass-K spacecraft underwent a full cycle of ground tests, which confirmed the operability of its systems and build quality, readiness for service in the interests of consumers. Currently, its preparation for launch has begun at the Plesetsk cosmodrome," the report says.

At the moment, seven more Glonass-K satellites and two Glonass-K2 satellites are at different stages of production at the Reshetnev ISS satellite-building enterprise.

Now the GLONASS constellation includes 25 satellites, of which 22 are used for their intended purpose, three are temporarily withdrawn for maintenance. To cover the entire globe, 24 working vehicles are required.

MOSCOW, July 14 - RIA Novosti. The promising Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS) will be placed in the same orbit from which the Zeus nuclear tug will send ships to the Moon and into deep space so that astronauts can serve it, Dmitry Rogozin, CEO of Roscosmos, told RIA Novosti.

“If we talk about the final decision on the inclination of the orbit, then it depends on the following chain of factors. First, the orbital inclination of the station must be exactly the same as the inclination of the orbit of Zeus, and the inclination of the orbit of Zeus must be such as is necessary for its have from the point of view of the optimal departure trajectory to the Moon and beyond," Rogozin said .

He clarified that he met with the leadership of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation (RKK), which is preparing a draft design of ROSS, and discussed this issue. The new station may not be placed in the 97-98 degree orbit that was previously chosen. The orbit will also be high-latitude, but no longer polar, Rogozin explained.

"In this regard, the station has the functionality to maintain the Zeus, ensuring and opening its panels, and at the same time delivering to it what needs to be towed. Naturally, in a non-operating state for the reactor. Then this station acquires another unique purpose, which we we see, it is very important from the point of view of manned cosmonautics," he added.

Earlier, Rogozin said that cosmonauts would be able to move on a manned spacecraft between the promising Russian orbital station and the Zeus nuclear tug to control the assembly of the tug. Later, he told RIA Novosti that the cosmonauts would not only control the assembly from the ship, but would also be able to go into outer space to intervene in this process if necessary

At present, the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation (RKK) is preparing a draft design of the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS). The preliminary design should be completed in the third quarter of 2023, after which the development of design documentation will begin. It was reported that the new station will fly in a high-latitude orbit with an inclination of 96-98 degrees, and not 51.6 degrees, like the ISS .

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, travel 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.

owais.usmani wrote:

https://ria.ru/20220715/roskosmos-1802732670.html

MOSCOW, July 15 - RIA Novosti. Former Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov will replace Dmitry Rogozin as head of Roskosmos, the corresponding decrees were signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The documents are published on the Kremlin website.

I suspect PapaDragon will throw in a big party tonight!