Russia puts off super-rocket, focuses on Angara upgrade


Recommended Posts

http://sen.com/news/russia-puts-off-super-rocket-focuses-on-angara-upgrades

Russia puts off super-rocket, focuses on Angara upgrade

Sen-Facing significant budgetary pressures, the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, has indefinitely postponed its ambitious effort to develop a super-heavy rocket to rival NASA's next-generation Space Launch System, SLS.

Instead, Russia will focus on radical upgrades of its brand-new but smaller Angara-5 rocket which had its inaugural flight in Dec. 2014, the agency's Scientific and Technical Council, NTS, decided on Thursday, Mar. 12.

The cost-cutting move to halt the development of the super-rocket, which is still on a drawing board in Russia, came just a day after a spectacular test firing in the US of a large solid-rocket booster intended for the SLS.

Both countries planned to use new enormous rockets almost exclusively for human missions into deep space, as such vehicles' capability of carrying around 80 tons of payload to the low Earth orbit far outweighs any commercial or military cargo. As a result, the costly project came under fire in Moscow last year, as the nation faced sagging oil prices and Western economic sanctions resulting from the annexation of Crimea and the war in Ukraine.

In January, the Kremlin appointed new leadership at Roscosmos, which moved quickly to streamline the nation's space effort, previously criticized by observers as unfocused and mismanaged. The veteran of Roscosmos Yuri Koptev, who led the agency during the difficult economic times of post-Soviet transition in the 1990s, returned to take charge of the NTS council, which formulates the Russian space strategy.

On Feb. 24, Koptev oversaw a decision to continue the Russian involvement into the International Space Station, ISS, project until 2024 and then separate the newest Russian modules of the outpost to build the new-generation orbital base. However, the more contentious issue of the super-rocket was postponed until the next NTS gathering on Mar. 12.

While postponing the super-heavy rocket, Roscosmos simultaneously gave a green light to the preliminary development of an upgraded rocket designated Angara-A5V, where "V" likely stands for "vodorod"Russian for hydrogen.

By switching upper stages of the existing Angara from kerosene to the more potent hydrogen fuel, engineers might be able to boost the rocket's payload from current 25 tons to 35 tons for missions to the low Earth orbit. According to Roscosmos, Angara-A5V could be used for piloted missions to the vicinity of the Moon and to its surface.

>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because they see SLS is a complete waste of time and resources. Angara is the next-generation system, and they're wise to pursue that direction instead.

 

Good move on their part. (Y)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm new to this but, SRB's or SRM's as they are called, have a solid fuel system rather than a liquid fuel correct?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, that is correct. SRBs cannot be throttled and cannot be shut down until the fuel is completely exhausted. So once they're lit, they run full out until they burn out.

They are really powerful, but offer less control than a liquid rocket in that they can't be shut down or throttled down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The shuttle's SRB's are why it had no survivable launch abort capability until they burned out. Basically, a failure from the SRB's lighting on the pad to their burn out was going to be a really bad day.

I also have a BIG problem with the Boeing CST-100's use of the Atlas V HR, which has 2 small SRB's. Check out this Delta II launch failure which was caused by a failed solid of similar size,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a shame there's not more collaboration and sharing of funds for these things as space exploration is as a whole in humanities shared interest whereas for individual nation states in modern times despite a partial resurgence its just not seen as important enough.  Since its not much of a voting draw card either its funding lends itself to being tenuous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There was planned entry of 'sharing of funds' from the US to Russia in the 1990's and 2000's to keep their space program going. To the point that the ISS Zarya module is US property on loan to Russia and would stay if they leave. IIRC Zvezda would stay as well. Their sections solar arrays long ago went to the Happy Hunting Grounds, so Russia removed their power conditioners and batteries and have been using US power.

The political theory after the USSR fell was to keep the Russian rocketeers at home instead of having them freelance their services to the highest undesirable bidders.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also have a BIG problem with the Boeing CST-100's use of the Atlas V HR...

Why was the Atlas V even human rated in the first place, it has never launched any humans, right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Never. It wasn't designed to. They've had to redo the avionics, create a new flight profile and about 5% of the hardware has never flown. This includes a human rated Dual Engine Centaur (DEC) upper stage that's never flown.

Without solids and DEC Atlas V couldn't lift CST-100, Dragon or Dream Chaser to the ISS orbit with a full load.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

The mention of "Russian super rocket", to me, usually means the N1. This was the monster with the NK-33 engines. While some will lament the brute force methodology, there were hidden jewels of technology in their space program. If anyone is bored, here is a documentary that shows the N1 and progress to the RD180 ...Hope you like it.....Cheers.. :)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.