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RUSSIA MULLS CREATION OF NEW SUPER-HEAVY CARRIER ROCKET
October 25, 2013 - 18:44 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia's Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, is to
discuss with leading Russian scientists development of a new launch
vehicle capable of carrying up payloads to 70 tons, its head said
Friday, Oct 25, RIA Novosti reported.
"We will analyze and use all the existing potential...to choose
the optimal solution [for the super-heavy rocket]," newly-appointed
Roscosmos chief Oleg Ostapenko told reporters.
The results of the discussions will be used to outline the design and
technical characteristics of the rocket, including its environmental
safety.
The new rocket should be capable of delivering spacecraft to
geotransitional (up to eight tons), geostationary (five tons) and
low-Earth (at least 20 tons) orbits.
Russia's Energia space corporation earlier proposed the development of
a new launch vehicle based on the Soviet-era Energia rocket that was
used in the late 1980's as the launcher for the Buran space shuttle.
Two Energia launches were carried out - on May 15, 1987 with a mockup
Buran model, and on November 15, 1988 with the actual Buran shuttle.
However, the Energia-Buran project was suspended in the 1990s. Five
Energia rocket frames at various stages of construction were broken
up at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan and at the Energia
corporation assembly facilities.
The RD-170 rocket engine, developed for the Energia project, has been
upgraded and is used in Russian-Ukrainian Zenit carrier rockets as
the RD-171, and in American Atlas 5 launch systems as the RD-180.
According to some Russian space industry experts, an alternative
solution could be the use of the Angara family of carrier rockets,
designed by the Khrunichev center, as the basis for a future launch
vehicle.
The Angara development program was launched in 1995, but has suffered
a number of setbacks and delays since then.
Angara is intended mainly for launch from the Plesetsk space center
in northern Russia and the future Vostochny spaceport in Russia's
Far East to reduce Moscow's dependence on Kazakhstan's Baikonur,
the main launch facility for the current generation of Russian rockets.
From: A. Papazian
October 25, 2013 - 18:44 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia's Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, is to
discuss with leading Russian scientists development of a new launch
vehicle capable of carrying up payloads to 70 tons, its head said
Friday, Oct 25, RIA Novosti reported.
"We will analyze and use all the existing potential...to choose
the optimal solution [for the super-heavy rocket]," newly-appointed
Roscosmos chief Oleg Ostapenko told reporters.
The results of the discussions will be used to outline the design and
technical characteristics of the rocket, including its environmental
safety.
The new rocket should be capable of delivering spacecraft to
geotransitional (up to eight tons), geostationary (five tons) and
low-Earth (at least 20 tons) orbits.
Russia's Energia space corporation earlier proposed the development of
a new launch vehicle based on the Soviet-era Energia rocket that was
used in the late 1980's as the launcher for the Buran space shuttle.
Two Energia launches were carried out - on May 15, 1987 with a mockup
Buran model, and on November 15, 1988 with the actual Buran shuttle.
However, the Energia-Buran project was suspended in the 1990s. Five
Energia rocket frames at various stages of construction were broken
up at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan and at the Energia
corporation assembly facilities.
The RD-170 rocket engine, developed for the Energia project, has been
upgraded and is used in Russian-Ukrainian Zenit carrier rockets as
the RD-171, and in American Atlas 5 launch systems as the RD-180.
According to some Russian space industry experts, an alternative
solution could be the use of the Angara family of carrier rockets,
designed by the Khrunichev center, as the basis for a future launch
vehicle.
The Angara development program was launched in 1995, but has suffered
a number of setbacks and delays since then.
Angara is intended mainly for launch from the Plesetsk space center
in northern Russia and the future Vostochny spaceport in Russia's
Far East to reduce Moscow's dependence on Kazakhstan's Baikonur,
the main launch facility for the current generation of Russian rockets.
From: A. Papazian