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RIA Novosti: Russian Space Agency Faces Major Reform:
Universe Today: Rocket Failures May Spur Change In Russian Federal Space Agency: Report
Universe Today: Rocket Failures May Spur Change In Russian Federal Space Agency: Report
SiberianTiger
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http://en.ria.ru/russia/20131010/184053658/Russia-Appoints-New-Space-Chief.html
Russia Appoints New Space Chief
19:02 10/10/2013
Originally published at 17:33
MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti) – Former Deputy Defense Minister Oleg Ostapenko will head up Russia’s Federal Space Agency, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday. The move comes as part of a major reshuffle of the country’s troubled space industry.
During a meeting with Ostapenko Thursday, Medvedev said he hoped that, as head of the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos, Ostapenko will help streamline the country’s space program, which has experienced numerous setbacks in recent years.
Earlier Thursday, Ostapenko, 56, was relieved of his duties as deputy defense minister and discharged from military service by President Vladimir Putin, in a move preceding his new appointment.
Ostapenko started his military career in the Soviet Strategic Missile Forces in 1979. He was promoted to commander of the Russian Space Forces in 2008, and led them until his November 2012 appointment as deputy defense minister.
Rumors of a looming shakeup at Roscosmos, following a series of embarrassing space launch failures, have been circulating in the Russian media since Monday.
However, no announcement has yet been made about the agency’s outgoing head Vladimir Popovkin.
Popovkin, who turned 56 in September, has headed Roscosmos since April 2011. In August, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev officially reprimanded Popovkin over his agency's performance.
Most of the setbacks in the space industry have been blamed on faulty hardware and poor management.
In the most recent mishap on July 2, a Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass navigation satellites exploded shortly after it was launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
An Audit Chamber report in July slammed Roscosmos as ineffective and plagued by poor management and misuse of funds. It noted that over the period 2010 to 2012 the agency had only completed 47 percent of the satellite launches planned.
The chamber also blamed the space agency for relegating control over major projects to individual state-run or private companies.
The Russian government is set to radically overhaul the structure of its space industry in a bid to boost efficiency and cut down on the misuse of funds, under plans unveiled Wednesday by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the defense and aerospace sectors.
Speaking to President Vladimir Putin about the plans Wednesday, Rogozin said a new state corporation will be created to take over manufacturing facilities from Roscosmos, whose prestige has been severely dented in recent years by a string of failed rocket launches.
Russia Appoints New Space Chief
19:02 10/10/2013
Originally published at 17:33
MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti) – Former Deputy Defense Minister Oleg Ostapenko will head up Russia’s Federal Space Agency, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday. The move comes as part of a major reshuffle of the country’s troubled space industry.
During a meeting with Ostapenko Thursday, Medvedev said he hoped that, as head of the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos, Ostapenko will help streamline the country’s space program, which has experienced numerous setbacks in recent years.
Earlier Thursday, Ostapenko, 56, was relieved of his duties as deputy defense minister and discharged from military service by President Vladimir Putin, in a move preceding his new appointment.
Ostapenko started his military career in the Soviet Strategic Missile Forces in 1979. He was promoted to commander of the Russian Space Forces in 2008, and led them until his November 2012 appointment as deputy defense minister.
Rumors of a looming shakeup at Roscosmos, following a series of embarrassing space launch failures, have been circulating in the Russian media since Monday.
However, no announcement has yet been made about the agency’s outgoing head Vladimir Popovkin.
Popovkin, who turned 56 in September, has headed Roscosmos since April 2011. In August, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev officially reprimanded Popovkin over his agency's performance.
Most of the setbacks in the space industry have been blamed on faulty hardware and poor management.
In the most recent mishap on July 2, a Proton-M rocket carrying three Glonass navigation satellites exploded shortly after it was launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.
An Audit Chamber report in July slammed Roscosmos as ineffective and plagued by poor management and misuse of funds. It noted that over the period 2010 to 2012 the agency had only completed 47 percent of the satellite launches planned.
The chamber also blamed the space agency for relegating control over major projects to individual state-run or private companies.
The Russian government is set to radically overhaul the structure of its space industry in a bid to boost efficiency and cut down on the misuse of funds, under plans unveiled Wednesday by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the defense and aerospace sectors.
Speaking to President Vladimir Putin about the plans Wednesday, Rogozin said a new state corporation will be created to take over manufacturing facilities from Roscosmos, whose prestige has been severely dented in recent years by a string of failed rocket launches.
orb
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RussianSpaceWeb: Russia conducts course correction of its planetary program:
Cosmic Penguin
Geek Penguin in GTO
I have some very disturbing news about the Russian MLM module for the ISS. Originally officially planned for launch in April 2014, the module was already years late and rumors were already speaking of launch slipping to late next year when the situation turned from worse to disastrous - apparently during testing at RSC Energia the newly installed propulsion system of the module (which would propel itself to the ISS, provides additional roll control to the station and transport/store fuel for the station from Progress spacecrafts) was found to be defective and had to be completely overhauled (by Khrunichev). It appears that the launch could slip by up to 18 months - to late 2015! :facepalm:
(source: http://www.interfax.ru/world/news.asp?id=336233 / http://ria.ru/space/20131022/971916727.html)
The story of "the module that never launches" is reaching ridiculous territory.... :suicide:
(source: http://www.interfax.ru/world/news.asp?id=336233 / http://ria.ru/space/20131022/971916727.html)
The story of "the module that never launches" is reaching ridiculous territory.... :suicide:
You're confusing symptoms with causes.
The Shuttle retirement was nothing but an indicator of a re-orientation in the US space program. Towards private companies working on government contracts and actual NASA concentrating on BEO exploration.
Yes, the Shuttle retirement shows something. But it's not the cause.
In this case the delayed MLM is also just a symptom of the Russian Space Program lacking funding, quality and proper professional work.
@topic: I wonder what ESA thinks about having their "new" robotic arm lying around for years because the Russians can't get their stuff together. I think there would be a lot of interest in the agency but also in the industry to finally see that thing in action...
N_Molson
Addon Developer
Russia Mulls Development of New Super-Heavy Carrier Rocket
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.
“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.
MOSCOW, October 25 (RIA Novosti)
Photo Anataloy Zak; http://www.russianspaceweb.com/
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.
“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.
MOSCOW, October 25 (RIA Novosti)
Photo Anataloy Zak; http://www.russianspaceweb.com/
Huge spy satellite platforms are Buran models now? Really? I mean it was built as a Mir module. It was shaped like a fuel tank. That's not really a Buran mockup.
PeterRoss
Our friendly neighborhood Putinist
Well, since it failed in its main role, it served as a Buran mockup at least - I mean as a mockup of Some Big Thing. :lol:
N_Molson
Addon Developer
Energia revival for good ?
Russia starts ambitious super-heavy space rocket project
On the 25th anniversary of the historic flight of the Soviet space shuttle Buran, Russia's Roscosmos space agency has formed a working group to prepare "within weeks" a roadmap for the revival of the Energia super-heavy booster rocket.
The group led by Oleg Ostapenko, the new head of Roscosmos Federal Space Agency, is set to draw up proposals on the design of a super-heavy launch vehicle capable of delivering up to 100 tonnes of payload to the baseline orbit, former Soviet minister of general machine building, Oleg Baklanov, said on Friday.
"You have assumed the responsibility and dared to head the group, which is supposed to find an answer to the question how we can regain the position we demonstrated to the world with the launch of a 100-tonne spacecraft [Buran in 1988] within a few weeks," the ex-minister told Ostapenko at the event dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the flight of the Buran shuttle spacecraft.
The new carrier rocket Angara is set to become the base for the ambitious project that could bring Russia back to its heyday of space exploration. It could be launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome which is now being constructed in Russia's Far East, and will replace Kazakhstan's Baikonur as Russia's main launchpad.
The 1988 launch of the Energia super-heavy rocket carrying the Buran space shuttle proved the rocket was capable of delivering 100 tonnes into orbit. That was five times more than the Proton-M rocket with a 20-tonne payload, thus making it the most powerful Soviet/Russian booster rocket ever developed.
As the International Space Station is scheduled to be taken out of service around 2020, ex-minister Baklanov explained that such a powerful rocket would allow the construction of a new orbital station "larger in its weight and dimensions." Also, a booster similar to the Soviet Energia would be indispensable for "exploring outer space in a wise manner, working in shifts on Mars, the Moon and so on," he added.
At the same media conference, president of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation Vitaly Lopota announced that Russia will soon need super-heavy rockets to create a shield against possible future space weapons - which means deploying into orbit massive communications satellites and electronic warfare platforms.
'Nothing better has been created'
On the 25th anniversary of the Buran flight, Ostapenko acknowledged that the Soviet Union's achievements in space exploration remain an example for today's research.
"Human ingenuity created the Energia-Buran system 25 years ago," Ostapenko told the audience. "I am confident that events comparable by their scale are in store for us," he said.
In his speech, ex-minister Baklanov claimed that "nothing new has been designed" in the 25 years which have passed since the creation of the Energia-Buran system. He warned that "a point of no return is very close," and said there are only years left to recuperate the space industry to the previous level and keep the groundwork.
"We have a colossal amount of work to do," Ostapenko said, pointing out that only the experience of previous generations of scientists could ensure success.
"Our country has got huge potential; all we need to do is let the experienced professionals do their job the best way to ensure their self-actualization. I know we can do it. We've got strong support from the government, we've got thorough understanding of the tasks lying ahead," Ostapenko said.
Comparable to the US Space Shuttle, Buran completed only one unmanned spaceflight in 1988, as the Buran program was scrapped in 1993 following the collapse of the Soviet Union and lack of funding.
Soviet shuttle ahead of its time :
The Soviet Union's Energia/Buran exceeded the American space shuttle program by practically all capabilities, according to a report prepared by experts of the All-Russian Research Institute of Aviation Materials. The analysis is dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Buran's only performed launch into space.
Buran could stay in orbit for 30 days, while the American shuttle had a 15-day time limit. It could deliver into orbit 30 tonnes of cargo, compared to the US shuttle's 24 tonnes of cargo. It could carry a crew of 10 cosmonauts, while the American shuttle could carry seven astronauts. Preparation for the Energia/Buran launch at Baikonur Cosmodrome only took 15 days. However, it took one month of preparations before the US shuttle was launched from Cape Canaveral.
The Energia rocket booster could be used to launch various payloads into orbit, whereas the American shuttle's booster was one-task. A year and a half before the Buran launch, Energia was launched with a full-scale mock-up of the Skif-DM orbital combat laser platform weighing 77 tonnes, measuring 37 meters long, and over four meters in diameter. Though the mock-up failed to reach the desired orbit and fell into the Pacific, the Energia booster did its job fine, delivering the huge space platform into intermediate orbit, 110 kilometers above the earth's surface.
But the most important difference from the American model was that the Soviet spaceship could perform the flight and landing in totally automatic mode, which it brilliantly demonstrated on November 15, 1988.
Buran's American counterpart used to land with switched-off engines, meaning it could make only one landing attempt. The Soviet spacecraft could take several tries if needed.
When Buran approached Baikonur Cosmodrome and started landing in 1988, its sensors registered too strong side winds and the robotic system sent the huge machine for another rectangular traffic pattern approach, successfully landing the spacecraft on a second try.
The Buran shuttle was designed to perform 100 flights to space, while its engines were ready to do 66 flights without replacement. During its flight, it lost just eight of its unique thermal-insulation tiles out of 38,800.
The Energia/Buran program, which cost 16.5 billion Soviet rubles, lasted 18 years and united over 1,200 industrial sites throughout the Soviet Union.
Thirty-nine principally new materials and around 230 absolutely new technologies were developed during Buran's creation. Most of them are actively used in Russia's aeronautical and space industries today.
Source: Voice of Russia http://voiceofrussia.com/
Russia starts ambitious super-heavy space rocket project
On the 25th anniversary of the historic flight of the Soviet space shuttle Buran, Russia's Roscosmos space agency has formed a working group to prepare "within weeks" a roadmap for the revival of the Energia super-heavy booster rocket.
The group led by Oleg Ostapenko, the new head of Roscosmos Federal Space Agency, is set to draw up proposals on the design of a super-heavy launch vehicle capable of delivering up to 100 tonnes of payload to the baseline orbit, former Soviet minister of general machine building, Oleg Baklanov, said on Friday.
"You have assumed the responsibility and dared to head the group, which is supposed to find an answer to the question how we can regain the position we demonstrated to the world with the launch of a 100-tonne spacecraft [Buran in 1988] within a few weeks," the ex-minister told Ostapenko at the event dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the flight of the Buran shuttle spacecraft.
The new carrier rocket Angara is set to become the base for the ambitious project that could bring Russia back to its heyday of space exploration. It could be launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome which is now being constructed in Russia's Far East, and will replace Kazakhstan's Baikonur as Russia's main launchpad.
The 1988 launch of the Energia super-heavy rocket carrying the Buran space shuttle proved the rocket was capable of delivering 100 tonnes into orbit. That was five times more than the Proton-M rocket with a 20-tonne payload, thus making it the most powerful Soviet/Russian booster rocket ever developed.
As the International Space Station is scheduled to be taken out of service around 2020, ex-minister Baklanov explained that such a powerful rocket would allow the construction of a new orbital station "larger in its weight and dimensions." Also, a booster similar to the Soviet Energia would be indispensable for "exploring outer space in a wise manner, working in shifts on Mars, the Moon and so on," he added.
At the same media conference, president of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation Vitaly Lopota announced that Russia will soon need super-heavy rockets to create a shield against possible future space weapons - which means deploying into orbit massive communications satellites and electronic warfare platforms.
'Nothing better has been created'
On the 25th anniversary of the Buran flight, Ostapenko acknowledged that the Soviet Union's achievements in space exploration remain an example for today's research.
"Human ingenuity created the Energia-Buran system 25 years ago," Ostapenko told the audience. "I am confident that events comparable by their scale are in store for us," he said.
In his speech, ex-minister Baklanov claimed that "nothing new has been designed" in the 25 years which have passed since the creation of the Energia-Buran system. He warned that "a point of no return is very close," and said there are only years left to recuperate the space industry to the previous level and keep the groundwork.
"We have a colossal amount of work to do," Ostapenko said, pointing out that only the experience of previous generations of scientists could ensure success.
"Our country has got huge potential; all we need to do is let the experienced professionals do their job the best way to ensure their self-actualization. I know we can do it. We've got strong support from the government, we've got thorough understanding of the tasks lying ahead," Ostapenko said.
Comparable to the US Space Shuttle, Buran completed only one unmanned spaceflight in 1988, as the Buran program was scrapped in 1993 following the collapse of the Soviet Union and lack of funding.
Soviet shuttle ahead of its time :
The Soviet Union's Energia/Buran exceeded the American space shuttle program by practically all capabilities, according to a report prepared by experts of the All-Russian Research Institute of Aviation Materials. The analysis is dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Buran's only performed launch into space.
Buran could stay in orbit for 30 days, while the American shuttle had a 15-day time limit. It could deliver into orbit 30 tonnes of cargo, compared to the US shuttle's 24 tonnes of cargo. It could carry a crew of 10 cosmonauts, while the American shuttle could carry seven astronauts. Preparation for the Energia/Buran launch at Baikonur Cosmodrome only took 15 days. However, it took one month of preparations before the US shuttle was launched from Cape Canaveral.
The Energia rocket booster could be used to launch various payloads into orbit, whereas the American shuttle's booster was one-task. A year and a half before the Buran launch, Energia was launched with a full-scale mock-up of the Skif-DM orbital combat laser platform weighing 77 tonnes, measuring 37 meters long, and over four meters in diameter. Though the mock-up failed to reach the desired orbit and fell into the Pacific, the Energia booster did its job fine, delivering the huge space platform into intermediate orbit, 110 kilometers above the earth's surface.
But the most important difference from the American model was that the Soviet spaceship could perform the flight and landing in totally automatic mode, which it brilliantly demonstrated on November 15, 1988.
Buran's American counterpart used to land with switched-off engines, meaning it could make only one landing attempt. The Soviet spacecraft could take several tries if needed.
When Buran approached Baikonur Cosmodrome and started landing in 1988, its sensors registered too strong side winds and the robotic system sent the huge machine for another rectangular traffic pattern approach, successfully landing the spacecraft on a second try.
The Buran shuttle was designed to perform 100 flights to space, while its engines were ready to do 66 flights without replacement. During its flight, it lost just eight of its unique thermal-insulation tiles out of 38,800.
The Energia/Buran program, which cost 16.5 billion Soviet rubles, lasted 18 years and united over 1,200 industrial sites throughout the Soviet Union.
Thirty-nine principally new materials and around 230 absolutely new technologies were developed during Buran's creation. Most of them are actively used in Russia's aeronautical and space industries today.
Source: Voice of Russia http://voiceofrussia.com/
orb
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Space Daily: Russia's Space Program Lacks Private Investment
N_Molson
Addon Developer
Beware, Roscosmos is discovering PRs ! 
Still, I was hoping some Energia-inspired heavy lifter or even Angara, "preparing the future" with the R-7 only is a bit short :hmm:
BTW, I love the music and the "old school" jet training with full analog panel
---------- Post added 11-28-13 at 04:54 PM ---------- Previous post was 11-27-13 at 10:29 PM ----------
And that's not over ! Fear SAR-401 ! That tough guy is probably going to confront Robonaut at the ISS ! I want to see a robotical-wrestling-match in 0g, that would be fun !! :lol:
Still, I was hoping some Energia-inspired heavy lifter or even Angara, "preparing the future" with the R-7 only is a bit short :hmm:
BTW, I love the music and the "old school" jet training with full analog panel
---------- Post added 11-28-13 at 04:54 PM ---------- Previous post was 11-27-13 at 10:29 PM ----------
And that's not over ! Fear SAR-401 ! That tough guy is probably going to confront Robonaut at the ISS ! I want to see a robotical-wrestling-match in 0g, that would be fun !! :lol:
http://en.ria.ru/video/20131128/185100173/Robot-Cosmonaut-Shows-Off-Skills-in-Space.html
Last edited:
orb
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An URL from "youtu.be" isn't a valid automatically embeddable video. You need a "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDtAX6iIqwE" URL, or otherwise [youtube=Роскосмос]YDtAX6iIqwE[youtube] bbcode.
orb
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That's because the parser doesn't like the secure protocol links, either (https).
And that's because the title isn't treated by the parser as UTF-8 encoded text, but as ISO 8859-1. It's fixable by copying the title from the YouTube page and pasting it in place of the messy symbols in the post.
N_Molson
Addon Developer
Kazakhstan to end Proton missions in 2025
Kazakhstan to end Proton missions in 2025 : Kazakhstan would gradually reduce Proton carrier rocket launches from Baikonur space port and end them in 2025, an official with the national space agency (Kazcosmos) said Wednesday.
Kazcosmos Deputy Chairman Meirbek Moldabekov said Kazakhstan had signed an agreement with Russia on the reduction.
The Proton family of rockets was developed in the 1960s and first launched in 1965.
The current model, the Proton-M heavy launch vehicle, was designed to deliver satellites and automatic spacecraft to a near-Earth orbit and outer space. It uses toxic heptyl and nitric oxide and is therefore criticized by environmentalists.
The Proton series would eventually be replaced by a new launch vehicle known as the Zenit LV, which was under an upgrade program which would last until 2018, the official said.
But this did not mean the end of Proton launches in 2018, as the Zenit needed to "learn to fly," he said.
According to Moldabekov, Proton is Baikonur space port's "workhorse," and the port will be useless if Proton operations shut down.
Baikonur is the world's first and largest operational space facility. It launched the first manned spacecraft and the first satellites in history.
It now undertakes all of Russia's manned space missions, and is leased to Moscow by the Kazakh government until 2050 for an annual fee of 115 million U.S. dollars.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Kazakhstan to end Proton missions in 2025 : Kazakhstan would gradually reduce Proton carrier rocket launches from Baikonur space port and end them in 2025, an official with the national space agency (Kazcosmos) said Wednesday.
Kazcosmos Deputy Chairman Meirbek Moldabekov said Kazakhstan had signed an agreement with Russia on the reduction.
The Proton family of rockets was developed in the 1960s and first launched in 1965.
The current model, the Proton-M heavy launch vehicle, was designed to deliver satellites and automatic spacecraft to a near-Earth orbit and outer space. It uses toxic heptyl and nitric oxide and is therefore criticized by environmentalists.
The Proton series would eventually be replaced by a new launch vehicle known as the Zenit LV, which was under an upgrade program which would last until 2018, the official said.
But this did not mean the end of Proton launches in 2018, as the Zenit needed to "learn to fly," he said.
According to Moldabekov, Proton is Baikonur space port's "workhorse," and the port will be useless if Proton operations shut down.
Baikonur is the world's first and largest operational space facility. It launched the first manned spacecraft and the first satellites in history.
It now undertakes all of Russia's manned space missions, and is leased to Moscow by the Kazakh government until 2050 for an annual fee of 115 million U.S. dollars.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Urwumpe
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An upgraded Zenit to replace Proton... didn't know that they work on improving it, I thought Angara is now the Zenit replacement project, since it uses a lot of its hardware.
N_Molson
Addon Developer
I think that the plan is to replace Proton by Zenit at Baikonur (because the Kazakhs are getting fed up will all those chemical spilled on their plains), then use Angara from Plestesk and the yet to be finished "Vostonchy" (sorry, still have trouble with that one) spaceport. The first Angara launch should occur next summer from Plestesk.
Of course I'm a bit sceptical on what will really be done, but that sure would make no sense to build new Angara launchpads at Baikonur, which is supposed to be closed by 2050.
---------- Post added 12-11-13 at 05:55 PM ---------- Previous post was 12-10-13 at 07:04 PM ----------
Vostochny spaceport : "There can be no failures to meet the time constraints"
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said the construction of the Vostochny spaceport will start running according to schedule by yearend.
The issue was raised by First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Industry under the State Duma lower house of Russia's parliament Vladimir Gutenev. He drew the attention to the underfunding of the federal space program in the period from 2006 through 2015, which reached 12.5 billion rubles [1].
"Recalculation of the cost of the Vostochny spaceport found that the facility needed an extra 11.1 billion rubles [2]. "Isn't this underfunding threatening the Vostochny construction deadline and implementation of the presidential decree?" Gutenev asked Rogozin at the Government Hour question and answer session.
"We did have problems," Rogozin acknowledged. "We began to fail the deadlines for the construction of the key facilities, such as the launch pad for the Soyuz-2 booster, in August. These works should be completed by the end of 2014, in order to be able to carry out the first launch by 2015. We're now ten days behind schedule, and this lag will be fully eliminated by the New Year; we're monitoring it."
"Vostochny's funding is envisioned in the draft federal budget for 2014. We'll announce these figures at the State Duma next year. Together with Roskosmos, we decided to only allocate the funds necessary for design documents to build the first and second phase," the deputy prime minister went on. "The second phase is the construction of the launch pad for the Angara heavy booster, to be used in a manned flight in 2018."
Rogozin told lawmakers that the leadership of the Roskosmos aerospace company had been fired for failing the Vostochny spaceport construction deadlines.
"The Vostochny spaceport for us is the only guaranteed opportunity for unhindered access to outer space and solution of all civil and defense tasks. There can be no failures to meet the time constraints here," he said.
MOSCOW, December 11. /ITAR-TASS
[1] 381,425,000 USD
[2] 338,705,400 USD
Of course I'm a bit sceptical on what will really be done, but that sure would make no sense to build new Angara launchpads at Baikonur, which is supposed to be closed by 2050.
---------- Post added 12-11-13 at 05:55 PM ---------- Previous post was 12-10-13 at 07:04 PM ----------
Vostochny spaceport : "There can be no failures to meet the time constraints"
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said the construction of the Vostochny spaceport will start running according to schedule by yearend.
The issue was raised by First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Industry under the State Duma lower house of Russia's parliament Vladimir Gutenev. He drew the attention to the underfunding of the federal space program in the period from 2006 through 2015, which reached 12.5 billion rubles [1].
"Recalculation of the cost of the Vostochny spaceport found that the facility needed an extra 11.1 billion rubles [2]. "Isn't this underfunding threatening the Vostochny construction deadline and implementation of the presidential decree?" Gutenev asked Rogozin at the Government Hour question and answer session.
"We did have problems," Rogozin acknowledged. "We began to fail the deadlines for the construction of the key facilities, such as the launch pad for the Soyuz-2 booster, in August. These works should be completed by the end of 2014, in order to be able to carry out the first launch by 2015. We're now ten days behind schedule, and this lag will be fully eliminated by the New Year; we're monitoring it."
"Vostochny's funding is envisioned in the draft federal budget for 2014. We'll announce these figures at the State Duma next year. Together with Roskosmos, we decided to only allocate the funds necessary for design documents to build the first and second phase," the deputy prime minister went on. "The second phase is the construction of the launch pad for the Angara heavy booster, to be used in a manned flight in 2018."
Rogozin told lawmakers that the leadership of the Roskosmos aerospace company had been fired for failing the Vostochny spaceport construction deadlines.
"The Vostochny spaceport for us is the only guaranteed opportunity for unhindered access to outer space and solution of all civil and defense tasks. There can be no failures to meet the time constraints here," he said.
MOSCOW, December 11. /ITAR-TASS
[1] 381,425,000 USD
[2] 338,705,400 USD
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