News Roscosmos News

[SiberianTiger]

http://u7a.ru/articles/society/2445

In Bashkortostan, a lawsuit for three billion rubles may ground Russian rockets

September 6

On September 12th, The Federal Arbitration Court of the Ural region to consider the claim of Rosprirodnadzor (Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage) to JSC "Gazprom Salavat Petrochemical". The Federal Space Agency is invited to participate in the meeting of appeal as a third party. In view of the forthcoming meeting today, RIA Novosti hosted an online conference at the press center.

Claims against the country's only manufacturer of Unsymmetrical DiMethyl Hydrazine space fuel JSC "Gazprom Salavat Petrochemical" arose in connection with the activities of a specialized site, "Kama-1" where toxic waste is pumped into an isolated undergound aquifer horizon. Customers of the unique products are the Ministry of Defense and the Federal Space Agency.

For every launch we get single dose of propellants for fueling our launch vehicles. There is no stock, which would be designed for space activities, as it is not possible to have one at the launch site. So stopping the company's output will immediately stop the coming launches of vehicles that run on this fuel - said during the online conference Head of Roscosmos' "Center for operating ground space infrastructure" (TSENKI) Vladimir Rogulin.

According to acting Deputy General Director for Corporate Governance and Legal Issues of JSC "Gazprom Salavat Petrochemical" Pavel Alyushkin, punitive fees to Rosprirodnadzor in the amount of more than 3 billion rubles really threaten the company's plans to modernize the chemical industry and its very existence. He noted that "this amount is calculated by Rosprirodnadzor based on the amount of placement of liquid wastes and their hazard classes. At the same time, class of hazardous waste has not been confirmed by the Office in accordance with the law. We have repeatedly called for the establishment of Rostekhnadzor's (Russian Federal Environmental, Engineering & Nuclear Supervision Agency) hazard class, but have not still received an evidence of the class of danger for the waste."

In addition, the satisfaction of Rosprirodnadzor will significantly increase in the cost of UDMH and increase the cost of launches. According to the head of the environmental safety dept of Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Center for operation of ground space infrastructure" Andrei Kondratyev, "as applied to the space sector, these measures will not improve the environmental situation, but rather disrupt implementation of the federal space program."

Meanwhile, the placement of waste in underground holds is considered most environmentally friendly as of today.

Adopting of new production technology for UDMH without dumping of toxic waste is problematic and impractical - Kondratyev said.

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: Investigators Find Financial Irregularities and Misuse of Funds at Roscosmos:

Billions worth of 'space junk' blamed on misspending

​

Investigators examining a string of launch failures by Roscosmos have identified a “major list of financial irregularities and a misuse of budgetary funds” at the Russian space agency. Investigators believe that the financial issues have contributed to the loss of four rockets and six satellites over the past nine months. Law enforcement authorities have now become involved in the investigation.

This is intriguing. Although Roscosmos is a civilian agency, it is closely tied in with the nation’s defense sector, which is notoriously currupt. Back in May, Reuters reported:

A fifth of Russia’s state defence spending is stolen every year by corrupt officials, dishonest generals and crooked contractors, Russia’s chief military prosecutor said in an interview published on Tuesday.

President Dmitry Medvedev says endemic corruption is holding back Russia’s development, but anti-bribery groups say the problem has become worse since Medvedev was steered into the Kremlin by his mentor Vladimir Putin in 2008.

“Huge money is being stolen – practically every fifth rouble and the troops are still getting poor quality equipment and arms,” chief military prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky told Russia’s official gazette, Rossiiskaya Gazeta. “Every year more and more money is set aside for defence but the successes are not great,” he said, adding that kickbacks and fictitious contracts were being used to defraud the state.​

It will be interesting to see what the investigation of Roscosmos reveals — and how much of the results will be publicized. The news report above is strangely short of specifics — a trait all too common in Russian media coverage of sensitive subjects.

 

[SiberianTiger]

This is better understood in context of GOZ (Gosoboronzakaz, Russian Defence Procurement and Acquisition) debate, which is taking place for months.

Nice summary of it is found by the relevant tag on russiandefencepolicy.com:
http://russiandefpolicy.wordpress.com/tag/goz/

June 17th:

It’s obvious that if the Gosoboronzakaz isn’t formed in the first half of the year, then nothing will be accomplished in the remaining part of the time since money will only begin coming in at the end of the year. Serdyukov acknowledged that today 13.4% of all contracts in the plan have been formed. Some time ago, Sergey Ivanov gave us other numbers. But I think that this number juggling was caused by competition between the Defense Minister and the Military-Industrial Commission. Ivanov lumps all the blame on the Defense Ministry, Serdyukov – on the defense-industrial complex. He even began his [Duma] speech with this, saying that the military-industrial complex is guilty of everything. They have poor qualifications, technology losses, poor production and so forth. But really at a minimum the Defense Ministry itself bears 50% percent of the responsibility for such a situation.

Summarizing his discussion of submarines with OSK, RIA Novosti reports, Defense Minister Serdyukov said:

“They are giving us an increase in prices on new orders, and, naturally, we don’t agree with this.”

But, he added he’s convinced the Defense Ministry will persuade the producer to lower its prices.

August 28th:

To review this week . . . Prime Minister Putin’s current deadline for completing GOZ contracts is August 31, but it’s unlikely to be met, even by loyal Deputy PM and OSK Board Chairman Igor Sechin. Deputy Finance Minister Siluanov said Defense Ministry contracts are being made on credits and government-backed financing rather than cash. Putin said the price tag for GOZ-2011 is 750 billion rubles, but 30 percent of projected procurement still isn’t covered by contracts as the final third of the year begins.

President Dmitriy Medvedev responded by calling Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov on the carpet. According to RIA Novosti, he told him:

“Sort out the situation. If there’s information that the state defense order is broken, it’s true, organizational conclusions are needed in connection with those who are responsible for this, regardless of position or rank.”

“If the situation is otherwise, we need to look into those who are sowing panic. You know how according to law in wartime they dealt with panickers — they shot them. I’m allowing you to dismiss them, do you hear me?”

September 1st:

President Medvedev announced today former KGB and FSB officer Aleksandr Sukhorukov, most recently Director of the Federal Service for the Defense Order (Rosoboronzakaz), will be First Deputy Minister of Defense.

RIA Novosti elaborated:

“Last night, RF Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s deadline for concluding all Gosoboronzakaz-2011 contracts expired. On Thursday, the media reported that this task was not completed.”

Sukhorukov takes the post vacated by Vladimir Popovkin, who took over the Russian space agency Roskosmos.

my sidenote: it seems like Popovkin's assignment was a bit like punishment for a failure to meet his goals at his past position.

September 6th:

In the Defense Ministry in recent years, three basic methods of calculating the cost of a product have been introduced, but not one of them factors in the substantive part of the work. They are all built on the principle: I have a certain amount of money, I want to give you this much of it. But putting it to concrete use no longer interests anyone. And it turns out that the methods of calculating prices in the Defense Ministry and in VPK enterprises are different. The people speak different languages .

Here not long ago the Defense Minister got indignant, for example, that shipbuilders [Sevmash] had become so brazen that they also put the cost of kindergartens and other “social benefits” into the price of a missile-carrier [SSBN].”

“I’m not a taxman, evidently, since I don’t understand: but where can they put it? Let’s take Severodvinsk here. It is completely dependent on “Sevmashpredpriyatiye.” Like it or not, the kindergartens, schools, hospitals, clinics, housing – the factory has to maintain all of it. And, naturally, they put the upkeep into their production cost. How can it be otherwise? If there aren’t kindergartens – there aren’t missile-carriers.”

Several defense NII and factory directors, undoubtedly following the example of MIT General Designer Yuriy Solomonov, have already even stopped ‘fearing’ to publicize their disagreements with the Defense Ministry in front of journalists.

September 7th:

Prime Minister Putin reported on the Defense Ministry’s failure to conclude all its GOZ contracts by his most recent September 1 deadline. Putin said, despite Defense Minister Serdyukov’s assurances that only OSK contracts need to be finished, agreements with MIT and OAK are still not finalized.

Putin told the United Russia audience:

We’ve generally never allocated such money, well, in Soviet times, when they threw everything at the defense sector, there were comparable figures, but in recent history never, — 20 trillion to 2020.
...
But we don’t need to absorb these billions and trillions, we need to provide items quantitatively and qualitatively.
...
At the same time, of course, the profitability of enterprises should also be guaranteed. The obvious fact is a minimum of 15 percent. It’s necessary to get this profitability so there are resources for development, for worthy wages for the workers. I hope that soon, in the course of a week, this process will be concluded in shipbuilding, in missiles, and in aviation.

With time, this is getting more and more stiffening like Naples Garbage crisis:

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Russia may launch its first Earth remote sensing satellite in 2012:

ARKHANGELSK (Russia), September 22 (RIA Novosti)

Russia’s first Earth remote sensing satellite, the Kondor, may be launched in January 2012, a space official said on Thursday.

“We are developing Kondor and Arkon [satellites],” deputy head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos Anatoly Shilov said. “Arkon is a distant future, but Kondor will hopefully fly in January.”

The Kondor is an 800 kg Earth remote-sensing spacecraft designed to provide high-resolution radar imagery and terrain mapping in real-time. It will be launched as part of the so-called Arktika Earth observation satellite grouping.

“As a rule, 90% of the time the Arctic region is covered with clouds or remains in darkness due to long polar night season. In such conditions these satellites are indispensible,” Shilov said.

The official added that Russia was planning to launch in 2012 two Earth optical observation satellites - the Resurs-P and the Canopus-B - to provide precision monitoring of natural and man-made disasters, particularly wildfires and environmental pollution.

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: Russian Space Forces Chief Discusses Launch Schedule, Angara Development:

On Tuesday, Russia marked the 54th anniversary of the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik, by celebrating Space Forces Day. While a Roscosmos delegation was in Cape Town, South Africa for the 62nd International Astronautical Congress, the commander of Russian Space Forces, Lt. Gen. Oleg Ostapenko, outlined the nation’s launch plans to reporters in Moscow.

“About 14 launches will be carried out from the Plesetsk and Baikonur space centers” by the end of the year, Ostapenko told reporters. The launches will include scheduled satellite launches as well as tests of new ballistic missiles.

Russia is recovering from five launch failures over the past 10 months. The Proton and Soyuz boosters have both returned to flight over the past week. A Soyuz failure in August has thrown off the schedule for astronaut rotations aboard the International Space Station.

Ostapenko said that flights of the Rockot booster would resume in the near future now that the cause of a Feb. 1 launch failure has been identified. A commission has determined that a loss of radio contact stranded the Geo-IK-2 military satellite in a useless orbit.

The Russian Space Forces commander said that the debut of the long-delayed Angara rocket would take place from Plesetsk during the second half of 2013. Ostapenko said the ground preparations are on schedule and denied any delays in the program.

In July, Vladimir Nesterov, general director of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, predicted that the inaugural flight would take place in the first half of 2013. Khrunichev is building the Angara rocket family.

The first test launch would be of an Angara 1.2 rocket, which can lift 3.7 metric tons into low Earth orbit (LEO). If successful, the flight was to have been followed by a flight of the heavier Angara 5 rocket in the second half of the year, Nesterov said. The Angara 5 can lift between 18-28.5 metric tons to LEO depending upon which version is used.

Angara is a modular family of rockets designed to replace several existing boosters. The largest, Angara 7, will be able to send a payload of 40.5 metric tons to LEO. The first Angara was supposed to fly by the mid-2000s, but the program has suffered numerous delays due to funding and other issues.

In related news, Interfax reports that the construction of the Baiterek launch complex at Baikonur Cosmodrome is running 18 months behind schedule due to a suspension of financing by the Development Bank of Kazakhstan. The news agency quotes a Roscosmos statement that was circulated during a gathering of regional space agencies last week.

Efforts are underway to get the project back on track, although there are no details on precisely what is being done.

 

[orb]

RIA Novosti: Russia puts new Rus-M carrier rocket project on hold:

MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti)

The Russian space agency has dropped plans to construct a new Rus-M carrier rocket by 2015, Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin said on Friday.

"We have come to the conclusion that we do not need a new rocket, we can continue using those we already have," Popovkin said.

The two-stage Rus-M, intended to replace Russia's ageing Soyuz carrier rockets, was being developed by the Energia space corporation, which had already received 800 million rubles (more than $24.8 million) of budget funds for the project.

The carrier rocket was intended to launch new-generation spacecraft from the Vostochny space center currently under construction in the country's Far East starting from 2018.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in April the launch vehicle, whose draft model was first presented at the MAKS 2009 air show in Moscow, was scheduled to be developed by 2015.

The carrier rocket has faced strict safety requirements so that it could guarantee a takeoff or ensure a continuous flight or an ejection with a safe landing even with one of its engines out of action.

{...}

 

[SiberianTiger]

This sucks incredibly. :thumbsdown:

Russia isn't producing civil airliners anymore, soon it stops making any civil space hardware.

 

[N_Molson]

Sadly, since the ACTS project was indefinitely postponed, this was expectable.

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: Roscosmos to Restructure Khrunichev, Replace Management:

The reorganization of the Russian space industry continued on Friday as Roscosmos Head Vladimir Popovkin announced plans to create of a new rocket building holding organization and to replace the management of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center.

Roscosmos Head Vladimir Popovkin announced the plan in remarks before the State Duma, according to Interfax. The report doesn’t say why the move is being made, but it appears to be an attempt by the Russian space agency to tighten control over the industry.

Khrunichev produces the Proton and Rockot launch vehicles as well as the Briz (Breeze) upper stage. The company is also developing the Angara rocket, a family of boosters designed to loft light to heavy payloads that will replace several existing launch vehicles.

The move will affect the rocket company and its subsidiaries. During the 2000′s, Khrunichev absorbed a number of its key suppliers as part of effort to vertically integrate the nation’s space industry. According to Wikipedia, those companies included:

• PO Polyot, a rocket manufacturer located in Omsk
• Proton-PM, an engine maker located in Perm
• Voronezh Mechanical Plant, which manufactures engines for Proton Stages II and III, Soyuz Stage III and Zenit upper stage.
• KBKhM, manufacturer of propulsion systems for the Breeze upper stage
• KBKhA, a contractor for production and design issues.

Khrunichev is the majority shareholder in International Launch Services, a Virginia-based company that markets Proton launches globally. The Eurockot GmBH joint venture handles international marketing for the Rockot booster, which is a converted ballistic missile that launches small spacecraft.

The Proton is a major player in the international launch market, bringing in about $4.3 billion in revenues since 1994. This year, that told was expected to increase to $6 billion.

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: Russia Reprioritizes Space Program:

Last week, Roscosmos Head Vladimir Popovkin laid out his plan to shift the focus of Russia’s space program away from human spaceflight toward a more balanced effort that also emphasized Earth observation, communications and planetary exploration. The moves also included tightening state control over a key Russian rocket builder.

The most dramatic move is the cancellation of Russia’s large Rus-M rocket, which Energia was building to replace the venerable Soyuz booster. Rus-M was intended to carry the nation’s new six-person crew vehicle from the Vostochny spaceport. However, the effort was widely rumored to be running badly behind schedule and unlikely to meet deadlines of an initial test flight in 2015 and human flights in 2018.

Rather than develop a brand new vehicle built from scratch, Roscosmos has instead elected to replace the Soyuz with…well, itself. Or at least a souped version with new first engines and larger strap on boosters. Under the upgrade effort, known as Yamal, the first stage would use RD-191 or NK-33 engines. A modified version of the NK-33, which was originally developed for the Soviet lunar program, is being used on Orbital Sciences Corporation’s new Taurus II rocket.

One benefits of this approach is that the Yamal boosters can use existing launch facilities. A key problem with the long-delayed Angara rocket has been delays in constructing launch complexes at Plesetsk and Baikonur. The Plesetsk launch pad is currently set to be operational in the second half of 2013. The Baikonur complex is currently scheduled for completion in 2014, although it might never be completed.

The end of Rus-M will allow Popovkin, who has said that human spaceflight was taking up too much of Roscosmos’ budget, to shift the space agency’s focus to other areas. On Friday, he laid out a series of ambitious goals to lawmakers in the Russian Duma:

“By 2015, we are planning to increase the number of Earth observation satellites [in orbit] from five to 20, operational Glonass navigation satellites from 24 to 30, communications and Cospas-Sarsat satellites from 26 to 48,” Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin told Russian lawmakers on Friday.

Popovkin said Russia occupied only 3 percent of the commercial services segment of the global space market while conducting 40 percent of global space launches annually.

“Therefore, we have reviewed priorities of the federal space program. One of our new priorities is Earth monitoring, weather and communication satellites. Another priority is space science,” he said.​

Russia is in the midst of a revival of its space science and planetary exploration programs, which all but collapsed after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Earlier this year, the nation launched an astrophysics observatory. In November, the nation will launch its first mission to Mars in 15 years. The ambitious Phobos-Grunt mission is designed to explore the Martian moon and to return soil samples to Earth.

Popovkin also announced plans on Friday to create of a new rocket building holding organization at the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and to replace the organization’s management. The report doesn’t say why the move is being made, but it appears to be an attempt by the Russian space agency to tighten control over the industry.

{...}

 

[SiberianTiger]

Well, a light ACTS (14 tonnes) can go on an R-7 on steroids (Cryogenic upper stage, Nk-33 central core), but the heavy ("Lunar") ACTS (21 tonnes) would require some further evolution, like this in the middle - strap-ons are derived from Soyuz-1 with Nk-33 engines everywhere:

(link)

Although Khrunichev did already present a model of an ACTS sitting on top of Angara-5:

And couple of cryogenic upper stages marked "For use at Vostochny":

 

[N_Molson]

Yes, I was thinking to that, the Angara could be an adequate launcher, provided it proves to be reliable. Interesting ideas, I hope there will be developements soon. It is more than time for a first launch of that rocket (but no chances before 2013, I heard)...

 

[SiberianTiger]

Yes, I was thinking to that, the Angara could be an adequate launcher, provided it proves to be reliable. Interesting ideas, I hope there will be developements soon. It is more than time for a first launch of that rocket (but no chances before 2013, I heard)...

Still, launching of Soyuz 2-1V (AKA Soyuz-1) next year will be a real step ahead, because it's going to reconfirm flightworthiness of Nk-33. Or maybe Cygnus Demo on Taurus II, which is presently scheduled for May 11th.

By the way, here's a video of 1st Soyuz 2-1V tests in Samara (they are shaking the 1st stage to ensure readiness for railroad transportation):

^^ Some N1 footage is also interesting to watch.

 

[N_Molson]

Yes, good to see that the technology developped for the N-1 is reused in various launchers today.

PS : Russian nomenclatura is still driving me mad :lol: There is the Soyuz-FG, the Soyuz 2.1b, now the Soyuz 2-1V... And Soyuz-1, for me it is Komarov's tragic flight ! You miss a hyphen and you're lost !

Edit : BTW, I completely missed the developpement of that Soyuz 2-1V. I like the idea of a significant upgrade of the R-7, while keeping the original design (and the possibility to keep the boosters or not).

 

[SiberianTiger]

Edit : BTW, I completely missed the developpement of that Soyuz 2-1V. I like the idea of a significant upgrade of the R-7, while keeping the original design (and the possibility to keep the boosters or not).

The main kicker about it is that it reuses a standard R-7 launch complex. With development of micro- and nano-sats, there's an expected demand for more lightweight launchers, and this one is going to occupy the niche which is currently held occupied by retired Soviet ICBMs (whose supply will eventually end).

Probably, this Soyuz 2-1V will be preferred to the light Angara (which is much more wanted in its heavy combination).

 

[Urwumpe]

When this engineer works there along the rocket, the first translation that came into my mind as small bubble in the video:

"Do you know what time it is? Time to unpimp the rocket!"

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

The main kicker about it is that it reuses a standard R-7 launch complex. With development of micro- and nano-sats, there's an expected demand for more lightweight launchers, and this one is going to occupy the niche which is currently held occupied by retired Soviet ICBMs (whose supply will eventually end).

Probably, this Soyuz 2-1V will be preferred to the light Angara (which is much more wanted in its heavy combination).

I wonder how much chance the Soyuz-2-3 (i.e. the Soyuz-2-1v + first stage boosters with upgraded engines) will fly sometime in the next 10 years... :hmm:

 

[SiberianTiger]

I wonder how much chance the Soyuz-2-3 (i.e. the Soyuz-2-1v + first stage boosters with upgraded engines) will fly sometime in the next 10 years... :hmm:

I'd say 50% sure, but it largely depends on things outside Roscosmos and its enterprises.

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: Russia Postpones Launch of Free Flying Experiments Module

 

[Wishbone]

Russia has delayed the planned 2015 launch of its OKA-T free-flying experiments module by two to three years due to a lack of experiments, the Xinhua news agency reports.

First the government strangles all research then it wonders where all the experiments have gone...