In mid-April this year, a relatively new heavy rocket, the Angara-A5, was launched into a test flight from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. She launched the Orion upper stage into orbit. As an additional payload, a small ultra-light spacecraft “Gagarinets” was launched into space. The rocket launched on the third attempt – on April 9 and 10, the launches were canceled automatically. “Angara” is intended to replace the Proton launch vehicle. It will be used in the construction of the Russian orbital station and will allow planning expeditions to the Moon and planets of the Solar System. True, domestic experts doubt this and they have compelling arguments. Old but competitive “Proton” “Proton” © hdpiclub.com “Proton” (UR-500, universal rocket “Proton-K”, “Proton-M”) – a heavy-class launch vehicle (LV), intended for automatic launch spacecraft into low-Earth orbit and further into outer space. Developed in 1961-1967 in the OKB-23 division (now the State Space Research and Production Center named after M.V. Khrunichev), which was part of OKB-52 V.N. The initial two-stage version of the Proton carrier (UR-500) became one of the first medium-heavy class carriers, and the three-stage Proton-K became one of the heavy ones. The Proton launch vehicle became the launch vehicle for all Soviet and Russian orbital stations Salyut-DOS and Almaz, modules of the Mir and ISS stations, planned manned spacecraft TKS and L-1/Zond (Soviet flight program to the Moon ), heavy satellites for various purposes. targets and interplanetary stations. Since the mid-2000s, the main modification of the Proton launch vehicle has been the Proton-M launch vehicle, used to launch both Russian and commercial foreign spacecraft (SC). It was thanks to Protons that Russia once controlled about 40% of the global launch services market. Rivals of Proton American launch vehicle Falcon-9 © SpaceX Currently in the world there are several heavy launch vehicles comparable in characteristics to the Proton-M launch vehicle. The main competitors of the Proton-M launch vehicle in terms of price and payload capacity are the American Falcon-9 launch vehicle, the European Ariane-5 heavy-class rocket of the Arianespas company and the international Sea Launch project with the Zenit medium rocket. . – heavy class launch vehicle. In addition, the American Atlas-5 and Delta-4 launch vehicles, as well as the Japanese H-IIB launch vehicle, can be considered competitors in terms of the mass of the payload put into orbit. However, the cost of the last three launch vehicles mentioned is significantly higher than the cost of the Proton-M launch vehicle, and therefore they do not actually compete with Proton in the commercial launch market. Another possible competitor is the Chinese Long March-3B medium-weight launch vehicle, but due to the American ban on the export of American high-tech products to China (International Traffic in Arms Regulations), this launch vehicle is currently used very little. Chinese Long March 3B rocket © nasaspaceflight.com Not all that glitters is gold The Proton launch vehicle is a fairly reliable rocket. From 1965 to the present, 426 launches have been carried out, of which only 27 were unsuccessful. True, Proton, like any rocket, has its drawbacks. This is, first of all, a toxic fuel – heptyl. In case of heptyl poisoning, a person may experience convulsions for many hours, loss of consciousness, pulmonary edema, and as a result, death occurs. In addition, when spent stages fall, fuel residues (in the case of Proton-K – more than two tons of heptyl) contaminate the soil at the fall site, which requires expensive cleanup measures. Besides pollution, this brings other problems. For example, the Kazakh side has more than once demanded monetary compensation in the tens of millions for soil and water pollution during the Proton accident and even a revision of the launch schedule. However, despite these shortcomings, Proton-M still surpasses many foreign launch vehicles in terms of payload mass in low reference orbit. Russian “Cheburashkas” “Angara” © Roscosmos “Angara” is a family of Russian unified launch vehicles with oxygen-kerosene engines, including carriers from light to heavy classes – in the payload range from 3.5 (“Angara-1.2”) to 38 tons (“Angara-A5V”), designed to launch various cargo into low-Earth orbit. The rocket was named after the Angara, a powerful Russian river through which large traffic flows pass. In addition, the place where the Plesetsk cosmodrome was created was previously called the “Angara facility”. Thirty-two years ago, on August 3, 1992, a competition was announced for the design and creation of a heavy-class rocket and space complex. RSC Energia took part in the competition. Academician S.P. Korolev, State Research and Production Space Center named after. M.V. Khrunichev and the State Scientific Center “KB named after. Academician V.P. Makeev”, who presented several launch vehicle options for consideration by a specially formed interdepartmental expert commission. In August 1994, the competition was won by the option proposed by the State Research and Production Space Center. M. V. Khrunicheva. The competition was won by Angara for quite reasonable reasons: in Plesetsk the launch of the Zenit launch vehicle was almost ready, into which Angara was installed with minimal modifications. But there was no money for large-scale construction. During development, the project involved the creation of a two-stage launch vehicle with a packed tank arrangement with sequential operation of stages using liquid oxygen as oxygen, kerosene as fuel in the first stage and liquid hydrogen in the second. The fuel tanks were located around the oxygen tanks. This scheme was unofficially called “Cheburashka” because the large gas tanks, visually located on the sides, resembled ears from the cartoon. Angara had other advantages. The rocket could be easily transported by rail; its low height simplified the design of pipelines and eliminated difficulties with damping longitudinal vibrations or intertank compartments. And the second stage was distinguished by the use of an oxygen-hydrogen fuel pair and the RD-0120 engine, which, apparently, after “Energia” they had not yet forgotten how to work. It was planned that Angara would be able to occupy almost the entire Russian space launch market, creating on its basis a single replacement for most existing types of launch vehicles created in the USSR. “Angara-A5” and “Angara-A7” will replace the Proton launch vehicle, “Angara-A3” will replace the “Zenit-2” launch vehicle, and “Angara-A1.2” will replace the “Cyclone-2/3”. “. “Angara-A1.1 launch vehicle” – Kosmos-3M launch vehicle. Russian long-term construction © Roscosmos In 1995, the Russian government issued a decree on the creation of a rocket with the first launch in 2005, but the project was buried due to a combination of factors. On the one hand, it was possible to more or less establish relations with Kazakhstan, Protons began making commercial launches, being very cheap on the international market, but there was still no money to develop a new rocket. In 2010, “due to financial problems,” the first launch was postponed to 2012. And then other launch delays began. And not at all because of a lack of funds, but because of the inefficiency of the space industry and banal theft. There were interruptions in the fulfillment of the tasks of the Federal Space Program. Only interstate obligations regarding the International Space Station were fulfilled without complications. The funds invested in the Angara project over two decades have increased the price of this not yet ready carrier many times over. According to the FKP, only in 2006–2015, the volume of funding for development work on the Angara amounted to 3288.1 million rubles, including from the federal budget in the amount of 2680 million (81.5%) and 608.1 million rubles. (18.5%). ). ) at the expense of funds invested in space activities by implementing organizations. In 2012, the head of the Federal Space Agency, who previously held the position of Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, V. A. Popovkin estimated the costs of developing Angara as follows: “After all, the same Angara cost us more than 160 billion rubles ($5.33 billion according to exchange rate of 30 rubles per dollar – Reedus Note). In 2013, 100 billion rubles were spent on the program. Only 6.6 billion rubles were spent on research and development work on the subject of “Angaras” for the re-equipment of the Moscow branch of Khrunichev. However, a few years later that branch was demolished, and the territory was given over to the construction of offices. The production of “Angara” was offered to Omsk. The process of transferring production began back in 2015 and lasted five years, while simultaneously extending the flight test program of the rocket. The first flight of Angara-A5 was carried out in December 2014, and the second one almost six years later, on December 14, 2020. At the same time, as the former general director and ex-designer of the Khrunichev Center Vladimir Nesterov said, the high cost of the Angara-A5 heavy rocket is explained by the waste of budget money and the inexpediency of production. Therefore, it is not surprising that in modern Russia it takes 20–30 years to develop rockets, spacecraft and orbital modules. “Angara-A5” was of great importance © Roscosmos Yes, Angara launches will be much cheaper than Delta IV Heavy launches, but in 2014–2020 it is twice as expensive as a Proton-M launch, which is natural, due to serial production. “Proton”. The cost of launch services for the Angara rocket is approaching $100 million, and for the Proton and Sokol-9 rockets – up to 50 million, said Sergei Kuznetsov, general designer of the Salyut project site of the Khrunichev Center. At the same time, the production cost of Angara-A5 is seven billion rubles, which is three times more than that of Proton-M, which it will replace. However, according to the official “X” (ex-Twitter, banned in the Russian Federation) of Roscosmos, after the transition from piece production to serial production, a copy will cost less than five billion rubles. This is a very competitive price for launching a heavy rocket. Is there an alternative to Angara? More likely no than yes. A return to Proton is impossible: there is only one launch complex for it at Baikonur, and the use of toxic fuel components is an excellent reason for Kazakhstan to ban missile launches if relations worsen. If all goes well with this rocket, it will be launched several times a year, launching government payloads – military communications Blagovest, GLONASS navigation, meteorological, communications and scientific instruments. If its production becomes cheaper and this makes the rocket at least somewhat competitive, then in addition to government fees, there may also be some commercial fees for it. Angara will also help revive hydrogen technology. If it is possible to create the “A5B” version with a hydrogen third stage and upper stage, then the country will have engineers with hydrogen expertise, obtained very late in the USSR and almost lost in the 90s.
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