cosmonautics | event Andrey Morgunov
Igor AFANASYEV, Dmitry VORONTSOV AANGARA’SNGARA’S FIRSTFIRST BLASTOFFBLASTOFF
At 16.04 hrs Moscow time on 9 July 2014, the Plesetsk space launch centre saw the launching facility in February 2014 to the first launch of the Angara-1.2PP launch vehicle of the advanced space rocket practice its fuelling and the nose fairing was family being developed by the Khrunichev state space research and production fitted on the rocket in March. The successful ground tests were followed by the prelaunch centre. The maiden blastoff conducted as part of the Angara flight test programme preparations. was aimed at testing the solutions embodied in the design of the URM-1 and URM-2 The date of the launch was put off for versatile rocket modules and the Angara’s launch and technical facilities as well. 27 June 2014 due to extra checks required. In this connection, orbiting an actual spacecraft had not been considered, with On 9 June, Khrunichev hosted a session of an inseparable full-scale mock-up used as payload. The flight was suborbital to the Chief Designers Council, dedicated to prevent cluttering near-Earth orbit with space junk. the preparation of the Angara to its flight tests. The session pronounced the rocket fit To say the Angara’s first launch had been In spite of the hurdles, the developer, for the trials. anticipated for a long time would be an nevertheless, got in the stretch with the Angara The LV had been taken out of the assembly understatement: it was slated for 2005 under programme. The first flying example – the and test hangar and placed into the launcher an executive order issued by the Russian ‘first launch rocket’, the Angara-1.2PP – was two days before the launch date. The launch President in January 1995. However, the made and shipped to Plesetsk in May 2013. In preparations and fuelling were under way development hit numerous snags, including November 2013, it was taken to the launching smoothly on 27 June. However, the launch inadequate funding, design revision due to facility for match mate tests. Concurrently, sequence had been interrupted automatically political and technological factors, the market the space launch facility hosted the trials 79 seconds prior to blastoff due to a first-stage situation, launching facility reconstruction of and training with its electro-pneumo- tank propellant head drop. problems and notorious financial and hydraulic analogue, the Angara-1.2NZh The start was postponed by an hour economic crises. rig test prototype. The latter was taken to and then by 24 hours. The scrutiny of the
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telemetry indicated the glitch could not be ironed out quickly. The fuel had to be drained and the rocket was moved to the assembly and test hangar for repair. The fault had been fixed within a week, and the flight test governmental committee resolved to have the launch on 9 July. The Angara-1.2PP had been carried to the launch pad again two days before the launch in line with the standing operating procedure. All systems were go this time around, and the rocket blasted off with success. While the first stage caused no special concern (its analogue had passed its flight tests thrice as part of South Korean booster KSLV-1 in 2009–2013), the in-flight kick-in and burn of the second stage were to be performed for the first time. However, that phase of the flight went smoothly: the URM-1 and nose fairing separated and fell into the Pechora Sea, while the URM-2 kicked in and drove the payload mock-up to ballistic trajectory. After a short suborbital flight, the second stage and mock- up landed very accurately at the Kura proving ground in Kamchatka. According to official sources, the Angara proved its characteristics and basic solutions. Mention should be made of the uniqueness of the rocket featuring a launch weight of 171 t, since the results produced by its maiden flight can be applied to all LVs of the family – from the light one to the heavy one. Actually, the Angara-1.2PP was not the direct prototype of the lightweight Angara-1.2, for it comprised the components characteristic of both the light and heavy LVs. The approach to the flight test programme F afforded the opportunity to test the technical and launching facilities as part of handling the whole family on the very first launch and to test the basic elements – rocket modules – of both types. In the outcome, the rocket turned into a flying testbed equipped with the URM-1 and URM-2 and the nose fairing as well, the latter believed to become the organic one for the production-standard light LV. Given the success of the maiden flight and the completion of the ground tests, the fact is the flight segment of the Angara space rocket complex has been developed. The ground infrastructure in Plesetsk is almost complete too. A technical area has been built, as well as present-day Russia’s unique versatile launch complex fit for all LVs of the family – from the light Angara-1.2 to medium Angara-A3 to the heavy Angara-A5. Under the versatile launch complex construction programme, 180 items of ground infrastructure have been built, utility networks have been assembled and commissioned and 36 special technological systems have been made by the Federal Special Construction Agency on the premises
of the unfinished Zenith carrier rocket launch Igor Marinin
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The purpose of the Angara space rocket Angara LVs family system is to afford Russia unimpeded access to outer space from its own territory. At present, the rocket family comprises launch vehicles in three classes – light, medium and heavy. In addition, two variants more are being designed, namely the Angara-A5.2 two-stage medium LV with enhanced carrying capacity and the Angara-A7 heavylifter. The Angara-1.2 is supposed to replace the Rockot and Dnepr LVs – the derivatives of decommissioned intercontinental ballistic missiles. The latter’s warranty shelf life are nearing the expiry, which urgently necessitates prompt introduction of a new light payload carrier rocket. The Angara-3 is a medium launch vehicle. Today, the highest demand is for the Angara-A5 heavylifter capable of inserting advanced payloads into low-Earth and geostationary transfer orbits. Once the flight test programme has been complete, the LV will
10 m be used under the federal space exploration programme, with commercial launches a possibility in due time. In particular, when it is equipped with the KVTK oxygen-hydrogen upper stage, it will be able to orbit heavy communication satellites even from the Plesetsk space launch centre that is not ideally suited for such operations in geographic location terms. The Angara-A5’s chances for commercial operations will improve even more after it has Angara Angara Angara-А3 Angara-А5 Angara-А5.2 Angara-А7 started blasting off from the Vostochny space 1.2PP 1.2 with Breeze-M with KVTK with PTK NP with KVTK upper Dmitry Vorontsov launch centre sitting much farther south than upper stage upper stage spaceship stage-А7 Plesetsk. In accordance with the plan voiced in 2011, two launch pads for the Angara are to Basic characteristics of Angara family LVs when launched from Plesetsk space launch centre be constructed at Vostochny by 2018–2020. Characteristics Angara-1.2 Angara-A3 Angara-A5 Angara-A7 Considering all of the factors, commercial Launching weight, t 171 481 773 1,133 launches of the Angara-A5 are estimated to First stage 1xURM-1 2xURM-1 4xURM-1 6xURM-2 kick off in 2022–2025. Second stage 1xURM-2m* 1xURM-1 1xURM-1 1xURM-1m** The design low-orbit lifting capacity of the Third stage – 1xURM-2 1xURM-2 – Angara-A5.2 (the designation Angara-A5P Payload weight, t: - in parking orbit (H=200 km, i=63°) 3.8 14.6 24.5 35 has been used until recently) is 14–20 t. The - in geostationary transfer orbit 3.61 7.53 rocket offered by Khrunichev as the carrier – 12.54 (H=5,500 km, i=25°) 2.42 5.42 of the New-Generation Manned Transport 2.01 4.63 - in geostationary orbit – 7.64 Spacecraft has been developed through 1.02 3.02 * URM-2 with a propellant tank diameter of 2.9 m 1 with KVSK upper stage 3 with KVTK upper stage removal of the URM-2 from the design of the ** URM-1 with a propellant tank diameter of 4.1 m 2 with Breeze-M upper stage 4 with KVTK-A7 upper stage Angara-A5 heavylifter. The Angara-A7, which variants can insert pad at the Plesetsk space launch centre. The Plant, Proton-PM in Perm, Metallist-Samara 35–50-tonne payloads into LEO, is offered for assembly and test hangar at the technical in Samara and Glushko Energomash in use under the future Moon manned exploration area has undergone heavy reconstruction, Khimki. The 30t RD-124A intended to power programme. Unlike the rest of the members of with many structures having been built from the upper stages will be co-manufactured the family, the diameter of the Angara-A7’s scratch. by the Chemical Automatics Design Bureau centre body is 4.1 m, thus necessitating a To date, a pool of contractors have been (KBKhA) and Voronezh Mechanical Plant. different launch site for the rocket. established for Angara full-rate production. What other work is planned under the To date, the Angara is the first Russian launch The URM-1 and URM-2 modules will programme? The closest key event is the flight vehicle designed from scratch, manufactured be made by the Polyot company in Omsk tests of the Angara’s heavy version, the A5. Its and launched in Russia with minimal use of the and Khrunichev’s space rocket plant. The launch is slated for late this year. Two trains Soviet groundwork. The Angara space rocket production of the 196t RD-191 engine carrying the rocket components arrived at system shall both preserve and develop the designed for the launch vehicle’s lower stages Plesetsk on 25 July 2014. The checks of the Russian school of space rocket engineering in will be handled by the Voronezh Mechanical systems are being run at the space launch facility. certain ways.
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