“ANGARA” LAUNCH VEHICLE FAMILY CONCEPT, DEVELOPMENT STATUS AND OPERATIONAL PLANS A. Medvedev, A. Kuzin, E. Motorny, Khrunichev Space Center, Russia, B. Katorgin, NPO Energomash, Russia Abstract “ANGARA” BACKGROUND The design of “Angara” launch vehi- cles family is based on the concept of com- Development of the “Angara” launch mon (so called universal) rocket module of system is one of the most impotent projects the first stage. Full scale development of the undertaken by Khrunichev Space Center. "Angara" space complex has been carried The history of the “Angara” project, out for several years by Khrunichev Space main technological features and innovations Center. The first test flight of this new gen- as well as status of the program and future eration launchers is scheduled to occur in plans were repeatedly presented in mass the last quarter of 2003 from Plesetsk cos- media and in the papers of Khrunichev’s modrome. “Angara 1.1" lightweight launch representatives at various international fo- rums and conferences. For example, the pa- vehicle will be the first to lift into orbit. th Practical realization of modularity concept pers [1,2] were presented at the 37 Session goes through incorporating of the first stage of Scientific and Technical Sub-Comminute Universal Rocket Module (URM-1) in all on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space Affairs the launchers of the family, either as com- in Vienna in 2000 and at the First Summit plete first stages of lightweight class launch on the Space Transportation Business in vehicles, or as core units and strap-on Paris (1999). boosters of intermediate and heavy launch- As it was described earlier the “An- ers. The second stage has two different vari- gara” family comprises from four main con- ants: “Rockot” LV derived “Breeze-KM” figurations of launch vehicles (Fig. 1). The upper stage for “Angara 1.1" launcher and centerpiece of the Khrunichev’s modular newly developed Universal Rocket Module concept is the URM-1, which is a common (URM-2) second stage for all other configu- unit (with some variations) for all the rations. Descriptions of the URM-1/ URM-2 launchers of the family. Besides the URM-2 propulsion units, which are based on the second stage is used in all the launchers ex- oxygen/kerosene RD-191 and RD-0124A cept “Angara 1.1”. Application of flight- main rocket engines correspondently, are proven upper stages, adapters and payload given in the paper. Programmatic aspects fairings is also one of important principles including development test plans and of “Angara” design concept. schedules of the initial operation phase are In connection with the subject of this discussed as well. Symposium, it is reasonable to look through The "Baikal" first stage reusable specific technological solutions, which were fly-back booster, which is based on the incorporated into the design of above men- URM-1 technology, is aimed to increase the tioned universal rocket modules of the first operational efficiency of the "Angara" and second stages. launchers family. Improvements of the UNIVERSAL MODULES DESIGN RD-191 booster main engine transforming it The URM-1 (Fig. 2) was developed as into reusable design are presented. a first stage of the “Angara 1.1/1.2” light- New design features and concepts, weight class launch vehicles and as a core which have been introduced in "Angara" unit and strap-on boosters of the intermedi- space complex, will increase the Russian ate “Angara A3” and heavy “Angara A5” space launch industry's competitiveness in launch vehicles. Design parameters of the the international commercial launch ser- URM-1 are the result of comprehensive vices market and assured free access to trade-off studies performed by Khrunichev space from national territory. Space Center in 1995…1997. Studies were confidence in reliability and operational aimed to find the way of meeting different functionality of the new engine. sets of requirements stemming from differ- The RD-191 is currently undergoing ences in foreseen operation modes of LVs. hot firing stand tests (Fig. 3). The pneu- Based on the found technical solutions matic/hydraulic diagram of this engine and Khrunichev’s developers came to a conclu- its performances are shown in Fig. 4. The sion that the optimum design should be an RD-191 is an oxygen/kerosene engine, oxygen/ kerosene universal booster module which is designed in the framework of gen- characterized by: erator gas after-burning concept with a ca- • diameter D=2,9 m, pability of combustion chamber’s deflection • length L=25,105 m, in a Cardan suspension. An ignition is pro- • loaded propellant mass ∼120 t vided by a chemical method, by feeding into and equipped with single main rocket en- the combustion chamber special starting gine having a thrust of about 200 tons. fuel, which is self-ignited when in contact These parameters led to the robust solution with liquid oxygen (oxidizer). in wide ranges of operational requirements Besides a mode of throttling down to and forecasted international market changes. 30% of nominal thrust, the engine allows The main engine should have a capability of also a short-time burning in a mode of en- thrust vector control (TVC) as well as a ca- hanced thrust (up to 5% of nominal level) in pability to function during a long time in the emergency situations. mode of lowered thrust (down to 30% of TVC in channels of pitch and jaw is nominal level) for its applications in core provided by deflections of combustion units of intermediate/heavy launchers. The chamber in a Cardan suspension. Besides last requirement appeared due to a pro- this, the engine can feed a generator gas for longed time core booster’s run in flight in running of nozzles providing control on a comparison with strap-on boosters. Addi- roll channel. This feature of the engine is tional engine’s requirements covered high crucial for control of the first stages of light- level of reliability, which should be con- weight launch vehicles and of the core firmed before its installation into the boosters of intermediate/heavy launch vehi- URM-1, and introduction of effective sys- cles. The engine fulfills two additional func- tem for in-flight safety assurance, which tions: should reduce the flight risk coursed by en- • heating of gas (helium) for a pres- gine’s malfunction. surization of propellant tanks and These requirements were met by the • bleeding of fuel after a pump for RD-191 (191M) single-chamber liquid- running of hydraulic actuators providing propellant rocket engine, which was offered deflections of combustion chamber and by the Russian NPO “Energomash”. aerodynamic rudders. RD-191 engine was developed as one of Engine's design includes pipelines, derivatives of the just existing and success- valves and fittings of automatics and con- fully operated RD-171 four-chamber rocket trol, that provide functioning of the engine engine. This engine has not only the highest in various modes. The engine RD-191 is level of thrust in the world, but has a very also equipped with sensors for telemetry high perfection of design. Another deriva- measurements of the burning parameters in tive of the RD-171, the two-chamber RD- flight and with an equipment of monitoring/ 180 engine has just proved itself success- emergency protection system. The last sys- fully on the U.S. “Atlas III” launch vehicle. tem is intended for countering emergency An adoption of such an important compo- situations during the flight. nent as the combustion chamber from the The RD-191 engine was just “fitted” RD-171 and RD-180 engines allowed not to the universal rocket module. In March only to decrease development cost and dura- 1999 its first mock-up/technological sample tion for the RD-191 but also to enhance a was delivered to Khrunichev and was in- stalled on the engineering mock-up of the URM-1 — a first stage of the “Angara 1.1” The first step to enhance the URM-1 launch vehicle (Fig. 5). The engineering reliability is to incorporate into its design mock-up of this launcher was shown at the subsystems, units and aggregates that allow Le-Bourget Airshow in 1999 (Fig. 6). Since repeated running before the beginning of Airshow it passed a variety of on-ground irreversible processes (e.g., take-off of the development/technological tests. launcher from a launch pad). This approach A general design layout of the univer- provides an opportunity to perform the pre- sal rocket module equipped with the RD- launch (on pad) tests including those that 191 engine is shown in Fig. 7. Differences are carried out in order to detect and to between the variants of URM-1 design and eliminate possible failures of on-board sys- operations are caused by the position of tems and units without a replacement of the URM-1 in LV configuration. Additional whole launcher. aerodynamic rudders for roll control equip Delivery procedures of the RD-191 the URMs that are used as first stages of engine envisage comprehensive control/ small launchers. The URMs, which are used technological tests including hot firing ac- as strap-on boosters, have no roll control ceptance test of each fabricated RD-191 en- nozzles. Both upper mentioned URMs func- gine. After test is performed the engine un- tion in flight for 210…240 seconds in al- dergoes a cycle of technological works most nominal level of thrust (except for legs (without reassembling) that includes a ther- of ignition and shut-down). In case URMs mal/vacuum processing of fuel pipelines, a are used as core boosters of intermedi- removal of soot from outside surfaces and a ate/heavy launch vehicles they perform at replacement of ampoules with the starting throttling mode (30% of nominal thrust) fuel.