RussianSpaceWeb.com

Site news

Site map

Testimonials

About this site

About the author

Mailbox

ADVERTISE!

DONATE!

NEW: August

BOR space plane

Site updates:

To sign up for FREE periodic E-mail notifications about new features on this site, send E-mail with word "update" in the subject line.

Moscow Time

PICTURE OF THE DAY

HAPPY RETIREMENT

NEXT IN SPACE

Sept. 8: A Rockot booster to launch a Gonets-M No. 2 communications satellite, a pair of Russian military payloads from Plesetsk.

See more in 2010,

2011 , 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

... and beyond

HELP WANTED!

Advertising manager/Marketer
Contributing Editor/Reporter
Wikipedia writers (Get byline, get copyright, get it edited only with your permission!)
Web site designer

Contact Anatoly Zak

Searching photos, artwork, books, blueprints, published and unpublished articles, dissertations, memoirs and other materials and documents on the history of rocketry and space exploration from any country and time period.

Contact Anatoly Zak

TOP STORY

PTK launch

Rus-M design is ready

Published: 2010 Aug. 26

After more than a year of work, developers of Russia's next-generation rocket submitted their project to the formal review by the nation's space agency.

On Wednesday, August 25, Roskosmos held a formal meeting of its Scientific and Technical Council tasked to critique and approve the preliminary design of the future rocket. The event is considered a major milestone, marking a formal conclusion of the preliminary design and beginning of a full-scale development of the new family of rockets, known as Rus-M.

The agency ordered the Russian space industry to start the work on the new launch vehicle for manned space flight in the spring of 2009. The key role in the project was awarded to TsSKB Progress design bureau in Samara, the manufacturer of the world-famous Soyuz series of rockets and the Soviet Energia super-heavy launcher.

The completed project largely matched the design philosophy formulated by the agency during 2008 and 2009, which called for a two-stage rocket with three boosters on the first stage. However at least one alternative solution based on the operational Zenit rocket was proposed in the course of the preliminary design by RKK Energia, the developer of the future manned spacecraft intended to ride Rus-M into orbit. The Zenit-based launcher would allow the continuation of the Russian manned missions from the existing launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. However during the Wednesday meeting, Roskosmos re-confirmed its commitment to the development of the new Vostochny launch site in the Russian Far East, which would host the new family of rockets. The agency promised to start the construction of the new center in 2011.

Although, Roskosmos retained a three-booster design for medium-class rockets within the Rus-M family, the architecture of future heavy-lifting launchers remains to be determined. The heavy launcher would be required to support Russia's long-term goals in manned space flight, such as the construction of lunar bases and expeditions to Mars.

Details inside...

Latest news, updates:

Sept. 2: Russia flies 42nd GLONASS mission	Aug. 28: Russian PM tours promised launch site
Aug. 31: Progress M-06M leaves ISS	Aug. 22: MSV-1 is rescheduled for late December
Aug. 30: Fire delays Spektr-R launch	Aug. 22: KA-SAT is scheduled for Nov. 25 launch