|
|
Searching for details: The author of this page will appreciate comments, corrections and imagery related to the subject. Please contact Anatoly Zak. |
In 1992, in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian government called for the creation of the new generation of space boosters, which would be built and launched within Russian Federation, ending the country's dependency on the hardware and launch sites in the newly independent republics of the former Soviet Union. Within this program, Moscow-based Khrunichev enterprise and RKK Energia in Korolev competed for the government subsidies to develop the alternative versions of the rocket, named Angara after a great Siberian river.
Khrunichev,
proposed a vehicle equipped with multiple external tanks -- the reminiscent
of the venerable Proton rocket. For its first
stage, Khrunichev’s Angara would employ one of Russia’s most
advanced engines burning kerosene and liquid oxygen. Known as RD-170,
the engine was already in use on the first stage of the latest Soviet
rocket – the Zenit. The Angara's second
stage would be equipped with a hydrogen-oxygen engine, borrowed from the
Energia heavy-lift rocket. The alternative RKK Energia's configuration, known as Angara-2 featured so-called modular architecture, where a series of launchers with a wide range of payload capabilities could be built by “packaging” together a different number of the identical rocket boosters. Each booster would be equipped with the modified RD-170 engine. In September 1994, Ministry of Defense and Russian Space Agency declared Khrunichev a prime developer of the Angara rocket. The official reason for the decision was based on the fact that Khrunichev’s design used already available engine from the Zenit rocket, while RKK Energia’s proposal would require to “split” the same engine in half, leaving two combustion chambers instead of the original four. Initially, RKK Energia was awarded the development of the second stage of the Angara rocket. However, during consequent redesign of the Angara, Khrunichev became a sole developer of the vehicle. Ironically, the new configuration of the rocket adopted by Khrunichev turned out to be much more similar to what RKK Energia had originally proposed – the modular configuration. The new version of the rocket also required a "split" of the Zenit's engine, but not into the two-chamber unit, but in a one-chamber configuration. In the meantime, long before Angara started flying, Moscow-based NPO Energomash, the engine developer, built a two-chamber version of the Zenit engine for the US Atlas rocket. If RKK Energia had its way with the Angara configuration, the rocket would now had the engine, whose development was paid under the contract with the US! In the final design of the Angara pursued by Khrunichev, the rocket’s payload could vary from 2,000 kilograms all the way to 23,000 kilograms, depending on the number of booster "modules" attached to the identical core stage. The "heaviest" Angara, capable of delivering 23,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit, would replace the Proton rocket. As of 2006, Roskosmos claimed that the heaviest version of the Angara rocket would be capable of delivering 26 tons into the low-Earth orbit from Plesetsk. As much as 28.5 tons could be delivered from Baikonur. Hydrogen-fueled upper stages Although first stage boosters of the Angara rocket would be fueled by a traditional combination of liquid oxygen and kerosene, Khrunichev enterprise promised to equip upper stages of the rocket with engines burning two cryogenically cooled components -- liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. In cooperation with KB Salyut, the developer of the Buran orbiter, Khrunichev conceived a reusable flyback booster rocket, which would serve as an alternative first stage in the Angara family. Designated Baikal, after a Siberian lake, the reusable booster was developed in parallel with the work on more traditional "booster modules." Launch sites The Angara was expected to use the launch complex in Plesetsk, which was originally intended for the Zenit rocket. However, its construction stalled during the first half of the 1990s, and then the project was abandoned altogether due to Russia's financial foes and complex relationship with Ukraine, where the Zenit is built. A brand-new launch complex for the Angara was also considered in Svobodny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East, however, the level of funding of the Russian space program during the 1990s left these plans on paper. Some schemes of building commercially operated Angara launch sites in the equatorial areas of the world were also discussed over the years, again without any real progress "in the field." Since 1992, Moscow-based KBTM development center, specialized in launch equipment, has developed a proposal and preliminary design of the launch facilities for the Angara program. The project envisioned maximum use of existing infrastructure in Plesetsk. A dual-pad Versatile Launch Complex, UNK, could be used for all versions of the Angara rocket. Specifically, for the heavyweight Angara-2T launcher, KBTM developed a process of vertical assembly, not typical for the Russian rocket technology. The work in Plesetsk remained stalled during the 1990s, but started picking up at the beginning of 2000s, prompting Russian officials to promise the first launch in 2003. In June 2005, Khrunichev's representative said that the launch complex for the Angara was 80 percent ready, the state provided funds and the construction was going on at full steam. In 2004, the Zvezdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk started development of a launch platform for the Angara's pad in Plesetsk. According Lt. General Anatoly Bashlakov, the head of Plesetsk Cosmodrome, at the end of July 2006, a giant launch platform 14 meters wide and more than five meters high was delivered to Plesetsk. The structure was made out of 16 segments, each weighing from 20 to 50 tons. In August 2008, the Red Star newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Defense Ministry, reported that at the time, construction workers were conducting assembly of two pieces of the launch platform with the mass of 350 tons each. Around 700 tons of metal was to be used to build the complex, including its thermal resistant layer covering the main flame duct. At the time, 1,000 specialists and 100 units of machinery worked at the site daily. The newspaper quoted Colonel Oleg Pivovarov, the head of the Plesetsk directorate of the Spetstroi organization, the main contractor at the site, as saying that the pad construction work was approaching finish line and the installation of the launch pad equipment would start soon. According to the Red Star, the large portion of the launch facility was located underground as deep as 27 meters. The command blockhouse was located 15 meters below the surface, protected by 1.5 meters of concrete and layers of sand. Total 4.5 kilometers of underground passageways connected various facilities of the launch complex. At the beginning of 2008, military and the industry publicly clashed on the pre-launch processing of the Angara rocket. Official Russian press quoted the Commander of the Russian space forces, Colonel-General Vladimir Popovkin, insisting that the on-pad time for the Angara rocket was cut from seven to four days. Speaking at the press-conference on January 31, Popovkin said that such operations as the fueling of the upper stage and a number of tests should've been moved from the launch pad to the processing building. By the end of 2008, Zvezdochka shipyard started the construction of the versative stand for the assembly of the head section of the Angara rocket with the Briz upper stage. The work was completed at the beginning of 2010, followed by the construction of a fueling gantry for the launch pad and an erector-transporter for the rocket. These contracts were to be completed by the end of 2010. (372) In 2004, Russia and Kazakhstan reached and agreement to build a launch complex for the heavy version of the Angara rocket in Baikonur. In March 2002, Khrunichev enterprise started negotiations with South-Korean representatives on the possible joint development of the first launch vehicle for Korean Aerospace Research Institute, KARI. According to Khrunichev, it ultimately won the South-Korean contract in a fierce competition with a number of other contenders in various countries. However, according to American sources, they "rejected" South-Korean overtures over the concerns for proliferation of rocket technology. The Russian side agreed to provide the standard URM booster from the Angara project to serve as the first stage of the Korean launch vehicle. South Korea would develop its own second stage, burning solid propellant. The Russian side would also supply documentation for the servicing of the system and conduct technical supervision of the launch complex construction in South Korea. Russian KBTM design bureau took responsibility for the development of the launch facility. The condition for the agreement was Korea's compliance with international legislation on non-proliferation of rocket technology. Using Russian documentation, South Korea would build hardware for the launch facility, while a joined Russian-Korean team would conduct a flight test program. The formal agreement on the KSLV project was signed during a visit of Korean president No Mu-hyon to Moscow in September 2004. The full-scale development started in mid-2005. Around that time, the first launch of the KSLV-1 rocket was expected in October 2007. The second launch was planned for 2008. If successful, two sides could proceed with the development of two more powerful versions of the rocket by 2010 and 2015, increasing its payload capability from 100 kilograms to 1,000 and 1,500 kilograms. (355) Khrunichev enterprise delegated a serial production of Angara's first stage, URM-1, to the PO Polyot in the city of Omsk. Beginning in 2009, the Omsk-based company would also take responsibility for the production of the Briz-KM upper stage of the Rockot booster, as well as its transfer section and the payload fairing. Thus, manufacturing of all key elements for the Angara-1.2 version of the rocket would end up in Omsk. Khrunichev formally absorbed PO Polyot during 2007 and in the same year, Omsk started receiving technical documentation and blueprints for the Angara. Khrunichev officials promised major upgrade of manufacturing facilities in Omsk during 2008. Also in 2008, a team from Polyot worked at Khrunichev's plant in Moscow on the manufacturing of elements for the South-Korean KSLV rocket, which closely resembled the URM-1 booster of the Angara. During 2009, the production line for the KSLV in Moscow was to be dismantled and re-assembled in Omsk, for the goals of the Angara program. (322) At the time, PO Polyot planned to produce the first Angara-1.2 rocket and five URM boosters for the heavy rocket by 2012. By 2015, the company was expected to turn out 60 URM stages annually for 10 Angara-3.2 rockets and 10 Angara 1.2. By 2020, as many as 120 boosters per year were to be produced to support 20 missions annually, the official ITAR-TASS news agency promised, quoting director PO Polyot Grigory Murakhovsky. According to Murakhovsky, the Angara production required a massive reconstruction of the obsolete factories at PO Polyot with a planned price tug of 3,349 billion rubles, including 771 million in 2009. Around 300 million were to be spent on purchases of new manufacturing tools and equipment. He said that not all of the 329 million rubles allocated for the project in 2008 had been provided and the resulting deficit was included in the 2009 funding schedule. Murakhovsky said that active modernization of the plant was underway, 15 high-tech metal-processing machines had been ordered and the installation of new hardware and software was expected to be completed by the end of 2009. (342) The first test flight In August 2006, a Russian press quoted the head of Cosmodrome Plesetsk, Lt. General Anatoly Bashlakov as saying that flight tests of the light version of the Angara booster would start in 2010-2011. It became an official line for Roskosmos during 2007. On December 13, 2007, the commander of the Russian space forces, Vladimir Popovkin told the Russian press that all development work during that year was completed successfully and the project remained on schedule for the first test launch at the end of 2010. According to Popovkin, the launch complex for the Angara rocket was 60 percent completed after spending 900 million rubles. Launch hardware started arriving to the pad and its installation was initiated. Still in March 2009, Director General of Khrunichev enterprise Vladimir Nesterov told RIA Novosti that his company would need additional three billion rubles in the second and third quarter of 2009 in order to deliver the first Angara rockets to Plesetsk in 2010 and launch them in 2011. Additional 5.7 billion rubles would be needed in 2010 and 1.4 billion in 2011, Nesterov said. During 2009, preparations for the first test launch cleared a major hurdle with three successful test firings of the first stage booster, which also performed well during the ill-fated launch of the South-Korean KSLV rocket. However around the same time, various unofficial reports said that a delay of the first Angara launch to 2012 would be necessary. Angara development milestones 1992 Sept. 15: The government of the Russian Federation signed a decree No. 716-53, announcing a tender for the development of the Angara heavy-lifting vehicle. Military Space Forces, VKS, along with the Russian Space Agency, RKA, would be the users of the new rocket. 1994 September: Russian Ministry of Defense and Russian Space Agency declare Khrunichev a prime developer of the Angara rocket. 1995: Khrunichev enterprise displays a full-scale mockup of the Angara-1 rocket at the 43rd Paris Air and Space Show in Le Bourget, France. 1995 Aug. 26: Russian government sings a decree No. 829 "On measures for providing the development of the Angara rocket space complex." 2001 July 31: NPO Energomash conducts a test-firing of the RD-191 engine for the 1st stage of the Angara rocket. 2002 March: Khrunichev enterprise started negotiations with South-Korean representatives on the possible joint development of the first launch vehicle for Korean Aerospace Research Institute, KARI. 2004: Alfa Bank opens a 600-million-ruble line of credit for Khrunichev enterprise for the development of the Angara project. 2004 Dec. 9-10: A dynamic equivalent of the URM rocket module is shipped from Khrunichev enterprise to TsNIIMash research and testing facility. 2004 Dec. 22: Russian and Kazakh governments sign an agreement on the development of the launch complex for the Angara rocket in Baikonur. 2005 May 25: Khrunichev enterprise and Russian Ministry of Defense sign an agreement on the completion of the Angara development and first test flights. 2005: Khrunichev enteprise started development of the South Korean launch vehicle, KSLV. 2006 July: A launch platform for the Angara rocket is delivered to Plesetsk for the installation on the launch pad. 2006 August: Roskosmos promises to conduct the first test launch of the Angara rocket in 2010-2011. According to NPO Energomash, as of August 1, 2006, the RD-191rocket engine accumulated 4,500 seconds of running time in 35 firing tests. The longest firing lasted 400 seconds. The entire test program aimed to accumulate 15,000 seconds of work in 70 test firings on 10 copies of the engine. 2006 Aug. 25-28: Khrunichev enterprise and PO Polyot in Omsk signed an agreement to produce booster stages of the Angara rocket in Omsk. PO Polyot would merge with Khrunichev under the agreement. 2007 Aug. 31: The meeting of the interagency coordinating group of the Angara project within Military Industrial Commission considered the development issues within the project. 2007 Oct. 12: The military-industrial commission led by vice prime minister Sergei Ivanov discussed the implementation of the Angara project at the prime-contractor site. 2007 Dec. 6: NPO Energomash conducted testing of the RD-191 engine for the first stage of the Angara rocket, along with the operational hydraulic system and the gimbal mechanism of the engine. 2007 Dec. 27: The KBKhA design bureau conducted test firing of the RD-0124A for the Angara rocket with an electrically driven gimbal system developed by Khrunichev enterprise. According to KBKhA press-release, engine worked nominally. 2007 Dec. 29: PO Polyot of Omsk completed its merger with Khrunichev enterprise. Khrunichev's director V. Nesterov signed an order creating a branch of PO Polyot within the Khrunichev enterprise. (322) 2008 June 18: Head of Roskosmos Anatoly Perminov visits NIIKhimmash engine test facility in preparation for the "cold" and live firings of the Angara rocket stage, which was then scheduled for delivery from Khrunichev manufacturing plant on July 15, 2008. 2008 Sept. 2: The second stage module, URM-2, of the Angara rocket is delivered to the NIIKhimmash test facility in the town of Peresvet, (Sergiev Posad Region) for static firing tests. 2008 Oct. 27: The URM-2 module of the Angara launcher is installed into the fixation assembly in preparation for its static firing at the IS-102 test stand of the NIIKhimmash center in the town of Peresvet, north of Moscow. 2009 Jan. 19: NPO Energomash announced that the last test version of the RD-191 rocket engine was going through final firings after a total of 97 tests with an accumulated firing time of 20,789. The maximum firing time accumulated by a single engine reached 3,635 seconds in 12 tests. At the time, the manufacturer had already supplied an engine for the firing tests of the entire rocket stage and promised to supply first six flight-ready engines in 2010 for actual test launches of the Angara rocket. 2009 April 29: During "cold tests" KhSI-1 at NIIKhimmash facility in Peresvet, around 100 tons of liquid oxygen were loaded onboard the URM-1 stage of the Angara rocket. 2009 June 18: During KhSI-2 test at NIIKhimmash fuel and oxidizer were loaded into the URM-1 stage. Pneumatic and hydraulic systems tested. 2009 July 30, 17:15 Moscow Time: Angara's URM-1 rocket booster (Article I1A1S) test fired for the first time at the IS-102 test stand in Peresvet near Moscow at NITs RKP test facility (former NIIKhimmash). During the test known as OSI-1, the engine was burning for 232 seconds, essentially imitating the entire process of the first stage operation during the orbital launch. According to preliminary information, no major problems arose during the firing. At the time, the second firing was expected at the beginning of September 2009. The total of three firings of the same booster were originally expected. 2009 Aug. 25: A South-Korean Naro-1 (KSLV-1) launch vehicle, fails to deliver the STSAT-2 satellite from the Naro space center, South Korea, due to an upper stage failure, despite initial reports abut a successful launch. However Russian-built first stage, which was identical to the Angara's URM-1 booster, reportedly performs well. The mission was delayed from mid-August 2009. 2009 Oct. 1: Angara's URM-1 rocket booster test fired for the second time at NITs RKP test facility (former NIIKhimmash) in Peresvet near Moscow. During the test known as OSI-2, the engine was burning for 203.4 seconds under maximum throttle possible, imitating the flight profile of the Angara-5 vehicle. 2009 November: The URM-2 upper stage module of the Angara rocket is rolled out to the IS-102 test stand in Peresvet near Moscow at NITs RKP test facility (former NIIKhimmash) for fitting checks. The thermal conditioning and fire safety system was also tested. 2009 Nov. 26: Angara's URM-1 rocket booster test fired at NITs RKP test facility (former NIIKhimmash) in Peresvet near Moscow. Designated OSI-3, it was the third and final test of Angara's first stage. The test cleared the way to preparations for live firings of the URM-2 upper stage of the Angara rocket. APPENDIX Angara family capabilities (as of June 2009):
Technical specifications of the RD-191 engine:
Technical specifications of the RD-0124A engine:
This page is maintained by Anatoly Zak. All rights reserved. Last update: January 22, 2010 |
PICTURE GALLERY
Scale models of Angara launchers displayed at the MAKS 2001 air show in August 2001. Left to right: Angara-1.1, Angara-1.2, Angara-3 and Angara-5. Even bigger -- Angara 5-UKVM -- was under consideration around that time. Click to enlarge. Copyright © 2001 Anatoly Zak
As conceptual studies of the future vehicle for manned space program was underway in 2008, Khrunichev enterprise added a man-rated Angara-5P rocket (far right) into the launcher's family, as evident in this display at the ILA-2008 air and space show in Berlin. Click to enlarge. Copyright © 2008 Anatoly Zak
In 2009, at the Paris Air and Space Show, the Angara-7 rocket (right) was presented for the first time as part of the launcher's family. Click to enlarge. Copyright © 2009 Anatoly Zak
The Angara-A3M shown in comparison to the Angara-100 rocket proposed in 2005. Copyright © 2001 Anatoly Zak
These scale models represent a family of rocket engines developed by Moscow-based NPO Energomash. A four-chamber RD-170 engine powering the first stage of the Zenit rocket is on the right. This power plant was "split in half" to create a two-chamber RD-180 engine (center) for the latest version of the US Atlas rocket. The "half" of the latter engine became RD-190/191 -- a one-chamber power plant developed for the modular stages of the Angara family, including the Baikal stage. Click to enlarge: 400 x 247 pixels, 40K Copyright © 2001 Claude Mourier
A scale model of the RD-191 engine for the first stage of the Angara launcher. Click to enlarge. Copyright © 2001 Anatoly Zak
A full-scale combustion chamber of the RD-191 engine. Click to enlarge. Copyright © 2009 Anatoly Zak
A scale model of the RD-0124 engine, designed to propel upper stages of the Soyuz-2 and Angara rockets. Click to enlarge. Copyright © 2009 by Anatoly Zak
The first test firing of the URM-1 booster of the Angara rocket in Peresvet test facility on July 30, 2009. Click to enlarge. Credit: Khrunichev
|
|
