The launch of the Angara-1 light class launch vehicle was carried out from the Plesetsk cosmodrome.2" with the apparatus in the interests of the Russian Defense Ministry
TASS-DOSSIER. On April 29, 2022, at 22:56 Moscow time, an Angara-1 light class launch vehicle was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome.2" with the apparatus in the interests of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. TASS has prepared a material about the launch vehicles of this family.
Project history
Angara is a Russian project to create unified launch vehicles of light and heavy classes. They are designed to launch various spacecraft: satellites, spacecraft, automatic interplanetary stations.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Baikonur cosmodrome, from which manned launches were conducted, became the property of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Proton rocket, the only Russian heavy-class carrier at that time, was launched from this cosmodrome. Although in 1994 Russia signed a contract with Kazakhstan on the lease of the cosmodrome, in order to independently go into space in the Russian Federation, it was decided to develop a new heavy launch vehicle that could be launched from its territory.
In 1992-1994, a competition was held to create a promising space carrier, which was won by the Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Center (GKNPC, Moscow). GKNPC proposed the Angara project, which provided for the creation of universal missiles from light to heavy class. In addition, it was supposed to use environmentally friendly kerosene-based fuel in the Angara carriers (Proton runs on toxic heptyl).
The project was officially launched by the decree of the former President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin dated January 6, 1995 "On the creation of the Angara space rocket complex". The state customers were the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Russian Space Agency (later the Federal Space Agency, now the state Corporation Roscosmos). The head developer was the M. V. Khrunichev State Scientific Research Center.
In the 1990s, work on the project was not actually carried out due to underfunding of the rocket and space industry, they resumed in the 2000s.
To test the Angara space rocket complex, they chose the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region, where the launch complex was built. The creation of the appropriate infrastructure at the cosmodrome was provided for by the Federal Space Program of Russia for 2006-2015 and the Federal Target Program "Development of Russian Cosmodromes for 2006-2015", and the development and manufacture of the rocket - by the State Armament Program for 2011-2020.
In April 2018, the chairman of the Scientific and Technical Council of Roscosmos, Yuri Koptev, announced that a total of more than 110 billion rubles had already been invested in the project. In particular, according to him, the construction of the first flight copy of the heavy rocket "Angara-A5.1L" cost about 3.4 billion rubles. The cost of the light "Angara-1.2" at the beginning of June 2019 was estimated at 2.28 billion rubles (this amount, including the manufacture and delivery of the rocket, was indicated in the state contract for the launch of the Gonets-M satellites No. 33, 34, 35). In the financial statements of the GKNPC for 2019, it was reported that the cost of "Angara" by 2024 will be reduced from 7 to 4 billion rubles. In June 2020, the press service of Roscosmos reported that the GKNPC will produce several Angara carriers as part of the development work at a price of less than 5 billion rubles per rocket (for comparison, it costs about the same to manufacture two heavy Protons-M).
Modifications
Initially, the project provided for the creation of launch vehicles in light ("Angara-1.2"), medium ("Angara-A3") and heavy ("Angara-A5") versions. Subsequently, the "Angara" of the middle class was abandoned due to the start of work on the Soyuz-5 carrier (Irtysh).
The heavy rocket, in addition to the basic modification, also has a version of the Angara-A5B with an oxygen-hydrogen upper stage, designed for launches from the new Vostochny cosmodrome in the Amur Region. It is also planned to launch Angara-A5P and Angara-A5M with the promising reusable manned ship Eagle (formerly Federation) from Vostochny. According to the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, the upgraded Angara-A5M will be "lighter and more powerful". In addition, as reported in June 2020 in Roscosmos, the creation of "Angara-A5VM" with reusable returnable stages is being considered.
Design features of Angara rockets
When developing Angara, the modular principle was taken as a basis for the first time. Rockets of different payload capacities are assembled from standard blocks-modules with a high degree of interchangeability. The basis of the carrier is a universal rocket module (UTM), which is a structure consisting of an engine compartment and oxidizer and fuel tanks. In the first and second stages of the Angara, UTM-1 is used, in the upper stage of the rocket - UTM-2. The number of rocket modules in the first stage determines the payload capacity of the Angara.
The operation of universal rocket modules is provided by engines using environmentally friendly fuel components - kerosene and liquid oxygen (oxidizer). UTM-1 is equipped with RD-191, UTM-2 - RD-0124A. The RD-191 engine (which will later be replaced by an upgraded version of the RD-191M) was developed at NPO Energomash named after Academician V. P. Glushko (Khimki, Moscow Region) and was created specifically for Angara. It is designed on the basis of the RD-170, which was used in the Soviet heavy carrier rocket Energia (two launches took place in total - in 1987 and 1988). The RD-0124A engine was developed at the Design Bureau of Chemical Automation (KBHA, Voronezh), which is now part of the integrated structure of NPO Energomash. In the Angara-A5V version, instead of the RD-0124A, it is planned to use the RD-0150 hydrogen engine developed by KBHA.
The prototype of the UTM-1 has been flight tested three times (2009, 2010, 2013) as part of the South Korean light carrier rocket KSLV-1 (another name is Naro-1).
Characteristics of "Angara-1.2" and "Hangars-A5"
According to the information posted on the website Roscosmos information, "Angara-1.2" has two stages, and "Angara-A5" - three. At the same time, two universal blocks are used in the light version of the rocket: the UTM-1 as the first stage and the UTM-2 as the second. The basic version of the heavy carrier, according to the GKNPC, consists of six blocks: in the first stage there are four UTM-1, in the second - one UTM-1, in the third - one UTM-2.
The height of the "Hangars-1.2" is about 41.5 m, the launch mass is about 171 tons, the payload capacity is 3.5 tons (for a low reference orbit with a height of about 200 km).
The height of the base "Angara-A5" is about 55.4 m, the starting weight is approximately 773 tons, the load capacity is 24-24.5 tons. At the same time, the starting weight of the Angara-A5V is about 815 tons, the maximum load capacity is 37.5 tons. The upgraded Angara-A5M, according to Dmitry Rogozin, will be able to launch about 27.5 tons of payload into space.
Additionally, the heavy version of the launch vehicle provides for the use of upper stages developed by the GKNPC "Briz-M" (operated since 1999) and a promising oxygen-hydrogen heavy class. It is also planned to use a DM-type upper stage with an oxygen-hydrocarbon engine (called Perseus), which was created specifically for the Angara by S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia (Korolev, Moscow Region).
Launch statistics
The technical solutions of the KRK "Angara" allow launching from one launcher all the missiles of the family - light and heavy classes. Currently, launches are carried out from Plesetsk. The launch complex for Angara at the Vostochny cosmodrome is planned to be commissioned by 2023.
For the first time, the Angara family rocket launched on July 9, 2014 from Plesetsk in a light version. The flight "Angara-1.2PP" (PP - "first launch") took place on a ballistic trajectory over the territory of the Russian Federation. 21 minutes after the launch, an inseparable overall-mass model of the payload (1.43 tons) with the second stage fell in a given area of the Kura test site on the Kamchatka Peninsula, having overcome a distance of 5.7 thousand km. "Angara-1.2PP" was a non-serial version of the carrier and was intended for complex testing of the components of the missile complex and preparation for the first launch heavy "Angara-A5".
On December 23, 2014, a heavy-class Angara-A5 also left Plesetsk for its first test flight. The rocket, which received the designation "Angara-A5.1L" (1L - "first flight version") and equipped with a Briz-M upper stage, successfully launched a two-ton satellite mock-up into orbit with a height of 35.8 thousand km.
On December 14, 2020, the second test launch of a heavy rocket was carried out from Plesetsk. The press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that "Angara-A5.2L" was launched with a Briz-M upper stage and an overall mass payload layout (2.4 tons).
On December 27, 2021, the Space Forces of the Russian Aerospace Forces conducted the third test launch of the heavy Angara-A5 from Plesetsk with the Perseus upper stage and a large-scale mock-up of the payload.
In total, taking into account the launch on April 29, 2022, five launches of the Angara family of launch vehicles were carried out. Including one suborbital launch, when a light version of the carrier was used, three orbital launches of a heavy rocket and one of a light one.
Serial production of Angara missiles
In April 2011, a joint decision was made by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Khrunichev Space Center, according to which the PO "Polet" (Omsk), which is a branch of the GKNPC, will be responsible for the production and development of the design documentation of the Angara launch vehicles.
On August 25, 2020, at the Army 2020 forum, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin announced the signing of a contract with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the supply of four serial Angara-A5 missiles. According to the head of the GKNPC Alexey Brewho, the ordered carriers will be manufactured at the Omsk site in 2022-2024.
Serial production of all Angara missiles, including assembly and testing, is scheduled to begin in Omsk in 2023. At the same time, the parent organization located in Moscow will be responsible for the production of the third stage for the heavy "Angara" and the aggregate module for the light version of the carrier. Also, the production of Briz-M upper stages will remain in the GKNPC and hydrogen technologies will be developed (for the creation of a hydrogen stage and KVTK). On April 16, 2022, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin announced that in 2024, the Flight software will be able to produce eight Angara-A5 and two Angara-1 missiles.2" per year.
