Photo: Allocer, wikimedia.org
The future that hasn't come
The Angara launch vehicle was to become a kind of "Superjet" from the world of missiles: the first new launch vehicle built by Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. This is not a new development (the rocket began to be created back in the 90s), but it was she who was designed to show that the Russian space industry not only lives, but also develops.
Both the medium "Soyuz" and the heavy "Proton-M" are all the brainchild of the Soviet Union, and the "Soyuz" is nothing more than a deep modification of the Soviet "seven" - the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) R- 7, put into service back in the 60th. Well, the Soviet ICBM UR-500 formed the basis of the Proton. Having developed a number of successful missiles, including Zenit, the Yuzhnoye design bureau remained in Ukraine. The park needed to be updated.
In addition to obsolescence, purely practical difficulties made themselves felt. The fact is that Proton-M, which was once popular with customers, uses toxic asymmetric dimethylhydrazine or heptyl as fuel, which Kazakhstan does not like very much, where the Baikonur cosmodrome is located, from where these Protons are launched.
At first, the heavy "Angara A5" was seen as a worthy replacement for this carrier: at the time of the start of work on the new rocket, few could suspect that a heavy Falcon 9 with a launch price of about $ 60 million would appear: that is, even less than that of the "Proton-M" ". Unfortunately, the cost of launching the A5 turned out to be about twice the price of launching a Soviet heavy rocket: they had to forget about the struggle for the market with SpaceX.
Two launches
Previously, the Angara was seen as a broad, versatile family of missiles that could replace virtually all Russian launch vehicles. Over time, it became clear that the notorious "modularity" was too expensive and the number of projects was limited. The functions of the Soyuz should be taken over by the promising Soyuz-5 (aka Phoenix, aka Irtysh). “We have one in the light class - Angara, the middle class - Soyuz-5, in the heavy class - Angara-A5, in the heavyweight class - Angara-A5V,” said Dmitry Rogozin. There is also the super-heavy Yenisei, but this is a separate topic for discussion: it is not a fact that we will ever see it at all.
By the way, there is no "one" either. More or less, only the aforementioned "Angara A5" has been brought to working order, but there is one problem that is already difficult to keep silent about. The fact is that the replacement of "Proton" performed only 1 (one) launch: it was carried out on December 23, 2014. Since then, there have been no "Angara" launches: neither heavy nor anything else. Taking into account the very first test launch of "Angara-1.2PP", it turns out that all members of the family have two launches in total.
In general, the public has long come to terms with the fact that the new rocket will not become the key to saving the industry, but after the improvements it will become the "workhorse" of the Russian space industry. It looks like it didn't work out.
Hard times
In recent months, several strikes have been struck at Angara at once (however, experts predicted them earlier). In October last year, it became known that the test launch of the new Russian heavy rocket Angara-A5 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region was postponed from the end of 2019 to 2020. As one of the sources explained then, they did not have time to physically prepare the rocket for launch by the end of the year.
On January 15, RIA Novosti reported that the Russian space agency refused to use the new Angara-A5 rocket to launch the Express-AMU4 satellite, preferring the proven Proton-M. Let us remind you that in October last year, the general director of the Space Communications enterprise, Yuri Prokhorov, said that they would like to launch the Express trains with the numbers AMU3, AMU7 and AMU4 with the help of Angara-A5. Now these plans are in the past.
And what about the light "Angara-1.2"? On November 2, 2019, RIA Novosti announced the termination of the contract for the production of a rocket of this type, which they wanted to use to launch the Gonets spacecraft. Now, in 2021, Soyuz will have to launch them. Not the best start for this version of the launch vehicle, especially given the very high competition in this missile segment.
It should be added that the previously announced launch of a South Korean satellite using the Angara-1.2 rocket was postponed from 2020 to 2021, citing, however, the problems of the Koreans. “We have one contract for the supply of Angara-1.2 to South Korea. It is being manufactured now, but they have their own difficulties in terms of the payload, so while the launch from 2020 is slightly shifted, - said in March last year, the general director of the Center named after M. V. Khrunicheva Alexey Varochko.
Honey spoon
In general, the Angara, which is unnecessary for solving the “peaceful” tasks, in the current realities may be interesting only for the Ministry of Defense, which is confirmed by the latest information. On January 15, TASS reported that Roskosmos will supply the Ministry of Defense with two missiles of this type in 2020. “The first Anagara heavy launch vehicle in 2020 will be delivered to the customer by the end of the first quarter. The second should be delivered by the end of the year,”said a representative of the state corporation. “Tight control is being exercised over the manufacture of the first Angara launch vehicles this year, as well as their transfer to the customer - the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation,” the Roscosmos noted.
Until the end of the reconstruction, the Polyot enterprise plans to produce annually two heavy "Angara-A5" and one light missile "Angara-A1.2". At the same time, obviously, part of the load in the interests of the Ministry of Defense will continue to be withdrawn using old Soviet carriers. In general, so far the plans for the production of "Angara" look too optimistic, but do not forget that the rocket is still at the testing stage …
What about the next start? “Next year we plan to resume the launches of the Angara LV, the rocket will be transferred by the Khrunichev Center in the first quarter of 2020,” the statement by Roscosmos, announced in December 2019, says.
As you can see, everything that does not concern the interests of the Ministry of Defense exists in a more than vague form. On the other hand, the Ministry of Defense also knows how to count money: it must be assumed that it would happily prefer a less expensive and more proven medium.
Because of this, there is a feeling that the program is kept afloat only by a decisive (possibly premature) rejection of Proton-M. Recall that in June 2018, Dmitry Rogozin set a specific task: to stop the production of Protons after fulfilling the concluded contracts and to use only Angara in the future. For example, in December, they stopped producing engines for the first stage of the Soviet rocket - we are talking about RD-276 units.
In addition, do not forget what funds have already been spent on a new carrier, as well as the fact that Russia does not have a more or less modern analogue and will not have it in the foreseeable future. So, we are waiting for new plans for testing the Angara missile …
