At a seemingly ordinary event - the 68th International Astronautical Congress, held at the end of September in Adelaide, Australia, the first step was taken towards the beginning of Russia's real exploration of deep space. An invitation from NASA for the joint construction and subsequent operation of the Lunar Orbital Space Station (LOKS) was accepted.
Since the project is technically complex and far from cheap, Russia immediately proposed expanding the number of participants to include, in addition to the initially implied ESA, Japan and Canada, the BRICS countries. Today, such broad cooperation no longer seems like a fantasy. However, time will tell who is ready to get involved.
The future lunar station was named Deep Space Gateway - "Gateway to deep space". It is intended to become an outpost for the construction of a manned lunar base, and in the distant future for flights to Mars. The construction of LOKS is planned to start from 2024, that is, at the end of the estimated functioning of the International Space Station (ISS), which, by agreement of the participants, should cease to exist.
Forgotten landings
Taking into account the vast experience of our country in the construction and operation of long-term space stations, without any discussion, a general decision was made that Russian standards for life support systems and docking nodes will be used in the creation of the LOKS. In continuation of the traditions established on the ISS, each of the project participants will contribute to the common cause, expressed in the financing and technical equipment of LOKS. The Russian contribution at the design stage has so far been indicated by the creation of only one gateway module. Retrofitting - with an increase in the volume of tasks.
Although, by and large, it is more logical to "dance" from the Russian base unit, by analogy with the ISS service module. In any case, our life support systems, waste disposal, oxygen regeneration and other equipment have been tested for many years in extraterrestrial conditions and have proven their reliability. However, it is possible that at the next stage, our segment of the station, by analogy with the ISS, will include not one, but several compartments. When it comes to sending people to the lunar surface, you need to have a fully refined Russian takeoff and landing module available. This is reasonable both as an addition to the American module, and from a political point of view - suddenly there will be discord between the project participants.
Now NPO them. Lavochkina actively recalls the long-standing experience of landing automatic vehicles on the lunar soil. Over the decades of the absence of scientific space in Russia, they have already thoroughly forgotten how this is done. We'll have to learn again. Most of the designers and engineers of those distant years of the triumph of Soviet lunar automatic stations, due to their age, no longer work at the enterprise. And the new generation has no such experience.
The Big Seven Year Plan
In addition to the contractual obligations for the construction of the LOKS (supply of the gateway module), Roskosmos must, without fail, solve several more technical problems. First of all, to create a manned spacecraft "Federation". This is task number one, because otherwise Russia simply will not have the means of delivering astronauts to the Moon. Funding is coming, it remains to wait for the results. The first unmanned flight of the Federation is scheduled for 2022.
The following logically follows from this task: the creation of a new carrier rocket "Soyuz-5" on the theme "Phoenix". By the first flight of the Federation with a crew, this LV should be fully tested in unmanned launches, including commercial ones, under the Sea Launch and Land Launch / Baiterek programs (launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome). The third task is to build a launch complex for the Angara-5 launch vehicle at the Vostochny cosmodrome. The problem is that the Soyuz-5 launch vehicle is too small in terms of carrying capacity (17 t) for manned flights towards the Moon and is suitable only for near-earth orbit. We need a more powerful carrier, namely the 25-ton "Angara-5", which, in turn, needs a launch complex.
Construction should begin this fall. The project is ready, the estimate has been determined, the financing has been secured, the terms are known. The contract with the general contractor has been signed. They promise to do it in three years. In order to avoid unnecessary mistakes, the project took into account the experience of building a similar structure at the Plesetsk cosmodrome.
For full participation in LOKS, it is necessary to solve all these problems. Nevertheless, there is hope that by 2024 it will be possible.
"Union" is indestructible
Soyuz has been flying into space for half a century. And the carrier rocket of the same name, based on the legendary royal "seven" (R-7), and even more - on October 4 celebrated its 60th anniversary. It's time to rest, the skeptical "experts" hint. But they do not understand the main thing: rockets and spaceships are not made for fashion shows, where modern style is held in high esteem. In manned astronautics, the main criterion is the reliability of the systems. Over the years, the Soyuz (both ships and carriers) have built up their reputation with interest. Let us recall that Soyuz twice rescued crews in difficult emergency situations, and the much more modern Shuttle stuffed with electronics, alas, killed two full crews, 14 astronauts.
New American manned spacecraft, which are preparing for their maiden flights, have yet to accumulate positive statistics. And it is far from the fact that the matter will go immediately flawlessly, even if the systems have been worked out on ground test benches. It is impossible to take everything into account - the practice of space flights proves this.
Another good thing about the Soyuz spacecraft is that it can be launched directly into lunar orbit using the existing Proton-M or Angara-5 launch vehicles. The only thing that is required additionally is the upper stage. Progress-class supply cargo ships can also be launched towards the moon using the same scheme, which will deliver oxygen, food and consumables to the station.
"Soyuz" and was developed in the 60s for the lunar complex. Another thing is that for a number of reasons he had to stay in the Earth's orbit for half a century.
Time of the strong
The moment has come when it is possible to put a fat point in the discussion of superheavy media. Our initial position was as follows: I will be super-heavy, but in due time. And this time, it seems, is coming, for the contours of the future giant are looming on the horizon.
After all, no one in principle is against the carrier of the 100-ton and heavier class as such. The only problem is that such payloads for civil or military purposes do not yet exist. But as soon as a fundamental decision is made to go to the moon, this means: sometime by 2030, such payloads will appear.
Roskosmos has finally decided on the phased creation of a super-heavy launch vehicle after comprehensive development of the Phoenix theme, that is, the creation of the Soyuz-5 launch vehicle. Its first stage will be one of the modules in the super-heavy layout. These plans are gradually becoming a reality, because funding for Phoenix has already opened. There is a hope that in the early 2020s Soyuz-5 will fly, and there they will take up the superheavy.
Its main cargo (military "baggage" will be left out of the brackets for now) will be manned lunar spacecraft and boosters. The latter contain several tens of tons of fuel in order to be guaranteed to send the spacecraft with the astronauts to the departure trajectory to the Moon. For clarity: the "Proton-M" launch vehicle injects 22 tons of cargo into the near-earth orbit, and 7 tons to the moon. Soviet Energia - 100 and 32 tons of cargo, respectively. Therefore, the closer we are to the Moon, the greater the need for a super-heavy launch vehicle. After all, the annual freight traffic between the earth's and lunar orbits can be measured in tens and hundreds of tons, until it goes into thousands.
On the second try
According to preliminary information, the assembly of LOKS is planned to be carried out directly in the lunar orbit. Although it would be much easier on near-Earth. And then, with the help of a powerful tugboat, they would have abandoned the station, already complete, closer to the Moon.
Obviously, the LOKS will last at least 25 years (by analogy with the ISS), and with a planned upgrade of the modules, it will last much longer. Crews from Earth will arrive here and takeoff and landing modules will go to the Moon from here. A transshipment base for lunar colonies-settlements will appear here when the development of the resources of our natural satellite begins. In general, the prospects are looming.
It is expected that by the middle of the next decade, LOKS will start operating as planned. For Russia, this will be the second attempt to achieve the cherished goal after the offensive, absolutely unreasonable closure of the Soviet lunar program. I would like to believe that this time we will be successful.
