S7 Space (legal name S7 Space Transport Systems LLC) is the first private commercial company in Russia, the main activity of which is launching rockets and putting various space objects into Earth's orbit. She is the operator of the Sea Launch and Land Launch projects. The company has already announced its ambitions. In particular, S7 Space has become the full-fledged owner of the Sea Launch floating cosmodrome and seriously expects to compete with Elon Musk and his private space company SpaceX in the United States. Sergey Sopov, CEO of S7 Space, spoke about this in an interview with RIA Novosti in April 2018.
In March 2018, the Russian holding company S7 Group completely closed the deal for the acquisition of the Sea Launch floating cosmodrome in California. The company announced its plans in this regard 1.5 years ago. At a press conference that took place then, journalists actively asked the co-owner of the holding, Vladislav Filev, whether there are risks that Ukraine will refuse to supply Zenit missiles even to a private company from Russia. As a result, it turned out that the risks were on the other side: S7 Space was able to obtain permits from the United States and Ukraine, but the order of the Russian government on the supply of Russian components to Ukraine has been waiting for the company for many months.
The issue of a resolution was in limbo due to the change in the Russian government, while the general director of S7 Space, Sergei Sopov, hopes to resolve the situation. According to him, the company has already placed an order for 12 Zenit missiles and is ready to launch the re-activation of the Sea Launch project at any time. At the same time, we are talking only about the first steps of a private Russian space company. In addition, S7 Space is seriously considering the possibility of ground-based space launches, dreams of creating its own plant for the production of rocket engines in order to create a reusable launch vehicle, and also proposes not to sink the ISS segment owned by Russia in 2024. The company wants to lease this segment in order to build an orbital spaceport on its basis.
In order to carry out the first space launch from Sea Launch, as planned - in December 2019, the company must receive the first Zenit rocket before the end of 2018. According to Sergei Sopov, the company is meeting the deadline. After receiving permission from Ukraine in the spring of 2017, a contract was immediately signed with Yuzhmash for 12 sets of stages of the Zenit launch vehicle. The production of the missiles was funded at $ 24 million. Currently, the Ukrainian plant has three almost completely ready-made sets of "Zenith", they are there without Russian control systems and engines.
The restoration of the Sea Launch complex and its withdrawal from the conservation of S7 Space will have to spend about $ 30 million. But the company is waiting for the issue of the launch vehicle to be resolved, since to date they have already invested about 160 million dollars for the purchase of Sea Launch and the release of missiles. According to Sopov, in order to bring the complex to a fully operational state, it is necessary to overhaul the command ship in dry dock, since the ship and launch platform have been in partial conservation since 2014. It will take about 1, 5 years for maintenance, repair and elimination of all comments.
Sea Launch is a commercial international project of a sea-based rocket and space complex. To bring it to life in 1995, a company of the same name was created. Its founders then were the Russian RSC Energia, the American corporation Boeing, the shipbuilding enterprise from Norway Kvaerner (today Aker Solutions), KB Yuzhnoye and PO Yuzhmash from Ukraine. The project was implemented, but in the summer of 2009 it faced the first serious problems, the Sea Launch company filed for bankruptcy. After the reorganization procedure in 2010, the Russian company RSC Energia began to play a leading role in the project, but in 2014 the launches were completely suspended. This was largely due to a serious deterioration in relations between Russia and Ukraine.
At the end of September 2016, the Russian group of companies S7 signed a contract with the Sea Launch group to acquire the Sea Launch project. The deal then concluded was the Sea Launch Commander, the floating launch platform Odyssey, ground equipment located in the port of Long Beach, California, and the Sea Launch trademark. If all goes according to plan, launches from the floating cosmodrome will be resumed at the end of 2019.
Difficulties with the Sea Launch rocket
Difficulties with missiles for the Sea Launch project forced S7 Space in June 2018 to announce its readiness to revive the production of Soviet NK-33 rocket engines to create its own reusable rocket. S7 Space hoped to get permission from the Russian government to supply domestic components to restore the production of Zenit launch vehicles in Ukraine, but this permission is being delayed indefinitely. Without such permission, Roskosmos is not ready to sell parts for Zenit missiles to the Russian company S7 Space, knowing that they will then be sent to Ukraine.
To replace Zenit, the Russian state corporation offered a Soyuz-5 rocket with an RD-171 engine. But this rocket does not suit S7 Space for economic reasons, although, in fact, it acts as a domestic clone of the former well-deserved Soviet rocket. At the same time, the management of S7 Space harshly criticized the Soyuz-5 rocket. In an interview with the Vedomosti newspaper, Sergei Sopov said that the company does not need a repetition of the Zenit missile, which was created 40 years ago, regardless of whether it is a good or bad missile. Repetition of the past is the way in the opposite direction, not even marking time in one place. S7 Space hopes to get a modern and promising means of launching cargo into orbit, which would be based on principles that are understandable for business. These principles are as follows: a fully reusable space transport system is required (at the first stage, it can be partially reusable). Some believe that a cheap rocket can be effective in a disposable version - nothing of the kind, says Sopov. A disposable carrier today is a disposable aircraft. Elon Musk showed everyone a new approach to rocketry: reusability. An effective rocket of the future must be precisely reusable and have a resource of used elements for 50-100 launches.
That is why the company is not ready to invest in yesterday's project, S7 Space needs a cost-effective modern launch vehicle that could be used in 5-6 years instead of Zenit rockets. At the same time, the appearance of such a rocket is being discussed jointly with RSC Energia, for this the companies have created a special working group.
The way out of the current impasse for the first Russian private space company was the decision to invest 300 million dollars in the restoration of production in Russia of the former Soviet pride in the field of rocket propulsion - NK-33, this engine was developed for the Soviet lunar program and has the potential for reusability. To resume their production, cooperation with PJSC Kuznetsov from Samara is required, this enterprise acts as the owner of all intellectual property for the NK-33 engine and has the necessary production site, as well as a stock of several dozen such engines that were assembled back in the 1970s … Most likely, in order to resume production, it will be necessary to create a separate joint venture with the allocation of production sites to it directly at PJSC Kuznetsov.
Unlike the original Zenith rocket or the future Soyuz-5 rocket, the five-engine NK-33 rocket will be able to make a vertical landing due to the central engine. Therefore, the new rocket can be made reusable, like the brainchild of the American company SpaceX - the Falcon 9 rocket. According to experts, the development of the rocket and the first launches can be carried out in parallel with the resumption of production of new engines. In the scheme "we fly on the old, while new ones are produced", in this case, a new economic sense of reusability appears. If the return to earth of the first stage of the rocket does not immediately provide economic benefits, it will provide the company with engines for the next launch, which will increase the time to create new ones.
It should be noted that the Russian company took into account the lessons of SpaceX's American colleagues on production optimization. Unlike Angara or Proton, whose rocket engines are produced in different cities separately from the design, a rocket powered by NK-33 engines can be produced in one city - a full production cycle can be organized in Samara. The engines for the new rocket will be produced by PJSC Kuznetsov, and the rocket, literally “behind the fence”, will be made at the Progress RCC. At the latter enterprise, the process of launching Soyuz-5 missiles for Roskosmos is to be launched soon; similar structural elements can be produced here for S7 Space as well.
The indicated work will be possible only with the full support of the investor from the state. The support of Roscosmos alone will not be enough. State support can be expressed in various forms: readiness to provide the necessary technical documentation and production facilities; in the timely implementation of contracts and agreements reached; as well as in government orders for launches. At the same time, the state is also interested in creating a private rocket in the country. Thanks to this, a new production facility will appear, assembly of new rocket engines will be organized, high-tech Russian products that are competitive on the world market will be produced, and the capabilities of domestic astronautics will increase. But if state-owned state corporations consider a private company only as an off-budget source of funds, the project will not take off.
When entering the rocket business, S7 Space will automatically have to incur more costs. It is necessary to fight off not only investments made at the start - about $ 160 million, but also $ 300 million invested in rocketry, as well as annual expenses of $ 20-30 million, which will be spent on the operation of the Odyssey launch platform. At the same time, the market value of the new S7 Space rocket should not exceed the cost of the main competitor and current market leader Falcon 9, that is, it should cost less than $ 62 million in the reusable version and $ 70-80 million in the one-time version. Taking into account the "free" of the NK-33 rocket engines, which were produced in Samara with funds from the USSR, such a price level can be kept. So in the 1990s, the NK-33 engines were sold in the United States at $ 1.1 million apiece. For example, the Russian RD-171 engine of the Soyuz-5 launch vehicle is much more expensive, it costs at least $ 10 million. At the first launches, the company will need to be dumped in order to attract the first customers and conduct full flight tests of the new launch vehicle to confirm its reliability.
It's too early to talk about equal competition between American SpaceX and Russian S7 Space. However, there is every opportunity to grow the first private space company in Russia, which will be able to take its share in the international market. However, it must be emphasized that this will only happen with government support. Nowadays, high-ranking officials of Roscosmos like to reproach the American company SpaceX for receiving state support, thus justifying our commercial failures in the international space launch market. However, now there is a window of opportunity when it is possible in practice to prove and show exactly how such state support is provided and how a new product can be brought to the world market directly from the Russian Federation.
Potential competition with Musk
It is necessary to understand that today the Sea Launch cosmodrome is the only high-tech project that, in the current geopolitical realities, unites Moscow and Washington. Today it is a kind of "Soyuz-Apollo". This is a project that, in the years of difficult political relations between the two countries, should demonstrate the possibility of international cooperation between states. At the same time, Sea Launch will have to exist in conditions of very strong competition from the private American space company SpaceX, whose office, by the way, is located only 14 kilometers from the Sea Launch home port, says Sergei Sopov.
According to the general director of S7 Space, this situation is nothing new; it is planned to compete with Elon Musk at the price, convenience and comfort of working with the customer, and the quality of services provided. Sopov stressed that after the first launch, which is scheduled for December 2019, the company expects to carry out about four launches from Sea Launch every year, and in total, over the next 15 years, to conduct about 70 space launches.
At the same time, Sergei Sopov understands that it will be difficult to compete. Especially in the beginning. Now SpaceX has 60 launches in its manifesto, while S7 Space does not yet have one and still does not have rockets. It is very difficult to compete in such conditions. At the same time, Sea Launch has a limitation of technical capabilities - 6 launches per year. This is due to the complex logistics of the project: from the base port in California to the launch point at the equator near Christmas Island - 5200 miles, the distance from Moscow to Vladivostok. The ship will sail there from Los Angeles for 11 days, the launch platform - 15 days. With the exertion of all forces from the Sea Launch, it will be possible to launch up to 7 missiles a year.
The problem of limited space launches has a solution. For this, S7 Space should have its own "Ground Launch" (a project to launch Zenit rockets from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan), which can significantly change the state of affairs. In this way, it is possible to ensure that the rocket is used alone, and its market segments differ. For example, from Baikonur, the Zenit launch vehicle is able to launch into a commercial - geo-transfer orbit - 3, 8 tons of cargo, and when launched from Sea Launch - up to 6, 2 tons due to the optimal position of the platform at the equator. Plus the ability to launch into low and medium orbits up to 16 tons of cargo with a wide range of orbital inclinations. For customers, this choice matters. In this case, S7 Space will indeed be able to compete with the leading participant in the space launch market.
The official website of S7 Space has now published a launch schedule for 2019-2022 from the Odyssey floating platform, which is part of the Sea Launch project. The first launch is scheduled for December 2019, three launches are planned in 2020, and four launches each in 2021 and 2022. Initially, the launches are planned to be carried out with the help of the Zenith rocket, the contract with the Ukrainian Yuzhmash for the construction of 12 missiles was signed in April 2017. The first missiles are expected to be delivered to the Russian company in 2018. Sergei Sopov noted that S7 Space will not abandon the Zenit launch vehicle until the Russian industry prepares a new rocket for the Sea Launch project.
At the same time, according to Sopov, today many, including those working at Roscosmos, mistakenly believe that this project is just a personal matter of the co-owner of S7 Vladislav Filev. However, nowadays, when interest in space and the entire industry has really returned, when the ideas of flights to Mars and the Moon are again heard, and the broadcasts of rocket launches gather an audience comparable to major television shows, the success of the Sea Launch project, or vice versa its failure can directly affect the image of Russia. Perhaps, Roskosmos does not yet see anything special in Sea Launch, considering that this is another secondary space project. At the same time, the West realizes that the restoration of the Sea Launch project and the first launch from the Odyssey platform in 2019 will have a greater resonance in the world than all the failures and successes of Roscosmos in a year, Sergei emphasized. Sopov.
S7 Space plans for the future
The next stage of the company's development, calculated for 2022-2024, is the creation of an orbital spaceport based on the elements and segments of the ISS. Back in 2017, the American corporation Boeing turned to NASA with a proposal to privatize the American segment of the International Space Station with the aim of its subsequent commercial operation. This move is in line with American policy of the past two decades, aimed at commercializing activities in low Earth orbit.
The Russian company plans to create its own orbital spaceport, making it a key element of the promising near-space-deep space transport system. As part of the creation of such a system, the ISS will have to become a full-fledged transshipment base, a transport hub, between our planet and deep space, significantly reducing the total costs of organizing such space flights. With the successful implementation of this project, there will be no need to develop very expensive super-heavy launch vehicles, to transport equipment and fuel from Earth. Everything can be done in orbit: repair equipment, refuel, rest.
This ambitious project is proposed to be implemented in the format of a concession agreement for the domestic segment of the ISS. Also, the main structural element of such an orbital spaceport should be the reusable interorbital tug, which is being created in Russia today, which has a megawatt-class nuclear power plant on board. No one else in the world has such technologies, so Russia should sooner occupy a free niche of transportation in deep space. It is for this reason that the full name of S7 Space sounds like "S7 space transport systems", since the first private Russian space company expects to work not only on the market for services for launching rockets and launching various cargoes into low-earth orbit, but also to transport various cargoes to maintain space infrastructure in Earth's orbit, as well as service interplanetary transport.
