The newest Russian missile "Angara", which should become the first domestic carrier of its own design, is not yet ready. The Angara, which was to be launched first on Wednesday 25 June and then on Friday 27 June, did not fly on a reserve day - Saturday 28 June. Information that the first test flight from the Plesetsk cosmodrome will not take place appeared on Saturday at about noon. "Angara" was removed from the launch complex, the rocket was transferred to a technical position, where its comprehensive analysis will be carried out. After all the remarks have been eliminated, a new launch date will be announced, the Center specialists inform them. Khrunichev.
The new Russian rocket was developed by specialists from the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center; its production is being carried out by the Omsk branch of the enterprise, PO Polet. The rocket was to be launched on June 27 from the complex at the Plesetsk cosmodrome, which was specially built for this type of carrier rockets. However, for some reason, 40 seconds before the start, the automatic launch cancellation system worked. A number of experts have already suggested that the reason may be hiding in the rush in which the complex has been built recently, in order to make up for the six-month backlog of the schedule. The military themselves do not hide the fact that there were lags. According to Kommersant, the first ever launch of the Angara-1.2PP light rocket could have failed due to an unclosed valve in the fuel line of the rocket's first stage engine.
Work on the creation of ground infrastructure for the Angara space rocket complex at the Plesetsk cosmodrome was carried out in two main directions: the creation of a universal launch complex intended for carrier rockets of this type and the creation of a technical complex for the preparation of the Angara launch vehicle. In the course of work on the creation of ground infrastructure for the use of the KKK in some areas of work, the backlog reached 6 months, according to the official website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
To eliminate this lag, construction work at the new space complex was taken under personal control by Sergei Shoigu. To directly monitor all construction and commissioning works, a special video surveillance system was installed in Plesetsk, which made it possible to monitor in real time the progress of work on the creation of all the necessary ground infrastructure on a daily basis. At the same time, this issue became one of the priorities and was raised at all conference calls with the participation of the leadership of the Russian armed forces. Thanks to the hard work of the Plesetsk cosmodrome, the command of the Aerospace Defense Forces and the specialized departments of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the backlog in terms of work was eliminated.
The launch of the Angara-1.2PP light rocket could be called one of the main space events of 2014. To understand how important this launch is, it is enough to recall that the last time a new rocket was launched was on May 15, 1987, 27 years have passed since that day. Then, as now, it was an extraordinary event in the life of the whole country. Mikhail Gorbachev, who at that time was the president of the USSR, was not too lazy to personally fly to the Baikonur cosmodrome to witness the launch of the Energia launch vehicle.which was supposed to launch the Soviet military satellite "Polyus" into orbit (a response to the US SDI program - Strategic Defense Initiative). The rocket launched successfully, but the satellite did not reach the calculated orbit, and as a result was flooded in the ocean.
In June 2014, the newest domestic rocket (just in case without satellites), which would demonstrate the full power of modern Russia, was launched live. As part of the videoconference, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu personally reported to President Vladimir Putin that Russia's lease of the Baikonur cosmodrome limits the country's capabilities as a space power. To expand them, a new launch complex "Angara" was built in Plesetsk. Vladimir Putin listened to the minister attentively. This process was broadcast live for journalists gathered at the Kremlin press center. In turn, the TV channel "Russia 24" showed the launch of "Angara" live. This show was initiated by the Russian Ministry of Defense: apparently, the ministry was absolutely sure that the launch of the rocket would be successful. The purpose of the first test flight of the rocket, which ultimately did not take place, was the launch of the second stage of the rocket with a mass and size model of the payload inseparable from it onto the ballistic flight trajectory, followed by the fall of parts of the rocket in Kamchatka.
With a new family of missiles, the development of which has dragged on for more than 20 years, our country will receive another method of delivering cargo to low-earth and high geostationary orbits. At the same time, it is very important that Russia will be able to carry out such launches without coordinating them with a third party (Kazakhstan), and in the production of Angara missiles, Roskosmos does not depend on third-party contractors.
In order to reduce the dependence of the domestic rocket and space complex on imported components and technologies, as well as for reasons of strategic security, the Angara launch vehicle was designed and manufactured exclusively by our country's enterprises. In the future, it is planned to put into operation a whole family of these missiles, ranging from light to heavy class with a carrying capacity of 3, 8 to 35 tons. The rockets of this class will be based on universal rocket modules, which are equipped with environmentally friendly engines running on oxygen and kerosene. At the initial stage, the launches are planned to be carried out from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, and later from the Vostochny cosmodrome, which is under construction.
Earlier, at the Plesetsk cosmodrome, they have already tested the ground part of the Angara spacecraft, consisting of launch and technical complexes, which are designed to launch satellites weighing from 2 to 24.5 tons into low, medium, high circular and elliptical orbits. class will not use toxic and corrosive rocket fuel based on heptyl. This will increase the environmental safety of the entire complex directly at the cosmodrome itself, as well as in the places where the Angara parts fell. It is environmental friendliness that is called one of the main advantages of the project. They also emphasize modularity and the use of standard blocks, from which you can assemble missiles of different classes - from light to heavy.
Commenting on the cancellation of the launch, the writer and space specialist Sergei Leskov stressed that it would only be worse if the rocket exploded during launch, and this has happened in our history. For example, the powerful H1 rocket, which was made in the 1960s-1970s, smashed the entire launch pad 4 times. The fact that the automatics went off on June 27 indicates that these systems in our country are quite reliable. Not a single rocket in the world flew the first time. For example, the famous king's "seven" took off only from the seventh time.
Launch vehicle "Angara"
The uniqueness and importance of the Angara rocket lies in the fact that it is the first civilian rocket in our country, which was created after the death of the brilliant designer Sergei Pavlovich Korolev in 1966. The Proton launch vehicle began to be tested during his lifetime, in 1965, and the rockets of the large Soyuz family are nothing more than a deep modernization and processing of the Korolev's R-7. The state has invested more than 100 billion rubles in Angara, which has been under development for over 20 years.
KRK "Angara" is a completely new generation of launch vehicles on a modular basis, created on the basis of 2 universal rocket modules (URM) equipped with oxygen-kerosene engines: URM-1 and URM-2. The family includes rockets from light to heavy classes in the payload range from 3, 8 to 35 tons (the most powerful Angara-A7 rocket) in low earth orbit. At the same time, the URM is a completely finished structure, which consists of an engine compartment and oxidizer and fuel tanks, connected by a spacer. Each URM has one powerful liquid-propellant jet engine RD-191. This LPRE was created on the basis of the four-chamber engine used on the Energia launch vehicle, as well as the RD-170 and RD-171 engines used on the Zenit launch vehicle.
So, in the composition of the "Angara-1.2" launch vehicles of the light class, only one URM is used. The maximum number of blocks can be a carrier rocket, which is made up of 7 URMs at once - "Angara-A7". The prototype of the first stage of the Angara launch vehicle, the URM-1, has already passed flight tests three times (2009, 2010 and 2013) as part of the KSLV-1 launch vehicle, the first in the history of South Korea. As the upper stages on the Angara-1.2 rocket, the Briz-KM upper stage is used, which was tested as part of the Rokot conversion rocket, and the Briz-M upper stage and KBTK are used on the Angara-A5 rocket. Unique technical solutions and widespread use of unification allow, using one launcher, to launch all carrier rockets of a new family.
The cost of creating the Angara launch vehicle, which has been under development for more than 20 years, as well as the construction of the necessary ground-based launch complexes, are estimated by officials and experts in different ways. Once upon a time it was about 20 billion rubles, but in 2012 Vladimir Popovkin, the former head of Roscosmos, told reporters that the budget had already spent 160 billion rubles on the creation of Angara. At the same time, it is very difficult to name the exact cost of creating this KKK, the whole point is in the long development time. 2014 is a turning point for the rocket, on June 27 the launch of a light rocket of the family was supposed to take place, and the launch of a heavy version of the rocket is scheduled for the end of the year. In addition, at the Vostochny cosmodrome, located in the Amur Region, another launch pad for this type of rockets is under construction. The first launch of the Angara rocket from the new Russian cosmodrome is scheduled for 2015.
