The American aerospace agency NASA is going to abandon the use of Russian manned transport spacecraft "Soyuz-TMA" in favor of similar vehicles of its own production. Currently, American astronauts are airlifted aboard the ISS by Russian Soyuz. In the coming weeks, NASA may sign a contract with one of the private American firms for the construction of space shuttles that will be used for flights to the ISS. This is done in order to avoid dependence on Russian spacecraft and Soyuz rockets.
According to The Washington Post, the conclusion of a multibillion-dollar contract for the construction of American spaceships will breathe new strength into the US space program, which is experiencing certain difficulties. The journalists of the publication write that instead of paying 70 million dollars for a seat in the Soyuz, this contract will allow the United States to send astronauts into space from the United States for the first time in many years.
According to the newspaper, currently there are three main competing companies for the conclusion of this contract. We are talking about two newcomers to the space industry - Sierra Nevada and SpaceX, as well as an industry veteran like Boeing. While Boeing and SpaceX are working on a capsule to deliver American astronauts into orbit, a third company, Sierra Nevada, is creating what is probably the most interesting proposal so far. This is a space plane that resembles a scaled-down model of a space shuttle and can be used from conventional runways.
Soyuz-TMA
The Washington Post reporters emphasize that the launch of the first crew in the new American spacecraft was scheduled for 2015, but due to problems with budget funding, it was postponed to 2017. The US aerospace agency expects the new shuttle to be able to make an average of two trips to the ISS each year. At the same time, the newspaper does not disclose the sources from which they received this information.
The idea of sending astronauts to the ISS on "their" spaceships has been stirring up the minds of the American aerospace community for a long time. Talk about this began after the Space Shuttle's manned program was finally phased out in the past decade. These ships were very interesting in their own way, but their operation, apparently, was very expensive even for the American budget. For this reason, over the past few years, the Americans have been flying to the ISS only with the help of Russian Soyuz spacecraft. At the same time, the contract for the implementation of such transportation between Roscosmos and NASA is constantly being extended.
The latest version of this contract is valid until the end of 2020. This date is not accidental, since the Russian Federation does not yet see the need to extend the operation of the station after the end of the current decade. At the same time, the ISS is indeed an important object for the United States. The sanctions that Washington imposed on the Russian space industry even before the exacerbation of the situation in Ukraine - in the summer of 2013, had no effect on the flights of American astronauts to the ISS. Even as large-scale hostilities began in eastern Ukraine, the United States and Russia continued to fulfill their contractual obligations to deliver astronauts aboard the ISS. Although, after increasing pressure on Russia, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, in his usual manner, threatened American politicians that if the situation develops in this vein, the Americans will have to send their astronauts to the International Space Station on a trampoline.
Dragon v2
At the same time, using the events taking place in Ukraine as a pretext, aerospace companies from the United States probably began to put pressure on the aerospace agency and the government of the country, demanding increased funding for space programs that are aimed at developing American space delivery vehicles. Most likely, the publication in The Washington Post should be viewed as an element of information pressure, the Russian newspaper Expert notes.
Currently, one of the main contenders for concluding a billion-dollar contract with NASA is the young company SpaceX. The company, which was founded by billionaire Elon Musk, held the first presentation of its updated Dragon spacecraft - Dragon V2 at the end of May 2014. According to the creators of this device, it can deliver a crew of 7 astronauts to the ISS, and then return them back to Earth, landing anywhere in the world. It was emphasized at the presentation that Dragon V2 is a reusable ship.
The Dragon V2 spacecraft was designed with financial support from NASA. His first flight with astronauts to the ISS was supposed to take place next year, but was postponed to 2017. During his presentation, the cost of one seat in this spacecraft was announced - $ 20 million. It is planned that the spacecraft will be used not only for the delivery of American astronauts to the ISS, but also for visiting the space station by scientists and wealthy space tourists from different countries. It is Dragon V2 that NASA is currently considering as a direct replacement for the domestic Soyuz spacecraft.
Soyuz-FG launch vehicle
On the one hand, American successes in this direction are obvious. The American industry has indeed practically completed work on the creation of a very cheap (in terms of place) "semi-business". "Semi-finished" because the Dragon device can only independently descend from orbit, where it is launched by the new disposable Falcon 9 launch vehicle. And it is this rocket that is fraught with a latent threat.
At the moment, to deliver people into space, the whole world (with the exception of China) uses exclusively the Soyuz carrier rocket with the spacecraft of the same name on board. This commitment to Russian space products is not accidental. Since Yuri Gagarin's space flight, Russian (formerly Soviet) spacecraft and their delivery vehicles have been the most reliable on the planet. For the past 20 years, the Soyuz-U rocket has been used for these purposes. This booster rocket with 850 successful launches has only 21 failures (all unsuccessful launches occurred only with the cargo, not a single case with astronauts). Another Russian rocket, Soyuz-FG, which was specially designed to launch Soyuz-TMA spacecraft and cargo Progress vehicles to the ISS, has already completed 48 successful launches out of 48 since the beginning of the 21st century. Reliability confirmed by long-term operation.
At the same time, the American Falcon 9 rocket, which is also produced by SpaceX, managed to make only 4 launches with the Dragon cargo spacecraft on board. The difference, as they say, is obvious. In this case, if NASA really decides ahead of time (before the accumulation of reliable statistics of accident-free flights) to transfer from the Soyuz to the American spacecraft and their delivery vehicles to orbit being created now, the risk to the lives of astronauts seems to be quite serious.
Falcon 9 launch vehicle
Rocket engines from Russia are also looking for replacements
The United States would like to abandon not only the forced use of Soyuz, but also from Russian rocket engines. The US Air Force command has issued a request for information on rocket engines that will be used on US launch vehicles to deliver various cargoes into orbit. According to Defense News, the new rocket engines should replace the RD-180 - Russian-made closed-cycle liquid-propellant rocket engines, although this is not directly reported in the promulgated request.
The US military is ready to consider various options, including the production or creation of analogues of the RD-180, or the development of rocket engines of a different type that could be used with promising EELV launch vehicles. According to the published requirements of the US military, the new rocket engines should be relatively inexpensive, commercially viable for use on launch vehicles, and reasonably efficient.
It is reported that proposals from development companies will be accepted until September 19 of this year. After this date, it is planned to hold a tender for the creation and supply of rocket engines. At the end of May 2014, the relevant US Senate Committee on the Armed Forces had already come forward with a proposal to allocate $ 100 million for the creation in the United States of a rocket engine that could replace the engines purchased in Russia.
Currently, the United States is forced to regularly purchase RD-180 rocket engines in our country, which are used in America on Atlas V rockets created by Lockheed Martin. On August 21, information appeared that the first 2 rocket engines RD-180 were received by the American company United Launch Alliance. Engines from Russia were supplied under the concluded contract for the production of 29 rocket engines of this type. At the same time, this is the first delivery of RD-180 power plants after the annexation of the territory of Crimea to Russia.
Currently, the production of rocket engines RD-180 is carried out by the Russian scientific and production association "Energomash" them. Glushko. These rocket engines use kerosene as fuel, and oxygen acts as an oxidizing agent. The running time of these motors is 270 seconds. One such engine is capable of developing 390.2 ton-force at sea level and 423.4 ton-force in vacuum. The total mass of the engine is 5, 9 tons, diameter - 3, 2 meters, height - 3, 6 meters.
