Roscosmos Head Vladimir Popovkin announced the plan in remarks before the State Duma, according to Interfax. The report doesn’t say why the move is being made, but it appears to be an attempt by the Russian space agency to tighten control over the industry.

Khrunichev produces the Proton and Rockot launch vehicles as well as the Briz (Breeze) upper stage. The company is also developing the Angara rocket, a family of boosters designed to loft light to heavy payloads that will replace several existing launch vehicles.

The move will affect the rocket company and its subsidiaries. During the 2000′s, Khrunichev absorbed a number of its key suppliers as part of effort to vertically integrate the nation’s space industry. According to Wikipedia, those companies included:

• PO Polyot, a rocket manufacturer located in Omsk
• Proton-PM, an engine maker located in Perm
• Voronezh Mechanical Plant, which manufactures engines for Proton Stages II and III, Soyuz Stage III and Zenit upper stage.
• KBKhM, manufacturer of propulsion systems for the Breeze upper stage
• KBKhA, a contractor for production and design issues.

Khrunichev is the majority shareholder in International Launch Services, a Virginia-based company that markets Proton launches globally. The Eurockot GmBH joint venture handles international marketing for the Rockot booster, which is a converted ballistic missile that launches small spacecraft.

The Proton is a major player in the international launch market, bringing in about $4.3 billion in revenues since 1994. This year, that told was expected to increase to $6 billion.

The Angara rocket family. (Credit: Allocer)

Russia’s long-delayed Angara family of rockets will finally take to the skies above the Plesetsk Cosmodrome beginning in 2013, according to Vladimir Nesterov, general director of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center.

Speaking to reporters at Baikonur on Saturday, Nesterov also said that the third flight of South Korea’s KSLV-1 rocket, which uses the Angara first stage, will take place during the second half of next year.

Nesterov said the Angara 1.2 rocket, which can lift 3.7 metric tons into low Earth orbit (LEO), would fly during the first half of the year. This launch would be followed by a flight of the heavier Angara 5 rocket, which is designed to launch between 18-28.5 metric tons to LEO depending upon which version is used.

“Both [launches] are feeling good, I am absolutely certain. So far we see no reason not to fulfill the president’s decree,” Nesterov said.

The Angara is a modular series of rockets designed to replace several existing boosters. The largest, Angara 7, will be able to send a payload of 40.5 metric tons to LEO. The first Angara was supposed to fly by the mid-2000s, but the program has suffered numerous delays due to funding and other issues.

Nesterov said that the third flight of South Korea’s KSLV-1 rocket would likely take place in August or September 2012. The rocket is composed of the first stage of the Angara booster and a South Korean upper stage.

The first two flights failed. On the inaugural launch in August 2009, both stages performed as planned. However, half of the satellite’s protective cover stayed attached to the second stage instead of separating, causing the vehicle to fall into the sea.

The failure of the second flight in June 2010 is a mystery. The rocket was lost after 2 minutes and 17 seconds, although officials have had a difficult time determining precisely why, with each side blaming the other.  During the press conference, Nesterov said that an independent commission was still examining the failure and would make its findings public at a future date.

Total Launches: 74
Successes: 70
Failures: 4

Launch Breakdown

• Russia — 31 launches (42 percent)
• United States – 15 launches (20.3 percent)
• China – 15 launches (20.3 percent)
• ESA (Arianespace) – 6 launches (8.1 percent)
• India – 3 launches (4 percent)
• Japan — 2 launches (2.7 percent)
• South Korea – 1 launch (1.35 percent)
• Israel – 1 launch (1.35 percent)

Launch Failures

India — 2 (GSLV)
Russia – 1 (Proton)
Korea – 1 (KSLV-1)

Russian Breakdown

Out of 31 Russia’s launches, 15 have been made by the rockets produced by Khrunichev Space Center, including 12 of heavy-lift Proton. That is two times more than for Proton’s rival, Ariane 5.

Proton has also beat another record, making 29 launches within 29 months.

Angara rocket engine test

VIA ROSCOSMOS PAO

NITS RKP, Peresvet, completed firing tests of Universal Rocket Module URM-2 for Angara launcher.

Cold testing of URM-2 with kerosene filling, as well as totally-filled system tests, had been conducted successfully. The firing test, aimed at confirming URM proper operation as a part of Angara’s third stage, took place on Nov. 18 at test bench 102 (TB-102), the largest test bench in Europe.

URM-2 is to be used in the third stage of the rocket. The first and second sessions of the cold firing tests have been completed in June-July.

Angara’s URM-1 bench tests were completed in 2009.

Development of the Angara launcher is the high-priority national objective. Angara‘s customers are Russian Federal Space Agency and the Ministry of Defense. Khrunichev Space Center is the prime contractor in the project.

And in related news….

Russia’s advanced super heavy-lift launcher to use modified propulsion of Energia rocket developed under Energia-Buran project, KBKhA DG Vladimir Rachuk told Interfax-AVN.

He reminded that oxygen-hydrogen engine RD-0120 designed by KBKhA was used in Energia project. Development of the advanced super heavy-lift launcher is to begin in 2018.

The Korea Times has a story about the stalemate between KARI and Russia’s Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center over a possible third launch of the KSLV-1 (Naro-1) rocket, which has failed in its only two launch attempts.

The dispute centers on what failed during the second launch attempt on June 10: Khrunichev’s first stage booster or the South Korean-built second stage. KARI believes that the first stage failed, so Khrunichev should provide a third launch vehicle at its own cost for a flight next year. But the Russian firm disagrees.

In its first launch in August last year, the rocket achieved its desired speed and height, but failed to deliver its payload satellite into orbit.

The Russians are under contract to provide at least two launches, and a possible third should their technology related to the KSLV-I first-stage be found responsible for the failure of any of the first two attempts. KARI took the blame for the bungled first launch, and tension has been evident in the FRB meetings over the failure of the second launch, as the Koreans attempt to rope in their Russian counterparts for a third try sometime next year.

Observers believe there is a possibility that the Khrunichev Center, which clearly holds the leverages in the talks, may only commit to a third launch should Korea agrees to pay for it.

Buying a new rocket from the Russians will cost about 200 billion won, according to ministry officials, and some experts wonder whether the money will be better spent if the country just skips on the third launch and goes directly for the KSLV-II, which is aimed to be an indigenous rocket. The KSLV-II, which will be capable of carrying a bigger satellite than its predecessor, is slated for its maiden flight around 2020.

A Korean official said an agreement had been reached between the two parties over a third launch, but he would not disclose details citing confidentiality requirements.

Complicating the discussions is the fact that Khrunichev has “clearly approached the Korean rocket project as an experiment on course of developing their next-generation Angara rockets.” The Russians may want to just move on to building and testing Angara, which shares many of the same structural elements with the KSLV-1 first stage. Angara’s second stage is being paid for by the French, which has funded upgrades to the Soyuz variant that will soon begin flying out of Kourou.

Meanwhile, the inaugural launch of the first Angara keeps slipping. Originally planned for next year, it has now been delayed until 2013 due to financial issues.

“Vladimir Nesterov, head of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, said the rocket assembly would be completed in the first quarter of 2011, adding that the first-stage engine was “99% ready” and the second-stage engine had already been tested three times.

He said the only problem that could affect the schedule of tests was delays in the purchase of ground-based equipment that the center was unable to order due to underfunding….

The main purpose of the Angara rocket family is to give Russia independent access to space. The rockets will reduce Russia’s dependence on the Baikonur space center it leases from Kazakhstan by allowing the launch of heavy payloads from more northerly sites such as Plesetsk and a new space center in Russia’s Far East.

Angara is being designed as a family of rockets with a common core that would be capable of lifting 1 to 75 metric tons to orbit. It would replace several existing boosters, some of which are not made in Russia.

Russia completes engine tests for Angara rocket
RIA Novosti

Russia has successfully completed bench trials of the first stage of the new Angara carrier rocket, Russia’s Khrunichev Space and Research Center said on Friday.

The family of Angara rockets will complement, and eventually replace, the existing line of Rockot and Proton launch vehicles. It will be available in a range of configurations capable of lifting between from 2 to 24.5 metric tons into low-earth orbit, and its creators say it will have a low environment impact.

The Angara is intended mainly for launch from the Plesetsk space center to reduce Moscow’s dependence on Kazakhstan’s Baikonur, the main launch facility for the current generation of Russian rockets.

Read the full story.

Russia could delay maiden launch of Angara rocket
RIA Novosti

The maiden launch of Russia’s new Angara carrier rocket could be postponed for at least one year due to shortage of funds from the Defense Ministry, the top Russian space official said Wednesday.

The Angara rocket, currently under development by the Khrunichev center, is designed to put heavy payloads into orbit. The launch facilities were expected to be finished by 2010, and the first launch had been originally scheduled for 2011.

“There is a serious delay in the construction of launch facilities [for Angara] due to the shortage of financing from the Defense Ministry. We are doing everything we can on our part,” said Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos.

The new line of Angara rockets will complement, and eventually replace, the existing line of Rockot and Proton launch vehicles. It will be available in a range of configurations capable of lifting between two and 24.5 metric tons into low-earth orbit, and its creators say it will have a low environment impact.

Read the full story.

On  1 October another test firing of the Universal Rocket Module (URM)-1 for Russia’s  Angara family of launch vehicles – currently under development – took place at the Rocket & Space Industry Research & Testing Center near Moscow.

The URM-1 test article was fired at a specially built test stand, the largest in Europe, to verify the engine performance at its maximum power level. The test, which lasted 203.4 seconds, was the second in a series of firing tests planned for the URM-1.

The first test was successfully conducted at this site on 30 July 2009. The next step in the development program will involve testing at maximum operating pressure a pneumatic and hydraulic system that supplies fuel to the engine.

The Khrunichev Space Center is the prime contractor for the Angara Space Rocket Complex and is responsible for its design, development and testing. The Angara family consists of small, medium and heavy lift boosters.

The development of the Angara family of boosters is a task of national importance. Angara’s performance characteristics are expected to compete successfully with the world’s best launcher systems.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accepted the Government’s offer to transfer 100 percent of the federally–owned shares of the Voronezh–based open joint stock company “Konstruktorskoe Buro Khimavtomatiky” (OSC KBKhA) to the state-run research and production Khrunichev Space Center (KhSC).

The decision is another major step towards the reorganization of KhSC into a large integrated structure which groups together a number of closely cooperating developers and manufacturers of the company’s main products. The KhSC restructuring is aimed at retaining and further developing research and development & production base within the group to ensure consistent quality and increased production of the company’s product lines. The main purpose of the integration is to strengthen Russian space industry’s competitive positions in the global space launch market.

In February 2007, after other four enterprises – the Voronezh Mechanical Plant, A.M. Isaev Chemical Engineering Design Bureau (also known as “Khimmash,” in Korolev, Moscow Region), Moscow Enterprise for Equipment Configuration “Dlina” and Production Association “Polyot” (in Omsk) – joined the company as new branches, Khrunichev turned into the largest Russian space industry’s entity. In addition, in 2008 Khrunichev gained controlling interest of Proton-Permskiye Motory, an Omsk-based company, which specializes in RD-275 liquid rocket engines used as part of heavy-lift Proton M Stage 1 propulsion system).

KBKhA – one of the world leaders in development of liquid rocket engines, participant of all Russian-based manned space flight programs. KBKhA today is a modern scientific and manufacturing incorporation operating within the whole development cycle of liquid rocket engines (LRE) for military rockets, scientific and commercial launch vehicles. Apart from other advanced projects, KBKhA is in process of developing LRE RD0124A to be used in second/third stage of “Angara” LV family to orbit a space apparatus of a heavy class from Russian Spaceports.

Angara rocket engine test

KHRUNICHEV PRESS RELEASE

On 30 July 2009 the Universal Rocket Module URM-1 for the prospective Angara family of launch vehicles was successfully fire-tested at the Rocket & Space Industry Research & Testing Center near Moscow.

Fire-testing is a mandatory phase of ground-based development cycle for any similar space industry articles.

The objective is to conduct comprehensive checkouts of URM-1 in order to validate its functionality and expected performance as Angara’s 1st Stage and check out the algorithm and timeline for ground processing of flight launch vehicles.

URM-1 fire tests on the IS-102 Test Bed were the culmination of lengthy previous efforts which including:

• developmental bench-testing of full-size LV mockups, and
• setting up the IS-102 Test Bed and its joint testing with URM-1 during which so-called cold bench-testing was performed.

On 29 April 2009 the facility hosted Cycle 1 of URM-1 cold tests whereby the oxidizer tank was filled with about 100MT of LOX. They include comprehensive tests of the (i) pneumatic and hydraulic system (PHS) which supplies fuel to the engine, and (ii) PHS control algorithms using full-scale fuel cryogenic component (LOX).

On 18 June 2009 Cycle 2 tests were held using both propellant components. At that point the fuel-supply PHS was comprehensively bench-tested for functionality in the conditions of propellant and oxidizer being supplied under pressure into the respective tanks. The objective was to verify reliability and safety in the run-up to fire-testing and obtain experimental data to validate the system’s design characteristics.

The Khrunichev Space Center is the prime contractor for the Angara Space Rocket Complex and is responsible for its design, development and testing. The Angara family will boast the small-, medium- and heavy-lift boosters.

The development of the Angara family of boosters is a task of national importance. Angara’s performance characteristics are expected to compete successfully with the world’s best launcher systems.

Fourteen years after the start of development, Russia’s Angara rocket needs a cash injection of billions more roubles to deliver the planned 2011 first flights of its 1.2 and A5 versions.

Vladimir Nesterov, director general of Angara’s prime contractor Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, told Flight International: “When Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin toured [our company] on 18 April, [we] came forward with a request for additional funding in 2009-11 to complete the Angara complex. The figure of Rb10 billion [$302 million] was mentioned.”

Nesterov declines to give any figures on how much the Angara family has so far cost and how much more it is likely to cost before its first flights, but the company says there are no “big technical, organisational or production” issues to push back the flight dates.

Read the full story.