Roscosmos canceled Angara-A5V. How the Angara rocket will explode the world space market - Sergey Korchanov Krk hangara history of creation and construction

Russia has completed comprehensive tests of the universal launch complex of the Angara-A5 heavy-duty launch vehicle. The rocket has already been removed from the launch pad at the Plesetsk cosmodrome. TASS reported this on November 26 with reference to the official representative of the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces, Alexei Zolotukhin. According to him, specialists at the Plesetsk cosmodrome carried out a whole cycle of electrical tests of the units and systems of the launch vehicle and the launch equipment complex, they also tested the system for refueling the Angara launch vehicle with propellant components and checked the readiness of the launch complex for the first launch of a rocket of this class.

At the moment, the Angara-A5 rocket has been removed from the launch pad of the universal launch complex at site No. 35. It was delivered to the installation and testing building of a special technical complex. After completing this procedure, cosmodrome workers began a cycle of technological operations to prepare the rocket for the start of flight tests. The first launch of the Angara-A5 heavy-class rocket is scheduled for December 25, 2014 (tentative launch date). Earlier, on July 9, 2014, after several launch delays, the Angara-1.2PP light launch vehicle was successfully launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome (first launch).

Currently, the creation of the Angara rocket complex is one of the priority areas for the development of the Russian Plesetsk cosmodrome. It is believed that this particular complex should become part of the national system of launch vehicles, which will be based exclusively on Russian scientific and industrial potential. Work on the creation of ground infrastructure facilities for the preparation and launch of Angara launch vehicles is carried out within the framework of the Federal Target Program “Development of Russian Cosmodromes for 2006-2015”.

The Angara complex is being created on the basis of a unified range of light, medium and heavy class launch vehicles. These rockets will be able to launch into space almost the entire range of promising payloads in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense in the entire required range of altitudes and inclined orbits. It is also important that the Angara family of rockets will not use toxic and aggressive types of fuel. According to experts, such a solution will significantly improve the environmental safety of the entire complex both in the region immediately adjacent to the launch site and in those areas in which the separated parts of the launch vehicles will fall.

The main developer and manufacturer of the Angara space rocket complex (SRC) is the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "State Space Research and Production Center named after M.V. Khrunichev". Government customers - the Federal Space Agency and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The creation of the Angara spacecraft complex is a task of special national importance. The commissioning of this missile system will allow the Russian Federation to launch into space any spacecraft of all types from its territory, providing the country with guaranteed and independent access to outer space.

The Angara launch vehicle is a truly new generation of Russian launch vehicles, which is built in a modular manner. These missiles are based on two universal rocket modules (URM) equipped with oxygen-kerosene engines: URM-1 and URM-2. At the same time, the Angara family of rockets includes carriers from light to heavy classes, with a payload capacity ranging from 3.8 to 35 tons (Angara-A7 launch vehicle) in low Earth orbit.

The URM, operating on oxygen + kerosene components, is a complete structure, which consists of fuel and oxidizer tanks, which are interconnected by a spacer, as well as an engine compartment. Each URM-1 is equipped with one sufficiently powerful liquid jet engine (LPRE) RD-191. This engine was created on the basis of a four-chamber engine, which was used on the Energia launch vehicle and is used on Zenit launch vehicles (RD-170 and RD-171 engines). URM-2 is equipped with another main engine - RD-0124A. This is the first liquid-propellant rocket engine that appeared in our country in the post-Soviet period. It is the most highly efficient oxygen-kerosene rocket engine in the world.

As part of the Angara-1.2 light-class launch vehicles, one URM is used. At the same time, the maximum number of modules used is the Angara-A7 heavy launch vehicle, which consists of 7 URM. The Angara first stage prototype (URM-1) was flight tested three times in 2009, 2010 and 2013 as part of the KSLV-1 launch vehicle manufactured in South Korea. As the upper stages on the Angara-1.2 launch vehicle, the Briz-KM upper stage, which was flight tested as part of the Russian Rokot conversion rocket, can be used, and on the Angara-A5 launch vehicle, upper stages are used. Briz-M" and KVTK.

Unique technical solutions and widespread use of unification make it possible to launch all launch vehicles of the Angara family from one launcher. In accordance with the decision of the state commission, the first launch Angara-1.2 light-class launch vehicle with an inseparable payload mock-up carried out a successful launch on July 9, 2014 from the Angara universal launch complex, located in the Arkhangelsk region at the Plesetsk cosmodrome. The first test launch of the rocket was carried out by combat crews of the Aerospace Defense Forces (VKO), as well as industrial enterprises.

All pre-launch operations, the launch itself and the subsequent flight of the Angara-1.2PP rocket took place as usual. At the same time, the Angara-1.2PP launch vehicle consisted of two stages, which were created on the basis of universal rocket modules (URM-1 and URM-2), as well as a payload model weighing 1.43 tons and a head fairing. The propulsion systems use only environmentally friendly fuel components - kerosene and oxygen; the launch vehicle's launch weight is approximately 171 tons.

To organize launches of Angara rockets from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, a special complex was built. It included a launch table (PS - 1 piece) - weight 1185 tons, a cable-refueling tower (KZB - 1 piece) - weight 1700 tons, a universal stand designed for assembling a space warhead with the Briz-M upper stage ( 1 piece) - weight more than 40 tons, as well as transport and installation units for light and heavy class launch vehicles (197 and 400 tons, respectively).

Tactical and technical characteristics of the Angara family launch vehicle (for launch from the Plesetsk cosmodrome):

Light launch vehicle "Angara-1.2":
The launch vehicle's launch weight is 171 tons.
Height - 34.9 m.


The payload mass in the reference orbit (H cr =200 km, i=63°) is 3.8 tons.

Angara-A3 medium-class launch vehicle:
The launch vehicle's launch weight is 481 tons.
Height - 45.8 m.
The first stage is URM-1, liquid rocket engine RD-191.
The second stage is URM-2, liquid rocket engine RD-0124A.
Acceleration block "Breeze-M" or KVSK (Oxygen-hydrogen middle class).
The payload mass in the reference orbit (H cr = 200 km, i=63°) is 14.6 tons.
The payload mass at the GPO (geo-transfer orbit, N = 5500 km, i=25°) is 3.6 tons and 2.4 tons for KVSK and Briz-M, respectively.
The payload mass in GSO (geostationary orbit) is 2.0 tons and 1.0 tons for KVSK and Briz-M, respectively.

Heavy class launch vehicle "Angara-A5":
The launch vehicle's launch weight is 773 tons.
Height - 55.4 m.
The first stage is URM-1, liquid rocket engine RD-191.
The second stage is URM-2, liquid rocket engine RD-0124A.
Upper stage "Breeze-M" or KVTK (Oxygen-hydrogen heavy class).
The payload mass in the reference orbit (H cr = 200 km, i=63°) is 24.5 tons.
The payload mass at the GPO (geo-transfer orbit, N = 5500 km, i=25°) is 7.5 tons and 5.4 tons for KVTK and Briz-M, respectively.
The payload mass in GSO (geostationary orbit) is 4.6 tons and 3.0 tons for KVTK and Briz-M, respectively.

Heavy class launch vehicle "Angara-A7":
Launch weight of the launch vehicle - 1133 tons.
Height - 65.7 m.
The first stage is URM-1, liquid rocket engine RD-191.
The second stage is URM-2, liquid rocket engine RD-0124A.
Acceleration block KVTK-A7.
The payload mass in the reference orbit (H cr = 200 km, i=63°) is 35 tons.
The payload mass at the GPO (geo-transfer orbit, N = 5500 km, i=25°) is 12.5 tons with KVTK-A7.
Payload mass in GSO (geostationary orbit) is 7.6 tons with KVTK-A7.

“At a superficial glance, the Angara A5 and Falcon 9 are very similar. Both have oxygen-kerosene fuel. Both rockets belong to the heavy class, the Angara A5 can even lift more into low Earth orbit: 25.8 tons versus the American 22.8 T. "

Firstly, they differ in design and layout. Falcon 9 is a pure tandem, like Proton-M or Zenit, but the first and second stages of Angara-A5 are placed according to a package scheme, and begin to work in parallel, like Soyuz or Ariane-5.

Secondly, fuel. As will be clearly seen below, V. Egorov includes in the number of stages of the launch vehicle the upper stage, which in foreign practice is called the upper stage, and for the Angara-A5 he means not only the modification of the upper stage "DM", but also the upper stage "Briz-M" , which uses AT and UDMH as the main fuel components, so it cannot be called purely oxygen-kerosene.

Thirdly, the output mass of the payload for the Angara - it is not clear where the figure was taken from and which cosmodrome it is tied to. Also, its PN on the GPO is not mentioned, since we are talking about the commercial market, in which a significant share is still made up of services for launching heavy communication satellites. Of course, in the future, the situation will most likely change due to the massive deployment of low-orbit communication systems, but for now we will talk about the current moment and not make predictions. However, it is with the GPO and GSO (the ultimate goal of communication satellites launched on the GPO) that the main subtleties in the differences between these two launch vehicles are associated.

"Number of workers
Khrunichev Center - 40 thousand
SpaceX - 8 thousand"

You can immediately say that the author uses extremely outdated figures about the M.V. Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. Current information is posted on the Center’s website in the Information section in accordance with information disclosure standards in
Annual financial statements for 2017, to save time and traffic of dear readers, I will provide a specific page with the number of employees:

"Price
“Angara A5” - about $100 million
Falcon 9 - about $70 million (one-time option)"

It is unclear whether the Angara-A5 shown refers to a serial product, or to the only one that flew. In addition, the effect of scale may not have been taken into account when launching into series - the price of the same RD-191 can be significantly reduced at 100 per year, while now it is practically a piece product.

"Number of rocket stages
“Angara A5” - 4 stages
Falcon 9 - 2 stages"

Here we will have to make a short theoretical excursion regarding the intended purpose of missiles and the impact on their energy production of the latitude of the launch points and their geographical location.
What does a typical scheme for insertion into GEO (geo-transfer orbit with a shortfall of ~1800 m/s before transition to GEO) look like in the case of Falcon 9? I’ll give a page from its “User Manual” - it’s quite old, from the end of 2015, so the scheme is like times without taking into account reusability:


And let’s compare it with this diagram for “Proton-M” / “Briz-M”, for “Angara-A5” / “Briz-M” it is approximately the same (also taken from the official user manual, only this time from the ILS website ):


The difference in hatching time is immediately visible to the naked eye. To transfer from the reference orbit to the GPO, when launching from the territory of Russia or Kazakhstan, one more pulse is required at the apogee in order to increase the orbital plane and raise the perigee. This is necessary to bring the transition impulse to GSO to the capabilities of a typical commercial satellite - that is, up to 1500-1800 m/s. This operation is extremely energy-consuming:


And it includes significant time-consuming passive sections between pulses, which requires additional maneuvers relative to the center of mass to ensure illumination of the launched spacecraft, usually consisting of periodic flips of 180 degrees or constant rotation with a given angular velocity relative to one of the axes. Which, accordingly, requires additional fuel consumption in the upper stage or upper stage, and additional battery capacity for operation of the stage or upper stage systems.
And the greater the latitude of the launch point, the greater the fuel consumption for rotating the orbital plane, which is not required for Falcon 9. This, in general, greatly facilitates and simplifies the design of the last stage and makes it possible and energetically profitable, when launching almost in the plane of the target orbit, to abandon the special upper stage. For domestic devices there is also a condition for direct output to GEO, which in terms of time is the same as GPO cases, and in terms of fuel - even worse. Well, for a purely one-time option, there is a separate problem of impact areas, as can be seen from the following figure:


If we talk about Plesetsk and Canaverel, then in the case of Plesetsk the flight path of the launch vehicle will pass over the ground, and accordingly, there will be a need to get into the designated areas where the stages fall, and in the case of the Falcon 9 it goes over the ocean, which makes this problem somewhat easier to deal with. with the allocation of new areas and there is less environmental damage there. Angara-A5 will have to lose additional energy.

"Number of main structural elements
“Angara A5” – 8
Falcon 9 - 3"

V. Egorov included the stages, RB and GO as the main elements. It is worth noting that in the Angara-A5 the elements of the first and second stages are more unified with each other, while in the Falcon-9 it is only technologically, in diameter and in engines. Large serial production for URM-1, in principle, can provide a technological gain with a lower production volume than Falcon-9. Well, with a correspondingly greater serial production of liquid-propellant rocket engines, where would we be without it?

"Number of rocket engines
“Angara A5” – 7 pcs.
Falcon 9 - 10 pcs"

As far as I understand, the author took into account only the main engines, without taking into account the steering engines. But without a breakdown into stages and taking into account their design features, these numbers don’t mean anything at all. Formally, the Angara-A5 has fewer of them, but the downside is that the first and second stage engines are located on isolated modules, and therefore, if one of them fails, the flight program will not be completed. Redundancy is possible for the Falcon 9, since they are powered at the first stage from one fuel tank and one oxidizer tank; the failure of one of the engines can be compensated by the operation of the others.

"Total mass of rocket engines
“Angara A5” - 11600 kg
Falcon 9 - 4700 kg"

The mass of engines is an extremely crafty parameter. Without a breakdown by stages, it doesn’t say anything at all, just as without the masses of the stages, taking into account their fueling. Well, without specific impulse as an indicator of engine efficiency. A heavier engine can compensate for its mass with greater fuel efficiency. In addition, for the Angara-A5 it is somehow strangely calculated. If you rely on the website of NPO Energomash, then the RD-191, even in dry form, will carry 2290, which for five engines will give 11,450 kg, but for the third stage and the RB engine only 150 kg will remain, which is not enough. And the RD-124A alone, judging by the KBHA website, weighs 548 kg, but the specific impulse gives as much as 359 seconds. The SpaceX website does not provide us with this data explicitly, and therefore we have to rely on assumptions collected on Wikipedia. That is 470 kg for Merlin-1D and 282/311 sec for sea level and vacuum for specific impulse, and most likely a little more for its vacuum version. So V. Egorov’s figures in both cases are somewhat underestimated.

"Starting mass
“Angara A5” - 759 t
Falcon 9 - 550 t"

It is unclear here for which version of the Angara-A5 it was taken; if we talk about its first launch, then in the magazine “Cosmonautics News” for February 2015, the figure was 763.6 tons for the entire rocket launch vehicle at the launch and 25.77 for its KGCH (that is, RB, GO and GMM PN combined). When refueling, again from there, at 132.6 for each of the URM-1 and 35.8 tons for the URM-2, we get the dry mass of the launch vehicle without CGC of about 39.1 tons. Approximately 2.5 tons of dry weight can be thrown onto the RB masses. So the numbers that V. Egorov cites further are not very clear:

"Dry mass
“Angara A5” - 43.7 t
Falcon 9 - about 30 tons"

Perhaps they also take into account the mass of the fairing.

"Midship area (affects drag coefficient)
“Angara A5” - about 35 sq m
Falcon 9 - about 22 sq m"

Here the question arises about the degree of influence of the aerodynamic resistance of the rocket, and indeed its aerodynamics in general, on its final qualities as a launch vehicle.
It has some significant effect during the flight phase of the first stage, but it does not have time to consume any significant part of the energy. In addition, after dropping the first stage blocks, Angara-A5 will sharply reduce it, to approximately 15 square meters. At the same time, the Falcon 9 has certain problems due to not very good aerodynamics - the body has a significantly smaller diameter than the nose fairing (3.7 m versus 5.2 m), which leads to significant sensitivity to weather conditions. But in principle, this made it possible to use the same technological equipment as in the production of its original version and facilitated transportation.

"Number of types of rocket engines
“Angara A5” - 3 types of rocket engines from different manufacturers: 1-2 stage RD-191 (Khimki), 3rd stage RD-0124 (Voronezh), upper stage S5.98M (Voronezh) or 11D58M (Korolev).
Falcon 9 - 1 engine type: Merlin: the differences between the 1st and 2nd stages are only in the shape of the nozzle."

For Angara, it was previously planned to transfer the production of RD-191 from Moscow to Perm, to Proton-PM, where the engines of the first stage of the Proton-M launch vehicle are made; some of its elements, as you can find out from the VSW website, are being made, however in Voronezh. The RD for the Briz-M upper stage, 14D30 or S5.98, is produced in Korolev, in the same place as its relative S5.92, used on the Fregat upper stage. The engine of the DM 11D58M upper stage is made at VSW in Voronezh. VSW also makes the RD-0110R steering engine for the Soyuz-2.1V, as well as the RD-0110 for the Soyuz-FG, which our cosmonauts still use to fly to the ISS. So, VSW, which is still part of the State Research and Production Space Center, works not only for Angara and Proton, but also for Soyuz.

"The distance between rocket and rocket engine manufacturing plants
“Angara A5” - 500 km (in production in Moscow), 2700 km (in production in Omsk).
Falcon 9 - less than 1 km (all parts manufactured in Hawthorne)."

The question of the influence of logistics on the production of rocket engines specifically on the final cost of launching a launch vehicle is quite complex, and it is unlikely that, given that they are cargo that fits into the standard dimensions of a railway (for the Angara), it is hardly significant.

"The distance between the rocket production and the cosmodrome
“Angara A5” - 780 km (Moscow-Plesetsk), 5500 km (Moscow-Vostochny), 3500 km (Omsk-Vostochny), 2000 km (Omsk-Plesetsk).
Falcon 9 - 3600 km (Hawthorne-Canaveral), 210 km (Hawthorne-Vandenberg)."

A small correction - from Omsk to Plesetsk is approximately 2700 km, so on average there is not much difference in transporting from Moscow to Plesetsk, Vostochny, or Omsk.

Now let's move on to analyzing the conclusions made by V. Egorov.

"The above data show that the Angara only wins in the power of its rocket engines, but this advantage is offset by the difference in launch mass."

He did not provide data on thrust, although he may have wanted to do so.

“Our rocket is more powerful, but at the same time it is one and a half times heavier and the drag is higher.”

Again, it is not said where it flies from and why it needs to fly longer, and what does drag have to do with it, since it is higher only in the initial section, and even then, temporarily.

"A large number of structural elements complicates maintenance - the rocket package must be assembled before launch and refueled, which takes time and requires a lot of work."

But these elements are unified, which simplifies and reduces the cost of their production. But a significant number of manual operations at the start is a serious drawback.

“The complex and therefore more expensive design of the launch facilities adds to the costs.”

This was greatly influenced by the need to combine light, medium and heavy versions of the launch vehicle on one launcher. And we must not forget about the long and sad history of its construction, starting with the conversion from the launch vehicle to the Zenit launch vehicle, which is somewhat smaller in size. Yes, the Angara could once fit into it, but only at the very beginning of its journey, when it was planned to have an upper hydrogen stage on the RD-0120, as a result of which the RD-171 was enough to provide the necessary energy, provided that a hydrogen booster was used. And there were only three steps. For lovers of beauty:

“A packaged design of several modules is purely geometrically inferior to a monoblock design, which is why SpaceX immediately began developing a super-heavy monoblock BFR, even before the successful launch of Falcon Heavy, assembled using a package design.”

Why didn’t they start doing it right away? However, Musk is infallible, and should I argue with him?

“The simplicity of its manufacture has a serious impact on the final price of the rocket, and here the Angara, which is produced in four cities, unconditionally loses to the Falcon 9, which is created practically in one workshop. The problem is not only transport costs. Several factories engaged in the production of one products increase the risk of delays, since the maritime rule applies: “the speed of the squadron is determined by the speed of the slowest ship.”

Doesn’t SpaceX have any subcontractors? The company's president, G. Shotwell, admitted that there are as many as 3,000 suppliers, of which 1,000 deliver products weekly. This is the high level of division of labor inherent in the United States, which ensures high efficiency.

“In this comparison, the projected Soyuz-5 looks much more advantageous, which repeats the monoblock design of Zenit and, perhaps, will borrow something from the Falcon 9. Although it will still have difficulties with the production of various structural elements in different cities. It will have to bear transport costs for logistics between Khimki, Voronezh and Samara."

Is the energy of Soyuz-5 enough to replace Proton-M? And what kind of strange attention to transport costs is this?

“But since 2014, there has been no need for it. Given the high price and lack of flight experience in the commercial market, there is no demand for the Angara, so the only way to increase its production is through an internal government order, but even here the new rocket cannot offer anything while they are flying old

So aren't we going to abandon Proton-M? And the same Soyuz-5 should start flying from Baikonur, which gives the same problems with political dependence on Kazakhstan.

“The above arguments inevitably force one to ask the question: how could our engineers make so many gross economic mistakes at once? But here we must take into account that they actually worked in the Soviet paradigm, when it was necessary to use all existing cooperation. That is, Angara also carried out social tasks , providing work to Khimki, Korolev, Voronezh, and now also Omsk."

Extremely interesting ideas about the so-called. “Soviet paradigm”, however, it seems that due to his age, V. Egorov hardly encountered it in practice.

“It was easier for Elon Musk, he immediately began solving the problem with the cost of production and from scratch.”

How empty it was, given the people, technology and infrastructure presented to it, is a very interesting question. Especially in the field of strata structures.

“The future of Angara is now possible only as a political safety net in the event of the threat of losing Baikonur.”

Only in Kazakhstan they don’t know about this.

“The rocket has done its job - it has preserved rocket-building personnel during the difficult transition period, and allowed us to raise a new generation of designers, who now need to set current tasks with market potential.”

How does this so-called preservation fit in with the actual liquidation of the Moscow production site of the same State Research and Production Space Center?

It would be nice if Soyuz-5 was transferred there, since the diameter is supposed to be the same as that of Proton-M - 4.1 m and these most experienced people were used in development, but no - it is the Angara experience that is disappearing . Although the principle of modularity, and even the family of engines, these launch vehicles are common, with their own common problems. So not using this experience is simply wasteful!

And he did correct the number of employees:

"UPD: the number of employees of the Khrunichev Center has been corrected as of 2017."

It’s indecent to start an article with such an inaccuracy, it’s simply indecent.

Well, I leave it to the readers to judge whether his final conclusions and analysis of the causes of Angara’s existing problems can be trusted in the presence of so many inaccuracies and omissions, and to judge whether Angara could, in principle, conquer the market.

If anyone is interested in the details of the sad history of "Angara", then I refer you to the article by I. Afanasyev and D. Vorontsov "Angara" as a slice of the era "Angara" as a slice of the era (end)
Well, read the RN user manuals - there you can freely find official information on most questions that arise!

The crisis of 2008-2010 hit Angara hard: underfunding of the project shifted the start of flight testing of the rocket from 2010 to 2012, then to 2013 and, finally, to 2014.

The troubles were not limited to finances: on August 25, 2009, the first launch of the South Korean carrier Naro-1, created with the participation of the State Research and Production Space Center named after M.V. Khrunichev, took place. The launch was unsuccessful - the rocket did not launch the satellite into orbit. The only consolation was the fact that the first stage worked normally. And since it was, in fact, a URM-1, its flight became a “baptism of fire” for one of the Angara’s missile “cubes.”

Nevertheless, despite the lack of resources, the creation of the rocket and space complex continued. This was facilitated by the fact that the missile part of the project itself had already passed the stage of autonomous experimental testing by 2009-2010. Interdepartmental tests of the RD-191 were completed, and in December 2006 the prototype RD-0124A made its first flight on Soyuz-2. In the summer - autumn of 2009, three bench fire tests of the URM-1 were carried out, in which the flight cyclograms of the side and central blocks of the heavy Angara-A5, as well as the first stage block of the light Angara-1.2, were separately tested. In November 2010, URM-2 also passed fire bench tests.

Usually, between these events and the first launch, from several months to a couple of years pass, but for Angara this period stretched for four years... The main braking factor was the protracted construction of the launch complex in Plesetsk. As we remember, it began on the basis of the Zenit launch frozen in November 1994. At that time, about 48% of the capital investments of the first stage of construction had been spent, a number of main structures were already being prepared for the installation of technological equipment. The latter began to be delivered - and until the mid-2000s it was located at the unloading site of the cosmodrome.

According to the order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated February 1, 2000, Zenit structures, special and technical systems were supposed to be partially used in the creation of the Angara universal launch complex in order to significantly reduce costs. But by the beginning of the financial crisis, no more than half of the capital investments had been spent.

Work on the creation of ground infrastructure facilities for the preparation and launch of the Angara space rocket complex was carried out within the framework of the Federal Target Program “Development of Russian Cosmodromes for 2006-2015”, and the development and production of the rocket was carried out within the framework of the State Armament Program and the Federal Space Program of Russia for 2006 -2015.

Shortly before his resignation, the former head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, admitted that the decision to build an “Angarsk” launch on the basis of the unfinished ground infrastructure of the Zenit rocket was erroneous: adapting the project, which was created for a monoblock medium-class rocket, to a family of modular rockets required significant reworking of the equipment and a large amount of earthworks and concrete works. It was necessary to destroy structures, develop and re-manufacture many systems and units. This applies to such key elements as the service tower, the launch pad, and two types of transport and installation units - for light, medium and heavy Hangars. In general, as he admitted, it would be easier and cheaper to build everything from scratch.

While the launch site was being built in Plesetsk, the flight life of the Angara components continued with the launches of Naro-1 launch vehicles in June 2010 and January 2013. The second launch again ended in failure, and in the third the rocket finally put the satellite into orbit and admitted South Korea into the prestigious club of space powers.

By 2013, the launch complex was completely built, and the technical one was prepared to receive Angara launch vehicles. On the night of May 27-28, 2013, a train with a light Angara-1.2PP (“first launch”) set off from Moscow to Plesetsk. The heavy rocket modules were delivered to the cosmodrome by the end of 2013. It was assumed that around this time the first launch of a light carrier would take place. However, during ground tests, comments arose about both the rocket and the launch complex, as a result of which the launch of Angara-1.2PP was postponed first to the spring and then to the summer of 2014. Accordingly, the first launch of Angara-A5 was moved to the end of 2014.

The launch of Angara-1.2PP with the spacecraft's cargo load along a planned suborbital trajectory took place on July 9, 2014. Since it was initially carried out in the interests of testing both options - both light and heavy missiles, the flight product was equipped with the central block of the Angara-A3 and Angara-A5 carriers. As they say among rocket scientists, “the tests confirmed the correctness of the main design decisions and characteristics of the product.” The flight marked the beginning of the home stretch, which led to the first launch of a heavy rocket.

“Angara-A5” launched on December 23, at the end of 2014. Although there were some rough spots, the launch vehicle and upper stage completed their task, delivering the satellite payload into geostationary orbit.

The success of the first flight tests opened up new prospects for Angara. In Plesetsk, it is planned to build a second launcher at the universal launch complex and a new assembly and testing building for the preparation of the corresponding space warheads. The most important thing: two launchers will be built for the new rocket at the Vostochny cosmodrome, which is being built at a rapid pace, which replaced Svobodny. This decision was made in 2012. Construction is expected to begin in 2016 in order to carry out the first Angara launch from Vostochny in 2021. One of the rocket’s purposes will be to launch the new generation of manned transport ships PTK NP.

So the rocket began to fly. Now the family consists of three basic carriers - the light Angara-1.2, the medium Angara-A3 and the heavy Angara-A5. In 2008, two more “subspecies” were officially introduced: “Angara-A5P” (then its designation changed to “Angara-A5.2”) of the medium class and “Angara-A7” of the heavy class.

Both missiles are two-stage. The first does not include URM-2, was developed for a competition for the PTK NP carrier, and can fly in both unmanned and manned versions. The second is approximately 40% more powerful than the basic Angara-A5 and was proposed at the initiative of the Khrunichev Center as a launch vehicle for a promising program of manned lunar flights. The carrier also has manned and unmanned options.

Diagram of the proposed heavy variants of the Angara family of launch vehicles. Drawing of the State Research and Production Space Center named after M. V. Khrunichev

Later, sketches of other modifications appeared on the Internet and in industry publications. For example, “Angara-A7.2V” with a large cryogenic central unit is twice as powerful as a standard heavy product.

In March 2015, Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Council of Roscosmos Yuri Koptev announced the creation of a new version of the heavy launch vehicle in the A5B version. Ten years ago, among the proposed missiles there was an Angara-A5 with a UKVB unit. Then the mass of cargo delivered to low Earth orbit (30 tons) was considered excessive, and the complexity of creating a large cryogenic stage was considered excessive, and the option disappeared from the list.

The “second coming” of a rocket with a hydrogen third stage will provide, according to the creators’ plan, the solution to the problems of conducting a multi-launch expedition to the Moon with a manned PTK NP spacecraft. The preliminary design of the carrier should be ready by the end of 2015, and the first launch from Vostochny could take place in 2024.

A model of the promising Angara-A5B, which should provide a manned lunar mission using a multi-launch scheme. Photo by A. Zharov

The increase in the characteristics of the Angara-A5B is impressive. Compared to a “conventional” heavy rocket, its energy output will increase by 48%, and compared to the “old” version with a UKVB - by almost 30%. However, to achieve such progress, the RD-191 will have to be boosted by 10-15%. This is a non-trivial task - now the engine already has almost maximum pressure in the chamber. A further increase in this parameter is associated not only with technical risk, but also with the likelihood of a decrease in reliability and safety, which is completely unacceptable for a manned carrier. In addition, for the Angara-A5V it will be necessary to solve the problem that was abandoned in 1995 - to create a completely new oxygen-hydrogen engine RD-0150 with increased thrust, which in terms of specific parameters should surpass the masterpiece of Soviet engine building - RD-0120. How possible this is in modern conditions is an open question...

But all these options still remain only on paper - GKNPTs has firm orders only for light (1.2) and heavy (A5) missiles, on which it is focused. Their flight design tests will continue with real payloads: the first to go to geostationary at the end of 2016 on a heavy carrier is AngoSat. A light rocket will be launched that same year. Then in 2017 there will be a break, and then the frequency of launches will increase: from 2018 to 2020, two heavy “Angaras” are expected to be launched annually, and in 2021-2022 - four. In 2023, it is planned to produce six, and in 2024-2025, to reach the annual production of seven Angara-A5 carriers.

In July 2015, launch services provider ILS began marketing the Angara launch vehicle for commercial missions. According to this Russian-American joint venture, the new rocket paired with Proton-M will attract additional customers due to its ability to cover almost all classes and types of spacecraft in all orbits of any altitudes and inclinations in the light, medium and heavy satellite market. If in the early 2000s, when starting marketing of the modular family, ILS focused on the commercial use of the heavy version of the Angara, now it is also considering a light rocket. The latter is classified as a direct competitor to other launch service providers in the “small class”, such as Arianespace with its Vega rocket. ILS reported that the company plans to begin commercial launches of Angara-1.2 in 2017 from Plesetsk, and Angara-A missions immediately after the completion of construction of the launch complex on Vostochny.

The current situation in the launch services market, associated with the suspension of the international consortium Sea Launch, as well as the closure of the Cyclone-4 project (commercial launches from the Brazilian Alcantara spaceport) have given rise to a number of options for “unconventional” use of the Angara.

The first is an attempt to introduce it to Sea Launch. “The promising Angara-A3 medium-class launch vehicle can be used in the Sea Launch project instead of the Russian-Ukrainian Zenit,” said Alexander Medvedev, general designer of the State Research and Production Space Center named after M.V. Khrunichev. - This idea remains. We have to wait for some decisions, after which we can talk about something serious.”

So far, the basis for such ideas is the fact that both carriers - Zenit-3SL and Angara-A3 - are capable of delivering approximately the same payload into orbit (the second was created to replace the first) and have the same launch mass (473 tons both missiles). However, the design of the missiles and their interfaces with ground equipment are completely different. Therefore, according to Alexander Medvedev, at least two options for adapting the floating cosmodrome “Sea Launch” and “Angara” are being considered. The first involves modifying the floating cosmodrome “for a rocket”, and the second, on the contrary, reworking the launch vehicle “for launch”. Since the implementation of both options requires a significant investment of time and money and is not supported by serious marketing research, its feasibility is not obvious.

Information has also appeared that Russia is negotiating the creation of a launch complex for Angara launch vehicles in Alcantara. Gaining access to a spaceport that is located closer to the equator than the Guiana Space Center would be a big deal. But questions arise: firstly, to what extent are Brazilians interested in such a turn of affairs, and secondly, where to get the money?

Let's take a break for a while from the fantasies of the near - and not so - future, and try to answer the questions asked at the beginning of the story. What is “Angara” in a technical sense - a masterpiece, a failure? Neither one nor the other. If we approach the issue formally, then the technical parameters of the launch vehicle - the relative mass of the payload, the design perfection of the rocket units - are at the same level.

Tactical and technical characteristics of the main launch vehicles of the Angara family when based at the Plesetsk cosmodrome

*An aggregate module based on the Briz-M block is used as the third stage.

The family was accused of excessive costs: there is a figure circulating on the Internet of $120 million, at which experts allegedly estimated the costs of launching the first Angara-A5 carrier. Firstly, it is not entirely clear what this figure means (more precisely, how it was obtained). The rocket at the flight test stage did not carry a real payload and was not evaluated by either customers or launch service providers. Does it make sense to evaluate a prototype product at all? With serial production, all missiles (like any equipment) become cheaper, and very significantly. If all the calculations included in the project turn out to be correct, then in the future the Angara-A5 will even theoretically become cheaper than the Proton-M: it has fewer blocks and engines, and the preparation and launch process is simpler.

Comparison of Proton-M and Angara-A5 launch vehicles

* In the version with upper stage DM-3.
** Including accelerator.
*** Including booster side and head fairing.
**** With upper stage, but without payload and nose fairing.
***** In parentheses - at launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

Why, in this case, did the development of a new launch vehicle drag on for 20 long years, during which more than one generation of modern launch vehicles, including the Angara, has changed all over the world - from the United States and Europe to India and Japan? Perhaps the answer lies in the formulation of the question.

Objective factors inhibiting the process, lying on the surface, were covered in detail in the first part of the material. Among those that are invisible at first glance, we will name the following.

One of the advantageous features of the new family was the operation of environmentally friendly fuel components - liquid oxygen and kerosene. Both propulsion engines used in the project have no analogues in their class (we are already accustomed to such labels that are stuck on our rocket and space technology; however, do not forget that now only Russian engines run on liquid oxygen and kerosene and are built in a closed circuit with the highest specific characteristics - the rest of the world can do without this, using other design solutions, which nevertheless can also be considered optimal and profitable). They are more complex than the engines that were previously installed on products developed by the State Research and Production Space Center named after M.V. Khrunichev. And the entire “Angara” became the first oxygen-kerosene carrier developed by Filyov, which significantly differs from the “heptyl” rockets previously mastered by the enterprise. First of all, the production uses a completely different technology for manufacturing and preparing internal surfaces for oxygen. Accordingly, cleanliness requirements have become more stringent. At the Center's rocket and space plant, it was necessary to create special “clean” rooms for the production of Angara blocks. The processes of preparing a rocket for launch have changed, and with them the procedures for conducting fire bench tests have become more complicated.

The development of cryogenic fuel components required significant changes in the production cycle of the M.V. Khrunichev State Research and Production Center. Photo from the archive of the magazine “Cosmonautics News”

A big break in the development of products of this scale (the preliminary design of the Proton-K of a similar class was completed by the mid-1970s, and the project of the modernized Proton-M, differing from the original rocket only in details, was ready to begin by the beginning of the 1990s x) led to the fact that a new generation of specialists took part in the creation of a system of great complexity, who learned a lot “in the process,” which also did not help speed up the work.

The universal rocket module - the “foundation” of the Angara family - allows you to fold the rocket out of cubes, obtaining different options depending on the required class of payload to be launched. On the one hand, this is a plus. On the other hand, the fundamental decisions underlying the project are now, not without reason, subject to harsh criticism.

According to the developers, “from the cubes” of URM-1 and URM-2 you can fold carriers of any carrying capacity - from light to heavy. Drawing by D. Vorontsov

Firstly, the accepted size of the modules assumed that light and medium class missiles would be more in demand. These ideas were inspired by projects of low-orbit satellite systems, which by the end of the 1990s (that is, by the time of the transition to the production of basic elements for bench tests) “did not demonstrate themselves”: they did not bring commercial profit and were so modified that they now consist of a much smaller number of satellites, the service life of which has also increased significantly. Accordingly, the need for frequent launches of light carriers disappeared or turned out to be several times less than predicted. It also turned out that conversion rockets will at the very least serve until about the beginning of the 2020s, and it is extremely difficult to create an environmentally friendly light carrier in the conditions of collapsing cooperation.

Secondly, the concept of modular design itself is not always useful. In real life, some of the rockets resulting from “playing with cubes” may fall out of the required payload range. For example, the Angara-A3 medium missile, which was supposed to be a replacement for Zenit, turned out to be practically unnecessary. Now there are simply no payloads for it.

Thirdly, modularity can provide an economic effect when the reduction in cost from increasing serial production is greater than the increase in cost due to fragmentation of the structure into the same modules. But for the Angara, such a ratio has not been achieved for the reasons described above, primarily due to the low need for light and medium variants.

Many space enthusiasts are still perplexed why, in the late 1990s, when changing the concept of the project, the Khrunichev Center did not rely on the almost finished RD-180? With this engine, many problems were solved: the design of the heavy version was simplified (three URM instead of five), reliability was increased, and prospects for more easily increasing the mass of the launched cargo up to 40-50 tons appeared. But the fact of the matter is that then the developers solved the problems set in the initial conditions for the project. First of all, they consisted of creating a heavy rocket to replace the Proton-M with specifically outlined payloads that needed to be launched from Plesetsk, and secondly, of capturing the market for light payloads. The lightweight carrier was not assembled with a module of larger dimensions, and at first they did not pay attention to the expected increase in the mass of commercial loads, believing that everything would be decided after the introduction of oxygen-hydrogen blocks of the KVRB. At that time, they thought less about manned flights to the Moon or Mars (it was believed - and not without reason - that this was the prerogative of super-heavy carriers).

The chosen carrying capacity of the heavy carrier - 25 tons in low-Earth orbit and approximately 3 tons in geostationary orbit when launching from Plesetsk - was quite sufficient for the early to mid-1990s. But by the time Angara entered flight testing ten years late, much more was required. Even with a cryogenic unit, when launched from Vostochny, it launches approximately 8 tons into a geotransfer orbit, while its closest competitors - Ariane 5, Long March 5, Delta IV Heavy, and in the future Falcon Heavy and Ariane 6 - will be able to launch there is also from 11 to 21 tons of payload.

Upper stages for use as part of the Angara-A5 space rocket when launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome

Attempts to increase the energy efficiency of the heavy Angara by increasing the number of URM-1s from four to six (in the Angara-A7) led the idea to a dead end: it was impossible to ensure shock-free separation of stages due to the dense arrangement of the blocks. Therefore, engineers were forced to increase the center diameter from 2.9 to 4.1 m, and Angara-A7... no longer fit into the universal launch complex! Now, in the Angara-A5B project, they are trying to eliminate this drawback - by squeezing the last drops out of the engines...

As we have already written, due to the low demand for the Angara-A3 and Angara-1.2 variants, the modular concept based on such URM-1 and URM-2 disappeared, and its use led to oversizing of the side blocks and undersizing of the central blocks “ Hangars-A5". For example, with the selected set of engines, but with optimal refueling of the side (113 tons instead of 132 tons of fuel) and central (approximately 200 tons versus 132 tons) blocks with the same launch mass - 773 tons - the carrier could be launched into low orbit 28-29 t without any hydrogen. And with an optimized oxygen-hydrogen third stage, the desired 38 tons were obtained! And if the unified module could be made more and equipped with the RD-180, there would be prospects for a relatively simple increase in the carrier’s energy without developing fundamentally new engines.

By the way, an excellent illustration of the shortcomings of the idea of ​​“modular design” in relation to the “Angara” is the lightweight carrier of the family. As is known, the modular principle leads to an increase in the mass of rocket units, in the design of which it is necessary to take into account ALL design loading cases for ALL rockets of the family.

In relation to the Angara-1.2, this means the use of power units (in this case, an interstage adapter) designed to transmit forces from the four side URM-1, which are present in the heavy version, but, naturally, are absent in the light version. This time. And two is that the fuel supply in URM-2 turned out to be too large for a light rocket - 36 tons instead of the optimal 22-23! With such a fuel supply, Angara-1.2 simply would not have taken off. Therefore, the logic of life led the designers to abandon the use of URM-2 on it and create a new third stage, optimal for a light carrier, with a smaller “caliber” (2.9 m instead of 3.6) and less fuel. And although the stage will be created “on the basis of URM-2 systems,” its presence calls into question the concept of “rocket cube building.” And by the way, a special interstage adapter is being developed for the lightweight version. Thus, for the Angara family it will be necessary to produce not two, but four missile units: URM-1 for all variants, URM-2 for Angara-A5, URM-2 of “reduced caliber” for Angara-1.2 and a completely new oxygen-hydrogen third stage for Angara-5V.

The result is a reflection of the situation that developed in the 1990s, when technical decisions were made taking into account the tasks and technological capabilities available at that time, which almost crumbled to dust under the pressure of changes happening “in the country and in the world.” Looking at that time from today’s heights, we have to admit that it was impossible to make any long-term forecasts while standing on the “sand of time” slipping from under our feet.

In this regard, a very indicative comment was made on the first launch of the Angara-A5 by one of the oldest specialists in the industry, G. E. Fomin, who for a long time served as deputy general designer of the Samara TsSKB Progress:

“The launch of Angara-A5 is a very important matter and event for our country,” wrote Georgy Evgenievich. - Now all types of orbits are available for Russian cosmonautics when launching from the Russian Plesetsk cosmodrome. The design of the Angara rocket is very perfect. The RD-191 engine of the first stage units developed by NPO Energomash named after Academician V.P. Glushko (Khimki, Moscow Region) uses liquid oxygen and kerosene as fuel and is one of the best in the world. The upper stage engine RD-0124 was developed by the Voronezh Design Bureau of Khimavtomatika, is used on the third stage block of the Soyuz 2-1b launch vehicle, and has high specific characteristics. The control system is digital, developed by the leading Soviet-era creator of control systems for combat and space rockets - NPO AP named after Academician N.A. Pilyugin (Moscow), it takes into account modern requirements, solutions and equipment with the latest electronic base of domestic and foreign production. In general, the Angara-A5 rocket fully complies with the modern level of world rocket science. I would like to sincerely congratulate the specialists of the Khrunichev Center, their associates and the personnel of the Plesetsk training ground on their great success!

Comparative characteristics of existing heavy-class launch vehicles

* For reasons of optimization of reliability and cost indicators, a special upper stage is not used in foreign carriers - its function is usually performed by a standard upper stage, which has the ability to restart the engine in flight.
** In the numerator - from Plesetsk, using the "Breeze-M" block, in the denominator - from Vostochny, using DM and KVTK blocks.
*** Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy are capable of launching satellites into geostationary orbit, however, in commercial use for additional launch, as a rule, an onboard propulsion system is used, the characteristics of which determine the final mass of the device.

Yes, development [of the rocket] began in the mid-1990s, but the Khrunichevites always followed the demands of the time. The rocket is built on a progressive block principle, which makes it possible to assemble light, medium, heavy and super-heavy class launch vehicles from two unified rocket modules and an upper stage. It has the potential to improve and increase energy capabilities, including through the creation of a new oxygen-hydrogen upper stage. Now (in the 21st century) the American families of Falcon 9, Atlas 5, Delta 4 rockets are built on these principles, the same principles form the basis of the promising Chinese Long March 5 rockets and the Russian Soyuz-5 rockets developed by the Progress Center. .

In 1993, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Russian Space Agency announced a competition for the development of a new rocket and space launch vehicle "Angara". In this competition, along with GKNG1TS named after. M.V. Khrunichev was attended by RSC Energia and the State Research Center "KB named after. V. P. Makeeva." As a result, the GKNPTs project was recommended for further development, based on many years of design and survey work on launch vehicles, their creation and operation, taking into account the predicted requirements and the real production capabilities of their implementation. In the mid-90s, the President of the Russian Federation signed a decree “On the creation of the Angara space rocket complex,” which entrusted the creation of the Angara space rocket complex with ensuring the start of flight tests in 1995 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome.

Video of the Angara launch vehicle

The government customers were identified by the RF Ministry of Defense and RKA (now Rosaviakosmos), the lead developer of the State Research and Production Space Center named after. M. V. Khrunicheva. The creation of the complex was declared a task of special national importance.
During further research in 1996-1997. the PH "Angara" concept was developed and refined. Taking into account the current situation in the country, the Space Center named after. M. V. Khrunichev proposed a strategy for the phased creation of a heavy-class launch vehicle using a universal rocket module in its composition. This new concept retains all the key ideas of the original Angara version and develops new promising capabilities.
Now the Angara launch vehicle system began to cover carriers from the light class with a payload capacity in low reference orbits of 2-3.7 tons to the heavy class with a payload capacity of up to 24.5 tons, and subsequently up to 28.5 tons.

The Angara family of launch vehicles is based on a universal rocket module (URM). It consists of a block of oxidizer and fuel tanks and an RD-191 engine. The module is made according to a “monoblock” design with load-bearing tanks. The single-chamber RD-191 engine, created at NPO Energomash, runs on kerosene/liquid oxygen components. This engine is a variant of the four-chamber engines RD-170 and RD-171, installed on the first stages of the PH Energia and PH Zenit-2, respectively, and the two-chamber engine RD-180, created for the PH Atlas. Its thrust at the ground is 1923 kN, in vacuum - 2086 kN, specific impulse of thrust on Earth - 3048 N*s/kg, in vacuum -3306 N*s/kg. To ensure control of the launch vehicle in flight, the engine is fixed in a gimbal.
The refueling mass of one universal rocket module is up to 127 tons, dry weight is 8.0 tons. The length of the URM is 23 m, the diameter is 2.9 m. These dimensions were chosen based on the technological equipment available at the Rocket and Space Plant.
One such universal rocket module is the first stage of two types of light-class launch vehicles created as part of the Angara program. The second stages on these two PH variants, conventionally called “Angara-1.1” and “Angara-1.2”, use, respectively, the central part of the Briz-M upper stage and a rocket block based on the “I” block created for the rocket -carrier "Soyuz-2".
The medium-class launch vehicle will be formed by adding two universal modules (as the first stage) to the Angara-1.2 light-class launch vehicle.
The Angara-5A heavy-class carrier has a first stage formed from five blocks based on a universal rocket module. The five engines of the first stage are fired simultaneously at the launch of the rocket, but subsequently the engine of the central block is throttled to 30% of thrust and by the time the side modules are emptied, it retains sufficient fuel reserves to continue the flight.
Empty side modules are reset, and the central module is switched to full thrust mode.

The use of universal rocket modules as part of launch vehicles and the widespread unification of elements with other PHs will dramatically reduce the costs of manufacturing and operating launch vehicles of the Angara family with high flight performance characteristics that will ensure the necessary competitiveness in the global market for launch vehicles.
The dimensions and characteristics of the universal rocket module allow us to consider the possibility of its use as part of other launch vehicles, in particular as part of the Soyuz-2 PH.
The second stage is considered either a stage based on oxygen-kerosene components, similar to that used on the Angara-1.2 carrier, but with an increased supply of fuel components, or a universal oxygen-hydrogen unit (“UKVB”), the characteristics of which remain the same as “ UKVB" for the Proton-M2 carrier.
Depending on the specific tasks on medium and heavy class Angara carriers, the use of additional stages is provided:
- oxygen-hydrogen upper stage (“KVRB”);
- upper stage from PH "Proton-M" - "Breeze-M".
The payload is placed under a large head fairing with a diameter of 4.35-5.1 m.

Launches of all types of PH of the Angara family are planned from the Plesetsk cosmodrome with maximum use of the technical and launch complex facilities existing there. The main developer of ground-based complexes is KBTM (General Director and General Designer G. P. Biryukov).

OXYGEN-HYDROGEN ACCELERATING UNIT “KVRB”

It is a single-stage accelerator designed for launching various spacecraft. The design of the KVRB allows for many hours of flight in outer space conditions and multiple activation of the main engine during the flight.
The design and characteristics of the KVRB make it possible to use it in conjunction not only with the Proton-M PH, but also with a number of existing and future medium and heavy PH class Angara, Zenit, etc. This will significantly increase the energy capabilities of these carriers for launching heavy payloads into high energy orbits.

Main characteristics of the RB "KVRB"

SPACE ROCKET COMPLEX “ANGARA”

Work on the creation of ground infrastructure facilities for the preparation and launch of the Angara spacecraft is being carried out within the framework of the Federal Target Program “Development of Russian Cosmodromes for 2006-2015”, and the development and production of space rockets is being carried out within the framework of the State Armament Program and the Federal Space Program of Russia for 2006 - 2015.

The main developer and manufacturer of the Angara spacecraft is the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “State Space Research and Production Center named after M.V. Khrunichev”. Government customers are the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Federal Space Agency.

The creation of the Angara space rocket complex is a task of special national importance. The commissioning of the Angara spacecraft will allow Russia to launch all types of spacecraft from its territory and will provide our country with independent guaranteed access to space.

ANGARA FAMILY OF LAUNCH ROCKETS

The Angara launch vehicle is a new generation of modular launch vehicles, developed on the basis of two universal rocket modules (URM) with oxygen-kerosene engines: URM-1 and URM-2. The Angara launch vehicle family includes carriers from light to heavy classes with a payload range from 3.8 to 35 tons (Angara-A7) in low Earth orbit.

A universal rocket module based on O2 + kerosene components is a complete structure consisting of oxidizer and fuel tanks connected by a spacer, and an engine compartment. Each universal module is equipped with one powerful liquid jet engine RD-191. RD-191 is created on the basis of a four-chamber engine used on the Energia launch vehicle and the currently used engine of the Zenit launch vehicle (RD 170, 171).

The Angara-1.2 light-class launch vehicles use one URM. The maximum number of blocks can be a launch vehicle consisting of seven URM - "Angara-A7". The prototype of the first stage of the Angara launch vehicle, URM-1, underwent flight tests three times (in 2009, 2010, 2013) as part of the first South Korean launch vehicle KSLV-1.

The upper stages of the Angara 1.2 light-class rocket use the Briz-KM upper stage, which passed flight tests as part of the Rokot conversion launch vehicle, and the Angara-A5 rocket uses the Briz-M upper stage and KVTK. The widespread use of unification and unique technical solutions make it possible to launch all LVs of the Angara family from one launcher.

Specifications

Video

Removal of the Angara-A5 launch vehicle