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Russia to Phase Out Older Soyuz Rockets For International Space Station Runs
By Matthew BodnerJul. 07 2014 00:00 Last edited 19:36

Roscosmos
A Soyuz 2.1b rocket, with its visibly larger payload faring, being lifted into launch position at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in June.
Russia's Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, will upgrade the Soyuz rocket and secure its supply chain by phasing out older versions in favor of the newer Soyuz-2 series to support the International Space Station, the head of the company that builds Soyuz said.

Variants of the Soyuz 2 series rockets are already in use for satellite launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and the European Space Agency launch facility in French Guiana. But now, the rocket is set to begin launching unmanned Progress resupply vehicles to the International Space Station. If all goes well, the Soyuz 2 rockets may begin transporting astronauts and cosmonauts to the space station aboard the Soyuz spacecraft as early as 2016.

The older Soyuz rockets rely on a Ukrainian control system — a relic of the rocket family's Soviet heritage that in the aftermath of Russia seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in March looks like a threat to Russia's space program. The rockets are based on the same core design that launched Sputnik and Yury Gagarin into space at the dawn of the space age.

"The Soyuz-U and Soyuz-FG control systems are analog [systems] made in Ukraine," Alexander Kirilin, CEO of the Progress Rocket and Space Center in the Volga city of Samara told Interfax on Monday.

However, the Soyuz 2 rockets use a Russian-made digital control system. Aside from further moving Russia's space industry away from its reliance on Ukrainian components, the digital control system allows the rockets to handle a wider variety of payloads — making the tried-and-tested Russian rocket more versatile than ever before.

"Currently [we are] contracted to manufacture four Soyuz 2.1a carrier rockets for the Progress cargo transport ship," Kirilin said. The Progress cargo vehicle is an unmanned derivative of the Soyuz spacecraft that currently serves as the only means of transporting international teams of cosmonauts and astronauts to the International Space Station, or ISS — a $150 billion multi-national project involving 15 nations, including the U.S. and Russia.

Progress has historically used the Soyuz-U rocket to reach ISS, but on Oct. 29 it will fly aboard the Soyuz 2.1a for the first time. This will be followed by two launches aboard the newer rocket in 2015, with the final rocket slated to launch in 2016.

Beyond this, Kirilin hopes that the new Soyuz 2 boosters can be used for manned ISS missions by 2016, a job currently done by the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle.

"We propose conducting three flight tests with [Progress] supply ships and then proceed to launches of manned spacecraft. It is planned that launches of manned Soyuz vehicles on Soyuz-2.1a can begin by the end of 2016 or the beginning of 2017," he said.

Contact the author at [email protected]

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Monument to Soviet Space Program Put Out to Pasture in Moscow's VDNKh
By Alexey EremenkoJul. 07 2014 10:40 Last edited 20:07

The life-sized model of the Soviet-made Buran space orbiter was transported early Sunday through the streets of Moscow from Gorky Park to VDNKh.
The life-sized prototype of the Buran spaceship — a relic of the Soviet space industry's final breakthrough — was retired to its final resting place this weekend in Moscow's outdoor exhibition center, VDNKh.

On Saturday, the 50-ton space shuttle was relocated from the city center's Gorky Park, a prime hipster haunt, in what the city authorities described as an "unprecedented transportation operation."

The 36-meter-long Buran had to be dismantled for the nightly cruise across Moscow, which evoked images of a beached whale being carted away to its burial site, judging by photos from the operation.

The fantastic, albeit flawed, shuttle is expected to spend the rest of its days at VDNKh.

The Buran was an amazing piece of work, said test pilot Viktor Zabolotsky, one of the few people in the world who actually flew the Soviet space shuttle.

But it was a "white elephant" doomed to fail because of its exorbitant operation costs, Zabolotsky told The Moscow Times.

"Operating it would have been like using a KamAZ truck to transport a matchbox," he said in a telephone interview on Sunday.

Russia's flagging space industry has no immediate plans to revive the Buran.

It is too late anyway, as much of the technology has been lost and its developers have largely died off, said Nikolai Vedenkin of Russia's first private satellite maker Dauria Aerospace.

Taking On the Space Shuttle

Neither developers nor Politburo bosses made any effort to hide the fact that the Buran, or Blizzard, program was launched in response to NASA's Space Shuttle program, which the Soviet leadership believed had military capabilities.

But the Soviet space shuttle program turned out to be superior to its rival, said Yury Usachev, a Russian veteran cosmonaut who now sits on the selection commission for Russian cosmonaut candidates.

A central difference was the Buran's capability of automatic landing, demonstrated during its 205-minute maiden flight on Nov. 15, 1988. Its U.S. counterparts had to be landed manually.

The Buran also utilized a multipurpose Energia launcher, used arguably better thermal protection, had a bigger maximum payload and could stay in orbit twice as long as the US spacecraft.

However, the Buran never made it to space again after its maiden flight. The program, worth an estimated 16 billion rubles ($9.2 billion in 1988 prices) was mothballed after a couple of test runs within the earth's atmosphere — one of them by Zabolotsky — as state coffers were drained in the economic turmoil of perestroika.

The program was formally scrapped in 1993.

In 2002, the Buran that went to space met an anticlimactic end when it was destroyed by a collapsed roof of a storage facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Several prototypes were scrapped or sold abroad. One prototype, made for acceleration and vibration testing, was moved to Gorky Park in 1995 and has since served as a moderately popular tourist attraction.

A Pyrrhic Success

The Buran program boasted undisputed achievements, such as the then-unique thermal protection materials, experts said.

"It was a superior system. No one had anything like it," Dauria's Vedenkin said.

But Usachev and Zabolotsky said the Buran was economically unfeasible.

The program utilized the resources of the entire Soviet Union, and was impossible for Russia to maintain alone after the communist state's demise, Usachev said. Up to 1 million people working with 1,200 organizations across the Soviet Union were involved in Buran's development.

Buran was also too costly to fly, Usachev and Zabolotsky said. Official launch costs were never disclosed, but the U.S. Space Shuttle had a similar problem, with a launch cost of about $450 million, which led to its decommissioning in 2011, after 30 years of service.

There was also simply not enough scientific equipment to send into orbit, Zabolotsky said.

"It was a major mistake," Zabolotsky said of the Buran. Although Zabolotsky does not regret the fact that he never had the opportunity to fly the Buran into space, he admitted to having enjoyed testing the unique machine.

The Buran program had one real objective — to show that Russia was still a match for the U.S. in space technology — and that objective was fulfilled, Usachev said.

No Going Back

Russia has been striving to revive its space industry in recent years, following more than a decade of neglect.

The Federal Space Agency's budget stands at 165 billion rubles ($4.8 billion) this year, up from 49 billion rubles in 2005 ($1.8 billion in 2005 prices).

But the program remains plagued by failures and botched launches. Just last week, the maiden flight of the much-touted Angara carrier rocket was canceled twice because of various malfunctions.

Buran's tentative replacement, the Clipper, had been in the works since 2000, but was scrapped in 2006. Another, unnamed reusable spacecraft is now in development, but little progress has been reported so far.

The situation raised the question of a possible return to Buran, an undisputed technological achievement despite its flaws.

But all experts interviewed for this article said they expected the Buran to rest in peace at the VDNKh — though they differed about the reasons for it.

"Its time has passed. We have shown we can do it, but the return of the Buran is impossible — and useless," Usachev said.

But Vedenkin of Dauria said the program could be revived if only the management of the Russian space industry had the will for it — which they don't.

"They all want instant gratification … and it would take at least 15 years to bring the Buran back," he said.

Contact the author at [email protected]

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Jul 23, 2014, 12:23pm MDT
Japan to collaborate on Dream Chaser space plane
Dream Chaser Enlarge Photo
A test flight version of the Dream Chaser space plane being built by Louisville-based Sierra Nevada Corp. Space Systems.

Greg Avery
Reporter-
Denver Business Journal

Sierra Nevada Corp. Space Systems has signed an agreement with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to collaborate missions and technologies for the Dream Chaser space plane, and to possibly launch and land the craft in Japan one day, too.
The partnership announcement comes as the Louisville-based company’s experimental spaceship reached NASA development milestones related to the safety of the craft’s life-support, crew systems and other crucial features.
The agreement with JAXA, the Japanese space agency, is the latest of several international collaboration agreements SNC Space Systems has reached in recent months. The company has similar agreements with European Space Agency and the German Space Agency.
The partnerships adds expertise to the Dream Chaser’s development and opens the door for international use of the Dream Chaser space planes in the future.
The Dream Chaser is a seven-seat, winged craft that resembles a small space shuttle and can land on runways built to handle medium-sized commercial airliners.
It’s being developed for use in commercial space missions and in a NASA program funding development of space vehicles to get astronauts to the International Space Station and other places in low earth orbit, missions now being booked aboard Russian-built Soyuz space capsules since the retirement of the space shuttle fleet.
Sierra Nevada Corp. Space Systems aims to fly the Dream Chaser on its first orbital mission in November 2016.
NASA funding, which accounts for about half of the money invested in developing the Dream Chaser, is tied to reaching technical, safety and flight milestones as SNC Space Systems gets closer to live missions of the reusable space plane.
The latest milestones the Dream Chaser met are considered key.
“These crucial validations are vital steps in our critical design review and in showing that we have a very advanced and capable spacecraft. This will allow us to quickly and confidently move forward in restoring cutting-edge transportation to low-Earth orbit from the U.S.,” said Mark Sirangelo, head of SNC Space Systems.
SNC Space Systems is a division of Sparks, Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp., a privately held defense and aerospace contractor.

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GAO study says NASA's Space Launch System may come up $400 million short
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Lee Roop | [email protected] By Lee Roop | [email protected]
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on July 24, 2014 at 4:40 PM, updated July 24, 2014 at 4:41 PM
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Government accountants say NASA's new deep space rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS) may fall $400 million short of the money needed to launch for the first time in 2017 as Congress has ordered.
A report issued Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) praises NASA for "solid progress on the SLS design" at Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center.
But it says NASA isn't meeting its own requirements for matching cost and schedule resources with the congressional requirement to launch the first SLS in December 2017. NASA usually uses a calculation it calls the "joint cost and schedule confidence level" to decide the odds a program will come in on time and on budget.
"NASA policy usually requires a 70 percent confidence level for a program to proceed with final design and fabrication," the GAO report says, and the SLS is not at that level. The report adds that government programs that can't match requirements to resources "are at increased risk of cost and schedule growth."
In other words, the GAO says SLS is at risk of costing more than the current estimate of $12 billion to reach the first launch or taking longer to get there. Similar cost and schedule problems - although of a larger magnitude - led President Obama to cancel SLS's predecessor rocket system called Constellation shortly after taking office.
"The program is satisfying many of NASA's metrics that measure progress against design goals ...," the report said. "According to the program's risk analysis, however, the agency's current funding plan for SLS may be $400 million short of what the program needs to launch by 2017."
The GAO report identifies two specific challenges. One, NASA has "compressed" the development schedule for the core stage to meet the launch date. Two, NASA still faces challenges using hardware that wasn't designed for SLS. It is using solid rocket boosters from the earlier Constellation program, but the report says "integrating a new non-asbestos insulating material into the booster design has proven difficult and required changes to the booster manufacturing processes."
NASA does have a chance to "promote affordability going forward," the report says, but that depends on the future missions assigned to the evolving SLS models. If NASA gets a clear development path, it can competitively bid future parts and that will help.
An evolved, bigger version of SLS is the rocket NASA says will carry astronauts to Mars, and the agency is proudly pointing to the fact it is bending metal and testing engines for Version 1 now. "This is not a paper rocket," NASA managers say. They have begun building it.

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Russia loses contact with satellite full of geckos
Photon-M satellite and five reptiles on board will be lost unless contact can be re-established, says space industry source
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The Guardian, Thursday 24 July 2014 10.51 EDT

Russian space research centre
Soyuz rockets at a space research centre in Samara, Russia. Photograph: Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images
Russian mission control has lost contact with a satellite full of geckos slated to participate in a weightlessness experiment, in the latest setback for the country's space industry.

The Photon-M satellite and its reptile crew will probably be lost and fall from orbit in a few months unless specialists can re-establish communications with it, a source in the space industry told Interfax news agency. The four female and one male gecko on board will die from hunger within two and a half months or earlier if the craft's life-support systems are also disrupted, the source said.

Part of a research satellite programme stretching back to 1985, the Photon-M satellite was launched into space atop a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome on 19 July, after the mission was held up for three weeks because of delays in testing the electrical system.

After rejecting future cooperation with Nasa amid deteriorating relations with the US, the Russian government in May announced $52bn (£30bn) in investment in its space industry until 2020. But just dDays later a Proton-M rocket carrying a communications satellite to provide internet to remote parts of the country exploded minutes after liftoff, the second crash of a Proton rocket in less than a year. In June, the maiden voyage of Russia's first new spacecraft since the Soviet era, the Angara rocket, was aborted at the last minute on live television as Vladimir Putin, looked on, although it was successfully launched on 9 July.

The last Photon-M to be launched in 2007, a veritable Noah's Ark carrying newts, lizards, Mongolian gerbils, slugs, butterflies and spiders, returned successfully to Earth. But the first Photon-M launch in 2001 ended in tragedy after the launch vehicle fell back to Earth and exploded, killing a soldier.

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JULY 22, 2014
SPACEX SOFT LANDS FALCON 9 ROCKET FIRST STAGE


Following last week's successful launch of six ORBCOMM satellites, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage reentered Earth’s atmosphere and soft landed in the Atlantic Ocean. This test confirms that the Falcon 9 booster is able consistently to reenter from space at hypersonic velocity, restart main engines twice, deploy landing legs and touch down at near zero velocity.

[video=youtube_share;CQnR5fhCXkQ]http://youtu.be/CQnR5fhCXkQ[/video]

After landing, the vehicle tipped sideways as planned to its final water safing state in a nearly horizontal position. The water impact caused loss of hull integrity, but we received all the necessary data to achieve a successful landing on a future flight. Going forward, we are taking steps to minimize the build up of ice and spots on the camera housing in order to gather improved video on future launches.

At this point, we are highly confident of being able to land successfully on a floating launch pad or back at the launch site and refly the rocket with no required refurbishment. However, our next couple launches are for very high velocity geostationary satellite missions, which don’t allow enough residual propellant for landing. In the longer term, missions like that will fly on Falcon Heavy, but until then Falcon 9 will need to fly in expendable mode.

We will attempt our next water landing on flight 13 of Falcon 9, but with a low probability of success. Flights 14 and 15 will attempt to land on a solid surface with an improved probability of success.

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Tuskegee University Joins Sierra Nevada Corporation’s
Dream Chaser® Team


Dr. Johnson, President, Tuskegee University and Mark Sirangelo, Corp. VP, sign Letter of Cooperation
Sparks, Nev., July 24, 2014 – Tuskegee University (TU) and Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems announce they have signed a Letter of Cooperation to initiate collaborative efforts related to SNC’s Dream Chaser® Orbital Transportation System. The purpose of this relationship is to jointly promote aerospace engineering education, research, and development, scientific exploration and recruitment and training of a diverse workforce.

Tuskegee University is now a university partner with SNC on the Dream Chaser program. SNC will support research projects for Tuskegee University faculty and students to advance the technical design of SNC’s Dream Chaser. These projects are expected to create internships and future job opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and non-STEM disciplines for Tuskegee University students. The University already has one of only two centers funded by NASA to develop a technology for growing food in space during human space missions.

SNC will begin lectures at Tuskegee University on the future of our nation’s space program to provide insight into the industry’s most exciting developments. Tuskegee University faculty will join SNC’s Space Systems Dream Chaser Program Advisory Board to provide critical feedback on SNC’s plans for human space flight activities. SNC will support the academic activities of Tuskegee University at large, in addition to the Department of the Aerospace Science Engineering, through membership on the Industrial Advisory Board of the Department.

Tuskegee University, founded in 1881 by Booker T. Washington, has a rich legacy of blazing new frontiers. The legendary roles played by such giants as George Washington Carver and the famed Tuskegee Airmen are a glowing part of U.S. history. Tuskegee University, located in Tuskegee, Alabama, is a top ten producer of African-American engineers, and the top producer of material science and engineering Ph.Ds in the nation. Tuskegee is also the only independent, historically black university with several engineering programs that are nationally accredited by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET), including the only accredited Aerospace Engineering program at a Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCU).

Dr. Brian L. Johnson, presented by Tuskegee University on June 13, 2014 as the seventh president, commented, “I have begun my time as president by asking all involved with the university to trust the Tuskegee tradition and trust the Tuskegee trajectory. This new relationship with SNC highlights the long celebrated history of Tuskegee in aerospace while also opening up future possibilities for our students to experience the trajectory of America’s new path to space.”

SNC is a leading innovator in developing space systems solutions. Its flagship program, the Dream Chaser, is the next generation space transportation system. This reusable spacecraft will provide critical transportation support for astronauts and cargo to and from low-Earth orbit.

Mark N. Sirangelo, corporate vice president of SNC’s Space Systems added, “We are thrilled to begin our relationship with such a prestigious and important aerospace university. Dr. Johnson, through his new, energetic and dynamic leadership, has outlined a plan to create a student-centered environment for the 21st century, which will foster a culture of advancement and development. We believe that by working together to develop our nation’s future in space we can help make Dr. Johnson’s vision a reality and provide a path for the university’s amazing students to continue Tuskegee’s substantial impact on aerospace.”

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Russia Regains Control of Gecko Zero-G Sex Satellite
Russia's space agency says it's restored full contact with an orbiting satellite containing biological experiments, including one designed to see how geckos have sex and reproduce in zero gravity. The geckos are apparently OK. "The link is established, the prescribed commands have been conducted in accordance with the plan," Roscosmos chief Oleg Ostapenko said in a statement Saturday.

The two-month-long Foton-M4 mission was launched on July 19 to study microgravity's effect on geckos as well as fruit flies, mushrooms and microbes. One male gecko was put in with four females, and a camera was set up to record how the lizards mated. The video, and the geckos' eggs, will be examined after the satellite returns to Earth. RT.com quoted Ostapenko as saying he expected 90 percent of the mission's objectives to be met. The satellite had stopped responding to commands several days ago, and RT.com says Roscosmos is investigating whether the failure was due to an internal glitch or damage from space debris.

Image: Gecko OLEG VOLOSHIN / IBMP
The Foton-M4 satellite sent up five Mauritius ornate day geckos to see how they mated in zero gravity.

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Energia's super-engine might get a second life

The developer of the hydrogen-burning engine that propelled the Soviet shuttle Buran into orbit says it is preparing to restore the production of the mighty powerplant for a future Russian super-rocket.

Previous chapter: Energia rocket

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Engine

Above: RD-0120 engines next to the Energia-Buran system in Baikonur.

In 1976, the KBKhA design bureau in the city of Voronezh began work on a powerful hydrogen engine for the second (core) stage of the giant Energia booster. The RD-0120 engine could develop more than 200 tons of thrust and rivaled NASA's Space Shuttle Main Engine, SSME.

The RD-0120 engine became the most powerful Soviet rocket engine with a single combustion chamber ever flown and it represented the technological pinacle of rocket propulsion in the USSR. The engine was reportedly assembled out of 5,525 components and required 52,000 separate blueprints.

The 200-ton-thrust engine had the capability to gimbal up to 11 degrees along two perpendicular axis in order to steer the Energia rocket in flight. In addition to its main role as a thrust generator, the RD-0120 was also supplying gaseous hydrogen for the pressurization of the oxidizer tank onboard the Energia rocket.

After more than a decade in development, a cluster of four RD-0120 engines performed flawlessly during two launches of the Energia rocket in May 1987 and November 1988. The second Energia launch delivered the 100-ton Buran orbiter into the Earth orbit. However the Energia and Buran were abandoned during the post-Soviet economic collapse of the 1990s.

After the dissolution of the USSR, the Russian rocket industry made attempts to "save" the RD-0120, along with its extensive support and manufacturing infrastructure. Plans were made to integrate the engine into the post-Soviet rocket development projects, such as Energia-M and the original version of the Angara booster. However, the scale of this awesome technology turned out to be unaffordable for the Russian space budget in the 1990s and the unique hardware and experience associated with RD-0120 quickly decayed beyond repair.

Second life for RD-0120?

Russian rocket engineers had to take a second look at powerful hydrogen engines at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, when the industry had began drafting a roadmap toward a new-generation super-heavy rocket. In 2009, a scale model of the RD-0120 engine reappeared among Russian propulsion systems displayed at the Paris Air and Space Show in Le Bourget. By 2013, the KBKhA design bureau, which developed the original RD-0120 engine, declared its restoration as one of several high-priority projects. According to a schedule developed by KBKhA in coordination with its manufacturing arm -- the Voronezh Mechanical Plant -- the RD-0120 could be brought back to production in six years, given adequate funding.

The final decision on the restoration of the RD-0120 would depend on the approved architecture of the super-heavy rocket, whose development was included into the latest draft of the Federal Space Program from 2016 to 2025. Plans to restore RD-0120 had its critics, who believed that a new investment into the hydrogen propulsion technology would be too costly and risky for the Russian rocket industry. A recent analysis of prospective super-heavy rocket designs by RKTs Progress, the developer of the Soyuz rocket, favored methane and solid propellants over the liquid hydrogen. At the same time, an alternative proposal from RKK Energia, the Russia's chief manned space flight contractor, featured the RD-0120 engine on the third stage of the super-heavy Energia-KV rocket, industry sources said.



APPENDIX

Known specifications of the RD-0120 engine:

Fuel
Liquid hydrogen
Oxidizer
Liquid oxygen
Thrust
203.8 tons
Specific impulse
4,462 meters per second
Combustion chamber pressure
21.8 megapascals
Burn time
500 seconds
Mass
3,450 kilograms
Height
4,550 millimeters
Diameter
2,420 millimeters

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By WILLIAM HARWOOD
CBS News

A powerful Ariane 5 rocket carrying the European Space Agency's fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo ship roared to life and climbed away from French Guiana Tuesday, kicking off a two-week flight to deliver more than seven tons of equipment and supplies -- including cappuccino and tiramisu -- to the International Space Station.

Shattering the overnight calm at the Guiana Space Center, the Ariane 5's hydrogen-fueled Vulcain first stage engine ignited with a flash at 7:47 p.m. EDT (GMT-4), throttling up to full power an instant before a pair of large solid-fuel boosters ignited with a rush of exhaust.

The towering rocket quickly climbed away from its launching stand on the northeast coast of South America, arcing out over the Atlantic Ocean into the plane of the space station's orbit.


An Ariane 5 rocket carrying the European Space Agency's fifth and final ATV cargo ship lifts off from French Guiana Tuesday evening, kicking off a flight to deliver more than 14,500 pounds of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. (Credit: ESA)

The ascent appeared to go smoothly, with the strap-on boosters falling away as planned two minutes and 24 seconds after launch. Six-and-a-half minutes after that, the Ariane 5 first stage fell away and the rocket continued the climb to space on the power of its single second-stage Aestus engine.

The second stage shut down 17 minutes after launch, putting the spacecraft into a preliminary parking orbit. A second, shorter firing was executed 42 minutes later to establish a circular 162-mile-high orbit, about 100 miles below the space station.

The ATV-5 spacecraft, named after the Belgian priest and astrophysicist Georges Lemaitre, then was released from the Ariane 5's second stage about one hour after liftoff to complete the launch phase of the mission, the 60th success in a row for the Ariane 5. The ATV's solar arrays unfolded and locked in place about a half hour after separation.

"The last of the litter is now in orbit," said ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain. "The ATV, Georges Lemaitre, is doing well."

The flight plan calls for the cargo ship to execute a series of carefully planned rocket firings to catch up with the space station, flying below the outpost before looping up and over, dropping back to a point directly behind and below the lab complex. From there, the spacecraft will move in for docking at the aft port of the Zvezda command module around 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 12.

The ATV-5 vehicle is the heaviest payload ever launched by an Ariane 5, the European Space Agency's fifth and final station cargo flight. Station resupply now will depend solely on Russian Progress spacecraft, Japanese HTV cargo ships and commercial freighters built for NASA by SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp.

ESA, which supplied the station's Columbus laboratory module, is looking ahead to development of power, propulsion and life support systems that will be used by NASA's Orion deep space exploration vehicle.

"It's really a great achievement," Eric Beranger, director of space programs for ATV-builder Airbus Defence and Space, said of the cargo craft. "It's the best we've ever launched. It's the last, but at the same time it's a beginning, because it is also preparing for the future Orion missions where we will provide the service module."

ESA's partnership with NASA on the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle -- Orion -- "will be the first time ever Europe and Airbus are providing a critical system to a U.S. human spaceflight rated capsule," Beranger said. "We will provide propulsion, energy and life support, which is absolutely key for human spaceflight. It's both an au revoir and the beginning of a new adventure."

Bart Reijnens, in charge of orbital systems and space exploration at Airbus Defence and Space, said preparing the ATV for the program's final flight brought mixed emotions after three decades of planning and development.


One of the Ariane 5's two solid-fuel boosters falls away as the rocket climbs into sunlight after launch from French Guiana. (Credit: ESA webcast)

"it's not easy to say farewell to ATV," he told reporters before launch. "You can be sure about that. The pain is much less because at the same time, European member states, together with NASA, have taken a commitment to jointly go for MPCV/Orion. This is our next challenge, and our engineers want to have a challenge."

Asked how much the knowledge and experienced gained building and flying the ATV will play into Orion, Reijnens said "it's huge. To say it very bluntly, if Europe had not done ATV, the service module for MPCV would have been a no go."

Thomas Reiter, a space station veteran who now serves as director ESA's human spaceflight program, said his agency's commitment to Orion demonstrates "that all the effort we have taken to build such a fantastic vehicle to do cargo transfer and automated docking is not lost, but it's built upon for future activities."

The ATV-5 is loaded with 5,941 pounds of dry cargo, including crew supplies, spare parts and research gear, 1,858 pounds of water, three tanks of oxygen and air totaling 220 pounds, 4,669 pounds of propellant that will be used for station maneuvers and 1,896 pounds of fuel that will be pumped aboard for use by the station's Russian thrusters.

ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst will serve as loadmaster aboard the station, coordinating the transfer of dry cargo into the the lab complex and overseeing the ATV's reloading with trash and no-longer-needed equipment.

Among the cargo bound for the station is the European Space Agency's Electromagnetic Levitator, an 882-pound research apparatus designed to suspend various metals in weightlessness, heat them to nearly 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit and then rapidly cool the samples.

"Blacksmiths have been using this technique for centuries, creating steel tools and weapons by heating, hammering and quenching in water," ESA said in a web description. "This process sets the steel's structure and causes it to be hard and stay sharp.

"Understanding the underlying physics of this simple example is complicated and factors such as gravity and the mould used to hold the metal in place influence the process making it difficult to get to the fundamentals. ... For scientists, observing liquid metals cooling in weightlessness removes unnecessary complexity to reveal the core processes."

The experiments will be conducted by Gerst in ESA's Columbus research module.

Also on board the ATV are a pump for the station's water recycling system and an experimental joystick known as Haptics-1, described by ESA as a "touchy-feely joystick, which will investigate how people feel tactile feedback in space, preparing for remote robotic operations from orbit."

ATV-5 is expected to remain attached to the station until Jan. 25. After undocking, it will carry out one final engineering experiment during its catastrophic plunge back into the atmosphere. The spacecraft is carrying an infrared camera that will document the breakup from inside.

NASA and the Japanese space agency have flown similar instruments, but the break-up camera, or BUC, is a first for ESA.

"The infrared camera, bolted to an ATV rack, will burn up with the rest of the spacecraft, but imagery of the final 20 seconds will be passed to the Re-entry SatCom, a spherical capsule protected by a ceramic heat shield," ESA wrote in a web description.

After the ATV breaks up, the Re-Entry SatComn will transmit its stored data to an Iridium communications satellite for relay back to engineers on the ground. The goal is to learn more about the forces spacecraft are subjected to during atmospheric entry and how various systems respond.

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SpaceX Applies for Spaceport Building Permits, Acquires More Texas Land
Posted by Doug Messier on July 30, 2014, at 10:30 am in News
Tags: cameron county, falcon 9, falcon heavy, spaceports, spacex.
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Artist's conception of the proposed SpaceX commercial launch facility near Brownsville, Texas.
Artist’s conception of the proposed SpaceX commercial launch facility near Brownsville, Texas.
With a crucial environmental review by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) behind it, SpaceX has begun to apply for building permits for its planned Texas spaceport as it acquires more land to support it:

On Monday, SpaceX’s Dogleg Park LLC submitted an application for a permit to install small solar panels off-grid in the vicinity of the proposed launch control center at the potential launch site. The contractor is SolarCity. Elon Musk, founder of the California-based Space Exploration Technologies, is chairman of SolarCity.

And on Tuesday, Brownsville Economic Development Council Executive Vice-President Gilbert Salinas also submitted an application for a commercial permit in connection with the BEDC-SpaceX-University of Texas at Brownsville’s STARGATE project for construction of a 12,000 square foot tracking center.

Meanwhile, t5he company has been buying up additional land in the Boca Chica Beach area south of Brownsville where the spaceport will be constructed:

The purchase from private landowners was officially filed in the public record July 8, one day before the FAA issued its Record of Decision to support the issuance of launch licenses that would allow Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies to launch the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy orbital vertical rockets from the proposed private spaceport at Boca Chica Beach….

Public records reflect that the 50 acres that were purchased this month through SpaceX’s company Dogleg Park LLC would have been those under option or lease since at least June 2012.

The purchase brings SpaceX’s property holdings at Boca Chica Beach to approximately 100 acres of land.

Through Dogleg and The Flats at Mars Crossing LLC, the firm consistently has purchased and had leased properties at the Boca Chica site from early June 2012 through this month.

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NASA: New "impossible" engine works, could change space travel forever
Until yesterday, every physicist was laughing at this engine and its inventor, Roger Shawyer. It's called the EmDrive and everyone said it was impossible because it goes against classical mechanics. But the fact is that the quantum vacuum plasma thruster works and scientists can't explain why.

Shawyer's engine is extremely light and simple. It provides a thrust by "bouncing microwaves around in a closed container." The microwaves are generated using electricity that can be provided by solar energy. No propellant is necessary, which means that this thrusters can work forever unless a hardware failure occurs. If real, this would be a major breakthrough in space propulsion technology.

Obviously, the entire thing sounded preposterous to everyone. In theory, this thing shouldn't work at all. So people laughed and laughed and ignored him. Everyone except a team of Chinese scientists. They built one in 2009 and it worked: They were able to produce 720 millinewton, which is reportedly enough to build a satellite thruster. And still, nobody else believed it.

Now, American scientist Guido Fetta and a team at NASA Eagleworks—the advanced propulsion skunkworks led by Dr Harold "Sonny" White at the Johnson Space Center—have published a new paper that demonstrates that a similar engine working on the same principles does indeed produce thrust. Their model, however, produces much less thrust—just 30 to 50 micronewtons. But it works, which is amazing on its own. They haven't explained why their engine works, but it does work:

Test results indicate that the RF resonant cavity thruster design, which is unique as an electric propulsion device, is producing a force that is not attributable to any classical electromagnetic phenomenon and therefore is potentially demonstrating an interaction with the quantum vacuum virtual plasma.

The entire idea that we have found something that seems to go against the the principle of conservation of momentum just seems crazy to me. But the fact that it has worked for two independent parties can't be denied. That's the laboratory speaking. Then again, perhaps both labs made a mistake. I'm sure this will be tested by the Russians and the Europeans too, but at least I'm glad we are working on it.

But the fact that we may be witnessing something completely new, something that may push us forward into sci-fi territory once again, is very exciting.

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Russia to focus on Moon, Mars exploration, repeat Phobos-Grunt mission
© ITAR-TASS
MOSCOW, August 02, /ITAR-TASS/. Russian scientists will focus on Moon and Mars exploration and repeat the Phobos-Grunt mission in the next decade, Space Research Institute Director Lev Zeleny said on Saturday.
“The Moon and Mars are our priority for 2016-2025,” he said at the 40th COSPAR Scientific Assembly underway in Moscow on August 2-10.
The Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) in partnership with the European Space Agency will be carrying out two stages of the ExoMars mission in 2016 and 2018.
In 2016, Roscosmos is planning to join Europe and Japan in the BepiColombo project.
In 2017, it will orbit the Spektr-RG telescope and send a Russian rover, Luna-Globe, to the Moon in 2019, for the first time in years.
An UV observatory is to be launched in 2020; an orbiting module and a dropship are scheduled to be sent to the Moon in 2012 and 2023, respectively.
After thoroughly testing lunar and Martian technologies, approximately in 2024, Russia, may repeat its Phobos-Grunt mission to Mars’ satellite Phobos to collect its soil and bring it back to Earth.
Russia is planning a manned mission to the Moon in 2030-2031, Roscosmos First Deputy Head Alexander Ivanov said in July.
“In our programme this [manned mission to the Moon] is scheduled for 2020-2031. This programme [Federal Space Programme for 2016-2025] is being coordinated now,” he said.
When asked when the first settlement might be built on the Moon, Ivanov said this question was much more complex and needed additional attention.

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Russian Progress M-23M Heads for Splashdown in Pacific Ocean
Topic: Russian space programs
Progress spacecraft
Progress spacecraft
© NASA
02:56 01/08/2014
Tags: Pacific Ocean, spacecraft, space, ISS, Russia
Related News
Russian Soyuz-U with Progress M-24M Blasts Off for ISS
Russian Soyuz Launches Progress Craft Carrying ISS Supplies
Progress Space Freighter Docks With Orbital Station
Russia Launches Progress Resupply Craft to Space Station
MOSCOW, August 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russia’s Progress M-23M resupply spacecraft that was undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on July heads to the “spacecraft cemetery” in the Pacific Ocean, a representative of the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos told RIA Novosti Friday.
“The spacecraft’s engines are ignited for the braking. The splashdown of cargo spaceship’s unburned debris is scheduled for 02:43 a.m. MSK in a non-navigable area of the Pacific Ocean,” the source said.
From July 22 to August 1 an experiment titled “Radar-Progress” connected to the studies by earth-based observatories on the light-reflecting capacity of plasma heterogeneities generated by propulsion systems in the ionosphere, was held on board the Progress.

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Embattled RSC Energia President Lopota Suspended from Post
Posted by Doug Messier on August 2, 2014, at 11:43 am in News
Tags: dmitry rogozin, igor komarov, npo energomash, rsc-energia, united rocket and space corporation, vitaly lopota, vladimir solntsev.
Comments: 4 responses
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Energia_logoEmbattled RSC Energia President Vitaly Lopota, who is the subject of a criminal investigation for alleged abuse of office, was suspended from his post on Friday by the company’s board of directors, ending a seven-year reign over the space company.

The move appears to be part of an effort by Russia’s government to obtain majority control over Energia, of which it owns a 38-percent share. The directors elected Igor Komarov as its new chairman of the board. Komarov is chief of the Russian United Rocket and Space Corporation (URSC), the government-owned company tasked with consolidating Russia’s sprawling space sector.


Board members appointed Vladimir Solntsev as acting president to replace Lopota. Solntsev is executive director of Energia’s NPO Energomash subsidiary, which produced rocket engines.

Following the board meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin — who is in charge of the space and defense sectors — Tweeted, ““Long-awaited personnel reform in our space industry has started. Tough times require tough decisions.”

Russian media are reporting that Lopota will remain Energia’s general designer, with a final decision on Lopota’s status set for a meeting of shareholders in September. The Novosti-Kosmonavtiki website reports that Lopota has been offered the position of URSC’s vice-president for technological development.

It’s not clear whether URSC will gain a majority share of Energia during the shareholders meeting. Officials have spoken of increasing the government’s share of the company from 38 to 51 percent.

In April, it became publicly known that the Russian Investigative Committee, that nation’s equivalent of the FBI, has opened a criminal probe into Lopota’s conduct for alleged abuse of office.

Detectives found that “in 2010, Lopota who performed managerial functions at RSC Energia gave instructions to the leadership of its subsidiary, an experimental machine-building plant of RSC Energia, to grant loans to two companies participating in commercial space project Sea Launch.”

“These monetary funds should have been used as advanced payments on contracts for producing piloted spaceships within state-funded and other contracts. Meanwhile, loans were extended to affiliated organizations on terms unprofitable for Energia,” Markin said.

Thus, “Lopota’s misuse of powers in violation of interests of RSC Energia entailed major losses of more than 41 million rubles (around $1.1 million) to the state, which owns a 38% stake in Energia.

Lopota has denied the charges, claiming the investigation is based on distorted results.

“What we see now is happening under the pressure of competitors, the agenda driver forces that are deliberately distorting the results of the inspections carried out at RSC,” Lopota told ITAR-TASS in comments on the Investigative Committee’s decision to open criminal proceedings against him. “A manipulation of documents is going on.”

This situation was staged by the commission set up under the previous leadership of the Roscosmos Space Agency, he went on.

Simultaneously with the commission’s work, as it was looking into transparency of the corporation’s operation, the Audit Chamber and independent experts were conducting an inspection of their own,” reporting “excellent appraisal of the company’s activity.” “It is only the Roscosmos commission that can be blamed for distorting this appraisal,” Lopota said.

The current status of the investigation is unknown, but if Lopota is being offered a high-level post at USRC, I can’t imagine that the charges were really that serious.

UPDATE: Interfax has more details on Lopota’s promotion:

“Vitaly Alexandrovich [Lopota] has been invited to work at the URSC as a vice president for technological development,” the URSC quoted Komarov as saying in a statement.

Lopota has headed the Energia corporation for seven years, Komarov said. “A number of serious projects have been implemented over this time, and some of them have become real breakthroughs,” he said.

Komarov pointed out that, as Lopota has been offered the office of URSC vice president for technological development, combining this job with the office of Energia president would be inappropriate.

Translation: They’re dropping the investigation and kicking Lopota upstairs. Interfax also says that prior to previous reports, the Energia board suspended Lopota’s credentials as both president and general

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Struggling ILS Shedding 25 Percent of Staff
By Peter B. de Selding | Aug. 4, 2014

One of the issues adversely affecting ILS is the spate of failures aboard the Proton, all seemingly caused by disparate workforce-quality issues. Credit: ILS photo
PONTE VEDRA, Florida — Commercial launch provider International Launch Services on Aug. 4 said it was cutting staff by 25 percent as it lowers its forecasted launch rate of Russian Proton rockets to three to four per year from seven to eight missions previously planned.

Reston, Virginia-based ILS has been suffering from three unrelated issues that have put pressure on its business.

The first is the spate of failures aboard the venerable Proton vehicle, all seemingly caused by disparate workforce-quality issues. These failures have occurred on Russian government missions but have nonetheless affected ILS, in large part by grounding the Proton.

The second is the rising tension between Russia and the West about Russia’s involvement in Ukraine. While this issue and the related Western sanctions against Russia have not yet forced ILS customers to cancel their launch plans, it has made it more difficult for ILS to regain traction in the market as it rebounds from the launch anomalies.

The third issue is what is likely a temporary market phenomenon. So far in 2014, the commercial satellites ordered have been mainly at the lighter end of the market for geostationary-orbiting telecommunications spacecraft. This follows a couple of years in which heavier satellites dominated.

Commercial Proton rockets are typically used to launch heavier satellites one at a time. The market’s move to lighter spacecraft has benefited Space Exploration Technologies Corp. of Hawthorne, California, whose Falcon 9 rocket has accumulated commercial orders; and also benefited Arianespace, whose Ariane 5 heavy-lift vehicle’s lower position is reserved for smaller satellites.

Ariane 5’s upper berth, for heavier satellites, has been Proton’s direct competitor in the commercial market.

“Staffing at ILS is now at a level that is consistent with our near-term business,” ILS President Phil Slack said of the layoffs in a statement. “Our customers will continue to be well-supported. Previous staffing was consistent with planning for 7-8 launches per year. We are now targeting 3-4 missions annually. If it is determined that we need to ramp up our existing staff to accommodate additional missions in the future, we will be able to accomplish this in a relatively rapid manner.”

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Sanctions From ISS Partner Nations Slow Moscow 2024 Decision
Jul 29, 2014 Amy Svitak | AWIN First
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ISS: NASA
KOUROU, French Guiana – A new round of U.S. and European sanctions leveled at Russia’s rising aggression against Ukraine could slow a key decision this year on Moscow’s participation in the International Space Station (ISS) beyond 2020.

For now, mounting political tensions are "more or less" not affecting day-to-day operations aboard the orbiting outpost, says Alexey Krasnov, head of human spaceflight at Russian space agency Roscosmos. Speaking to reporters here on the eve of the Europe’s fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5) launch to the ISS, Krasnov said personnel at NASA are doing "everything they can to make sure politics do not affect our ability to work together."

However, with Moscow set to approve a new space road map this year for the period 2016-2025, Roscosmos needs to know now whether to budget for ISS hardware purchases that could keep the Russian elements of the space station functioning beyond 2020. Given rising political tensions over the escalating conflict in eastern Ukraine, Krasnov says it is unclear whether Moscow will approve Russia’s continued role in the ISS any time soon.

"We were told there would be support for the 2024 date, but our arguments were generated before April," when U.S. sanctions against Russian individuals and entities were put into force, he says.

Led by NASA, the ISS remains the largest international technology undertaking in history, one in which the U.S., Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan expect to have invested more than $100 billion by the end of the decade. As the lead ISS nation, the U.S. announced plans earlier this year to continue space station operations four years beyond a previously planned retirement in 2020.

However, Russia and Europe have not agreed to continue participating in the program after that date. With the threat of additional sanctions looming, the space station’s future appears increasingly murky.

William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s head of human spaceflight and operations, is confident Russia will stick with the ISS through 2024, though the current geopolitical climate suggests they may be reluctant to unveil such plans.

"Where before I was thinking Russia probably would step up first, that may not be the case now, and we have to be prepared for that," Gerstenmaier told reporters here July 29. "But if the U.S. can stay strong and we can still articulate why it makes sense to extend, then I think that also lets all the other partners think about this process and move forward."

Gerstenmaier said even if Russia does not plan for ISS extension this year, benefits of continued participation remain, should Moscow reach a decision within the next couple of years.

"There’s an opportunity lost by not knowing the station is going to be extended fully," Gerstenmaier said. "Having a 10-year research horizon is pretty important to them. Now, what this has done is put some uncertainty as to whether this 10-year horizon is going to happen. I think it will, but if it gets delayed two years, the benefit isn’t as real."

In the meantime, tonight’s final ATV mission will leave Moscow responsible for key aspects of the orbiting outpost. Slated to lift off this evening at 8:47 p.m. local time, the retirement of ATV makes Russia’s Progress transport vehicles the sole means of propulsive support to the ISS, including the ability to refuel the Russian Zvezda module, reboost the space station’s degrading altitude and occasionally maneuver it from the path of space debris.

Space station partners already rely on Russia’s Soyuz vehicle as the only form of crew transport to and from the ISS. With the final ATV, Progress becomes the lone spacecraft capable of deorbiting the space station at the end of its mission life, a retirement that is expected to occur within a decade.

With no more ATVs to deliver fuel to the ISS, Russia will be charged with managing propulsive support to the station, as well as for its eventual deorbit, a controlled re-entry that will send the 450-metric-ton structure into the Pacific Ocean.

"We are working on different deorbit scenarios," he said, including emergency evacuation of the ISS. "Two or three Progress vehicles can do this," he says.

Gerstenmaier says the partners have ample time to determine how to retire the space station.

"I have a long time to do this," he said, adding that ISS nations are likewise prepared for an emergency evacuation of the station. "But you’re multiple failures away before you get there," he said.

While NASA is the lead partner on ISS, all five members share responsibility for deorbiting the space station on a pro-rata basis determined by each member’s percentage of hardware mass.

But with relations deteriorating among the governments of the space station’s top three partners, one of the primary goals of the ISS agreement – the potential to use the station as a springboard for cooperative space exploration – appears in doubt.

"This could affect our ability to explore together beyond low Earth orbit," Krasnov said, though Gerstenmaier says the multinational partnership could offer common ground on which governments can build trust.

"Even though it’s an uncertain time, that basis for exploration is still there," Gerstenmaier said. "When these crises occur between countries, it’s important to have something you can talk about that you mutually agree is supportable by all countries. And having the space station as this multilateral engineering achievement, that offers the politicians an avenue for communication."

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RUSSIAN SPACEBaikonur Cosmodrome Could Stop Receiving Financing in 2016
by Staff Writers
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Aug 05, 2014


Baikonur, an international spaceport, was built in 1955.
Russian Ministry of Finance might stop financing Baikonur cosmodrome in 2016, Izvestia newspaper reported Friday citing a source in Roscosmos.

"In previous versions of draft budget for 2016 it was planned to allocate a $705 million (2.5 billion rubles) subsidy for Baikonur maintenance.

The money was supposed to be spent on salaries and field maintenance. We asked for more. But when our representative in Ministry of Finance was shown the final draft there was zero," the official from the Federal Space Agency was quoted as saying.

According to the newspaper, this could mean the whole teams of specialists at Baikonur will be left without financing.

The report also said that Ministry of Finance allegedly made such decision due to the construction of the new Vostochniy cosmodrome, which will now receive the money that previously went to Baikonur.

Baikonur, an international spaceport, was built in 1955. Russia leases Baikonur from Kazakhstan for $115 million annually. The current lease contract between the two countries expires in 2050.

Source: RIA Novosti

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9 July, 09:51
Plesetsk cosmodrome ready for re-launch of next-generation rocket Angara-1.2PP

The Plesetsk space center in Russia's Arkhangelsk region is ready to make another try at launching the next-generation space rocket Angara-1.2PP, Interfax-AVN reports citing a spokesman of space center.

"The mission has been scheduled for Wednesday afternoon," spokesman said.
The first attempt to launch Angara-1.2PP was made on June 27.
The mission was aborted by the automatic control system seconds before the takeoff.
A commission investigating the Angara situation blamed a defect in the liquid oxygen tank's drain valve.
The Angara family consists of four types of vehicles, from light with a lifting capacity of 1.7 to 3.7 tonnes to heavy with a lifting capacity of 28.5 tonnes.
The launch vehicles are based on a universal module powered by the RD-191 engine, which runs on environmentally friendly fuels - kerosene and liquid oxygen.
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Construction of technical facilities at Vostochny spaceport to start in 2015

Russia February 25, 8:01 UTC+4
A launch site for super-heavy lift vehicles will be built at the Vostochny Cosmodrome
Vostochny Cosmodrome
Vostochny Cosmodrome ITAR-TASS/Igor Ageenko
MOSCOW, February 24. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia will create its new Angara space complex at the Far Eastern Vostochny Cosmodrome in two stages for unmanned and piloted missions - and will have to commence the first stage in 2015 in order to be able to complete it in 2018, Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Head Oleg Ostapenko said on Monday, February 24.
In December 2013, specialists chose sites for Angara facilities at the cosmodrome and transported the carrier rocket’s mockup from Moscow-based Khrunichev Space Centre that made it to the spaceport in the Far Eastern Amur Region.
Roscosmos and the Agency for Special Construction Project (Spetsstroy), the main contractor in this project, have approved a schedule of work. Spetsstroy is now stepping up work to make up for delays caused by bad weather.
The first stage of the project - construction of roads at the cosmodrome - has been completed. The second stage is proceeding as scheduled and is to be completed in December 2014. More than 400 social, engineering and transport infrastructure facilities, 115 km of roads and 125 km of railroads will be built at the cosmodrome.
Vostochny should become operational in 2015 and start sending manned missions in 2018. The comsodrome is intended for launching automatic and piloted space missions under national, international and commercial programmes. Its construction started in 2012 and the first launch is expected to be carried out in by 2015 on board Soyuz-2 light carrier rockets. By 2018, it will be ready to launch heavy Angara-5A rockets. The cosmodrome will also have infrastructure for future piloted missions.
Russia plans to launch its new Angara carrier rocket this year. The new carrier rocket will be used to launch both civilian and military spacecraft and for international space cooperation projects.
Ostapenko said earlier that work on the Angara carrier rocket was proceeding as scheduled.
“We stick to the schedule. Work is now in progress to create a medium lift launch vehicle and in parallel with that we will move over to the heavy version Angara-5. Work is also underway to create the Soyuz-2 rocket and space system, and we plan to use the builders’ capacities for constructing the launch pad for Angara,” Ostapenko said.
A super-heavy lift launch vehicle will be able to carry a payload of 80 tonnes to low-earth orbits. In the future, its capacity can be increased to 160 tonnes and more.
The launch site for super-heavy lift vehicles will be built at the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
Khrunichev Space Centre Director-General Alexander Seliverstov said that the Angara development had reached the flight test stage and the focus was on finalising the launch site in Plesetsk.
He said that light and heavy versions of Angara rockets would be launched in 2014 and work was proceeding as scheduled. “The first rocket is to be launched in 2014,” Seliverstov said.
Angara will allow Russia to launch all kinds of spacecraft to any orbit. Now Russia can launch heavy satellites only aboard Proton rockets from Baikonur, which it leases from Kazakhstan for about 115 million U.S. dollars a year.
According to Khrunichev, a big advantage of the new rocket carrier is that “it is a universal space rocket system” capable of taking three types of rockets into space: light with a payload of up to 3.5 tonnes, medium with a payload of up to 14.6 tonnes, and heavy with a payload of up to 24.5 tonnes.
Medium lift and heavy lift launch vehicles can take payloads to the geostationary orbit as well.
The vehicle uses a unique engineering solution: the carrier can be assembled of the same modules. Their maximum number is five in a heavy version, three in a medium version, and one in a light version. They can all be launched form the same pad, not like now at Baikonur where each carrier requires its own launching pad.
The Angara class of rockets comprises four types of vehicles, with payload capacities ranging between 3.7 tones /light class, intended for low orbits/ and 28.5 tonnes.
The rockets are based on a universal rocket module powered by the RD-191 engine using kerosene and liquid oxygen. One such module makes up the first stage of the light class Angara 1.1 and Angara 1.2 boosters. Their second stages are different. The medium and heavy class boosters Angara-3 and Angara 4 are an extension of the light class types with additional three or four universal modules. Depending on the specific tasks, the booster can be equipped with the Briz-M or KVRB accelerator units.

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Russia to Hold First Cosmonaut Rescue Drills at Sea
Russia's Pacific Fleet drills
Russia's Pacific Fleet drills
© RIA Novosti. Ildus Gilyazutdinov
13:44 01/08/2014
Tags: naval drills, Soyuz TMA-M, Russian Air Force, Russian Pacific Fleet, Roscosmos, Roman Martov, Russia
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Russia’s Pacific Fleet to Receive New Warships in 2014
MOSCOW, August 1 (RIA Novosti) - Military Air Forces and Air Defense Forces of Russia’s Eastern Military District together with the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, and the Pacific Fleet rescue service are holding Russia’s first joint exercises to rescue cosmonauts at sea, fleet spokesman Captain First Rank Roman Martov said Friday.
“For the first time in recent history, an exercise to find and evacuate cosmonauts at sea after reentry will be held at the Pacific Fleet’s main base on August 2-8,” Martov told journalists.
A number of exercises aimed at working through the actions of the crew of a manned Soyuz-TMA transport spacecraft during parachute descent and landing are scheduled for August, 5.
The at sea part of the training includes the “practical work-through of all complex issues, with the use of maritime aviation, ships and rescue forces of the Pacific Fleet rescue service,” and is to take place in Ussuri Bay on August, 7.

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Sierra Nevada Corporation and Lockheed Martin Unveil
First Dream Chaser® Orbital Spacecraft Composite Structure


SNC's Dream Chaser® orbital structural airframe at Lockheed Martin in Ft. Worth
Sparks, Nev., Aug 1, 2014 – In a joint press conference, Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems and Dream Chaser® program partner, Lockheed Martin unveiled the Dream Chaser orbital spacecraft composite airframe. This structure will be used to conduct the first orbital launch of the Dream Chaser spacecraft due to launch in November, 2016, atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

“As a valued strategic partner on SNC’s Dream Chaser Dream Team, Lockheed Martin is under contract to manufacture Dream Chaser orbital structure airframes,” said Mark N. Sirangelo, corporate vice president of SNC’s Space Systems. “We competitively chose Lockheed Martin because they are a world leader in composite manufacturing, have the infrastructure, resources and quality control needed to support the needs of an orbital vehicle and have a proven track record of leading our nation’s top aviation and aerospace programs. Lockheed Martin’s diverse heritage coupled with their current work on the Orion program adds an extra element of depth and expertise to our program. SNC and Lockheed Martin continue to expand and develop a strong multi-faceted relationship.”

Earlier this year Lockheed Martin began fabrication of the Dream Chaser orbital spacecraft structure at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, Louisiana. The MAF, which is owned and operated by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, has played a significant role in our nation’s space programs from Apollo to the space shuttle, and most recently, Orion spacecraft manufacturing. As each Dream Chaser structural component completes the fabrication and inspection process at MAF, it is transported to Lockheed Martin’s Aeronautics facility in Fort Worth, Texas for integration into the airframe and co-bonded assembly.

Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility manufactures and assembles the world’s top fighter aircraft, the F-35 Lighting II and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Combined with technology mastered at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works®, the Dream Chaser team is able to leverage their extensive experience in the areas of composites and advanced manufacturing to ensure the Dream Chaser orbital structure is fabricated, built and assembled using best practices. In addition, Lockheed Martin is applying advanced 3D preform technology for joint assembly thereby reducing overall part and tooling count while improving assembly and integration time. Through these improved processes, SNC and Lockheed Martin are able to improve the overall durability, weight efficiency and affordability of the spacecraft.

“Lockheed Martin’s depth of aviation and aerospace experience brings a wealth of expertise to the Dream Chaser composite structure development,” said Jim Crocker, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems Company Civil Space Line of Business. “We are able to tailor our best manufacturing processes, and our innovative technology from across the corporation to fit the needs of the Dream Chaser program.”

In addition to the current Dream Chaser airframe manufacturing work, Lockheed Martin is also supporting SNC in the areas of vehicle assembly, integration, environmental testing, ground support equipment, flight certification and spacecraft launch and recovery. This work is performed at various Lockheed Martin facilities in Louisiana, Texas, Florida and Colorado.

Upon completion of manufacturing Lockheed Martin will transport the Dream Chaser airframe to SNC’s Louisville, Colorado, facility for final integration and assembly.

SNC is working with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program under an existing space act agreement to develop a safe, innovative, modern, flexible and highly-capable commercial space transportation system for the 21st Century. Once developed, Dream Chaser will provide the only reusable, human-rated lifting-body spacecraft with a commercial runway landing capability, anywhere in the world, and is on the forefront of the commercial human spaceflight industry, offering safe, reliable and cost-effective crew and critical cargo transportation to and from low-Earth orbit.

About Lockheed Martin Corporation
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 113,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation’s net sales for 2013 were $45.4 billion.

Media Contact: Allison Rakes at 240-364-4367

About Sierra Nevada Corporation's Space Systems
Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Space Systems business area based in Louisville, Colorado, designs and manufactures advanced spacecraft, space vehicles, rocket motors and spacecraft subsystems and components for the U.S. Government, commercial customers as well as for the international market. SNC’s Space Systems has more than 25 years of space heritage and has participated in over 400 successful space missions through the delivery of over 4,000 systems, subsystems and components. During its history, SNC’s Space Systems has concluded over 70 programs for NASA and over 50 other clients. For more information about SNC’s Space Systems visit

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Media Contact: [email protected] or Krystal Scordo at 720-407-3192

About Sierra Nevada Corporation
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), headquartered in Sparks, Nevada, is one of America's fastest growing private companies based on its significant expansion and reputation for rapid, innovative, and agile technology solutions in electronics, aerospace, avionics, space, propulsion, micro-satellite, aircraft, communications systems and solar energy. Under the leadership of CEO Fatih Ozmen and President Eren Ozmen, SNC has a workforce of over 3,000 personnel in 31 locations in 17 states. SNC's six unique business areas are dedicated to providing leading-edge solutions to SNC's dynamic customer base.

SNC is also the Top Woman-Owned Federal Contractor in the United States. Over the last 30 years under the Ozmen's leadership, SNC has remained focused on providing its customers the very best in diversified technologies to meet their needs and has a strong and proven track record of success. The company continues to focus its growth also on the commercial sector through internal advancements in dual-use applications and outside acquisitions, including the emerging markets of renewable energy, telemedicine, nanotechnology, cyber and net-centric operations. For more information on SNC visit

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Media Contact: [email protected] or Michelle Erlach at 775-849-6027

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

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USS Anchorage is docked at the Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014. NASA, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy will conduct recovery tests for the Orion spacecraft, stored aboard the ship, in the Pacific Ocean, simulating its return from a space mission. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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NASA astronaut Nicole Stott speaks to reporters about NASA's Orion spacecraft test vehicle in the well deck of the USS Anchorage at the Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014. NASA, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy will conduct recovery tests for the capsule in the Pacific Ocean, simulating its return from a space mission. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Brandi Dean, NASA public affairs specialist, points to a model of a Delta IV Heavy rocket, which would carry the Orion spacecraft, near an Orion test vehicle in the well deck of the USS Anchorage at the Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014.

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NASA's Orion spacecraft test vehicle sits in the well deck of the USS Anchorage at the Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014. NASA, Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy will conduct recovery tests for the capsule in the Pacific Ocean, simulating its return from a space mission. (AP Photos/Damian Dovarganes)

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