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Affordable Space Projects from Russia
Russia has prepared the ground to remain the leading space carrier for at least a decade to come. Russian spacecrafts are going to send into orbit foreign satellites, American astronauts and space tourists as the national space agency Roskosmos has shifted the focus in its activites onto commercial projects.
The MAKS 2005 air and space show presented a new Russian reusable spacecraft, Kliper, developed by the Energia rocket and space corporation. Test fights of Kliper were to start in 2013. Each spacecraft was to perform 20 flights with a six-member crew. As little as 20 percent of the ship’s parts has to be replaced after each flight. Energia, however, will not show Kliper at MAKS 2007 as the project became a major reason for Energia’s row with authorities which eventually dismissing the corporation’s executives.
Cancelled Kliper
Kliper entered the Federal Space Program for 2006-2015 with expected budget funding of 10 billion rubles. In January 2006, the final decision on Kliper was anticipated to be made on three proposals of Russian contracts, Energia, the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and Molniya. Bidding for the Kliper program was cancelled in July 2006. Federal Space Agency Director Anatoly Perminov said that Energia was the best among the bidders meeting most of the auction’s criteria except for the financial one. Energia estimated profits on investments in Kliper to come to 20 percent. The space corporation was ready to present a revised Kliper project before the end of 2007. The cost for the design and development was estimated at 50 million, which was five times as much as federal space officials were planning to spend. Energia argued that Kliper could cut the cost of sending cosmonauts and cargo into orbit by three or four times. Energia’s previous management suggested that the federal space program be reviewed to allocate more money for the promising Kliper program at the expense of other ventures.
Space officials declined to change the federal program and toppled zealous executives of the state-owned corporation. What the space agency did was give support to further modernizations of the Soyuz launch vehicle which keeps on bringing profits from flights of space tourists and foreign astronauts. Energia’s newly president Vitaly Lopota promised soon after his election in late July to revise “the concept of the new ship” and present suggestions to the space agency this year.
Blasting Off from Guiana and South Korea
Russia gave up the promising spacecraft project while more and more money is pouring into the country’s space program. Russia’s space budget has been growing faster than the state budget in recent years. Although the Russian space budget rose as little as 6 percent this year, funding for country’s Global Navigation Satellite System doubled, increasing funding for the civilian space program by almost 24 percent. In 2008, space expenditures are expected to go up 20 percent.
Russia has earmarked $1.4 billion for the space program this year. The U.S. NASA is to spend 11 times as much this year. Roskosmos, however, note that the prime cost of Russian rocket and space products is times lower than that of the NASA projects. At the same time, the Russian space agency is actively engaged in scores of commercial projects.
Roskosmos signed a $719 million contract with the NASA in April to send U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station and back to the Earth within the next four years while the U.S. is developing a new spacecraft.
Meanwhile, the Russian space agency is busy selling seats on Russian Soyuz spacecrafts to foreigners. A Soyuz will send a Malaysian astronaut into space in October, and another one will blast off next spring with a South Korean on board. Roskosmos earns more than $20 million from every foreign flight of Soyuz. Unofficial sources report that the price has gone up to $23 million due to a declining U.S. dollar. Spacecrafts free from foreign astronauts are ready to send tourists into space. Roskosmos allows Energia to sell one seat to a space tourist at the same price but return 20 percent from the contract price to the federal budget.
Custom-Built Rockets
Russia’s space authorities are also promoting launch vehicles. Russian companies earn the total of some $600 million a year from sending foreign satellites into orbit. Launches of Proton-M spacecrafts from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan are the most profitable in this industry. Over $1 billion deals on Proton-M launches were signed in the first half of 2007 alone. Among other popular launch projects are Soyuz rocket carriers starting from Baikonur and Zenit-3SL blasting off from the Odyssey floating platform in the Pacific Ocean.
The international space industry is in for a rise after a decade of a decline, according to Euroconsult. 22 to 26 satellites are expected to be launched every year between 2007 and 2016, up from 20 satellites a year in the previous five years.
Aware of this trend, Russia is embarking on the Soyuz-Kourou project which will be building a launching pad for Russian Soyuz rockets in the space center in Kourou, French Guiana. Member countries of the European Space Agency are to pay Russian companies ˆ121 million to modernize the Soyuz-2 rocket into its tropical version, Soyuz-ST and build the launch pad in Kourou. Soyuz-Kourou’s worth totals ˆ314 million. The first Soyuz is due to fly from French Guiana at the end of 2008. Roskosmos and Arianespace struck a deal this June for four launches of European satellites on Soyuz-STs from Kourou. Russian space officials expect that Soyuz-ST will be contracted for 50 launches worth ˆ1.25 billion in the next 15 years, each launch costing ˆ25 million.
In similar projects South Korea and Kazakhstan are planning to carry out their own space mission with the help of the new Russian launch vehicle Angara. The Khrunichev Center and its Korean counterparts signed a $200 million contract in 2004 to develop and produce the KSLV-1 rocket complex. Russian Angara-1 will serve as the first stage booster for the launch vehicle while Korea will produce the second stage. The first KSLV-1 is due to blast off from a launch pad in South Korea in 2008, though the schedule is open to changes
Russia and Kazakhstan are creating the Baiterek launch vehicle at the Baikonur space center which will also serve as the launch pad for the Russian super-heavy Angara-5 launch vehicle. The Kazakh government has committed to give a $223 million budget loan with 19-year maturity. The project is being dragged on because of the Angara program. “Baiterek rockets will not be flying from Baikonur until Angara blasts off from the Russian launch pad in Plesetsk,” says Vladimir Nestrov, director general of the Khrunichev Center. Angara’s first start for from Plesetsk is scheduled for 2011 or 2012.
The Khrunichev Center offers its Angara rockets for other international projects. The Brazilian space launch system Orion is going to use the first stage of the Angara-1 launch vehicle in its Gamma, Delta, Epsilon rockets.
However, a number of Russian scientists and officials are worried that the space program is becoming increasingly commercialized. Grigory Chernyavsky, a well-known space researcher and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that the national space industry must not fall as low as to cater for space tourists. “Unfortunately, Russia has adopted a policy of commercializing the industry and providing space services instead of creating efficient space means to ensure national security,” the scientist said. To change the situation, Russia needs to compare the number of pilot flights with real capabilities and increase state funding for space activities, Mr. Chernyavsky suggests.
by
Konstantin Lantratov
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 21, 2007
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