Angara-A5 - Upgrades
By the third launch, the rocket is planned to be modernized. It will be called Angara-A5M, and the main difference of the new version will be the RD-191M engines boosted by 10% (instead of the RD-191). She will also receive a backup pneumohydraulic fuel supply system and an updated control system. The reasons that prompted Roskosmos to modernize the rocket, which has not yet completed flight tests, are unclear. But, according to various rumors, the actual carrying capacity of the Angara-A5 turned out to be about 22-23 tons into low Earth orbit instead of the projected 24 tons. A carrier of this dimension, when launched from Plesetsk, will not be able to be used to put some state and military loads into orbit. The terms of reference for the creation of the modernized Angara-A5M missile as part of the Amur development and experimental design work were agreed upon both by the Russian Space Agency and the Russian Ministry of Defense. This was announced on 14 February 2020 by CEO of the state corporation Dmitry Rogozin. "The terms of reference within the Amur ROC for the creation of a more powerful version of the Angara heavy missile have been agreed upon by both the Russian Space Agency and the Ministry of Defense," Rogozin said. He clarified that flight tests of the new rocket should begin at Vostochny Cosmodrome in 2024, the rocket will be able to launch more than 27.5 tons of payload into orbit (almost 3 tons more than the basic version).
The Angara-A5M will start from the same launch table as the Angara-A5. “This is the difference between the launch complex on Vostochny: it is being built with a reserve and not only for the modernized five, but also for its even more powerful version with the third hydrogen stage of the Angara A5B,” the head of the state corporation added. Rogozin said that the launch load under the "Angara" in the East are calculated taking into account the possibility of removing 37 tons of payload. The Director General of Roscosmos recalled that the second launch complex of Vostochny will be put into operation in 2023, and Angara-A5 launches will start from it.
Launch vehicles of the Angara family are designed according to the principle of using universal rocket modules. The light Angara-A1.2 uses one URM-1 in the first stage and one URM-2 in the second. In Angara-A5 there are four URM-1s in the first stage, one URM-1 in the second stage, one URM-2 in the third stage. The Angara-A5M and Angara-A5V missiles plan to use modified URMs.
The URM-1M modules will differ from the URM-1 and URM-2, in particular, the use of RD-191M engines with increased thrust (instead of RD-191), the introduction of reserve units in the pneumohydraulic fuel supply systems to ensure reliability and safety, and the use of on-board systems based on the domestic element base, as well as a number of other design differences aimed at improving reliability, reducing the mass and cost of the rocket.
As noted in the document, “Angara-A5M” is created on the basis of “Angara-A5” with maximum preservation of the main design solutions of the prototype product, by implementing improvements that significantly increase technical and economic characteristics. After the creation of Angara-A5M, it is planned to proceed to the development of the Angara-A5V heavy-duty carrier rocket of increased payload. It will be created by replacing the URM-2 Angara-A5M oxygen-kerosene block with an oxygen-hydrogen stage.
"Roskosmos" will provide for the adaptation of the new spacecraft "Eagle" to the launch vehicle "Angara" more than a billion rubles, the work will be completed by April 2021, to the materials of the corporation, posted on the website of state purchases. The development of the reusable manned transport spacecraft of the new generation "Eagle" (formerly called "Federation") for flights to the Moon has been underway since 2009. The first test launch is expected at the end of 2023 on the Angara-A5 carrier rocket from the Vostochny cosmodrome. In 2024, an unmanned flight is planned, in 2025 - a manned spacecraft flight to the ISS.
Roscosmos has signed a contract worth over 20 billion rubles for the creation of an oxygen-hydrogen upper stage KBTK, which will significantly increase the carrying capacity of the Angara launch vehicle. In October 2019, Sergey Kuznetsov, General Designer of the Salyut Design Bureau of the Khrunichev Center (Roscosmos enterprise), told RIA Novosti that flight tests of the KBTK are planned to begin in 2027 with the allocation of the necessary funding. The contract between Roscosmos and the Khrunichev Center in the amount of 20.6 billion rubles for the creation of the KBTK was signed on 10 December 2020. In the course of the work, which is planned to be completed by December 2025, it is planned to manufacture models and prototypes, as well as conduct their tests. It is planned to use the KBTK on heavy-class rockets Angara-A5, Angara-A5M and Angara-A5V from the Vostochny and Plesetsk cosmodromes.
According to the presentation presented by the general director of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin in May 2019, when using the upper stage DM-03, the Angara-A5M rocket, when launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome, will be able to launch a payload with a mass of 3 into a geostationary orbit (a circular orbit with an altitude of 36 thousand kilometers) , 5-4.1 tons, when using KBTK - 5 tons. For the Angara-A5V rocket, these figures will be 5.5 and 8 tons, respectively.
Roscosmos State Corporation plans to reduce the cost of the new Angara launch vehicle by reducing the cost of manufacturing RD-191 rocket engines. This was announced by the general director of NPO Energomash Igor Arbuzov. “The management of Roscosmos state corporation set a task for us - to optimize the cost of manufacturing the RD-191 engine, so that the Angara launch vehicle would be competitive in the global space launch market,” said Arbuzov, whose words are quoted in a message posted on website of the Center. Khrunicheva (manufacturing enterprise "Angara"). “This can be done, including through the introduction of product life cycle management technologies and lean manufacturing systems,” he added.
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