Rokot future

[russianhalo117]

According to that TASS quote, the Rockot/Briz-KM launch on 30 August was the last one. This would mean that the remaining Rockot flight with the 3x Gonets-M has been cancelled. Right?

The 3x Gonets could be switched to Soyuz-2.1v according to older information at http://www.russianspaceweb.com/2019.html.

According to NK forums and the members that post on this site the last version 1 civil government flight is November. August 30th flight was the last MoD manifested launch. Rokot-2/Breeze-KM2 is a modernized all digital version with no Ukrainian components which is in development by Khrunichev and partners. Till then or its cancellation all launches are as presently scheduled on the schedule. Also Khrunichev is developing a fully Russianized upgrade package of Dnepr albeit under a different name with optional Breeze-KM2 derived upper stage.

[zubenelgenubi]

According to that TASS quote, the Rockot/Briz-KM launch on 30 August was the last one. This would mean that the remaining Rockot flight with the 3x Gonets-M has been cancelled. Right?

The 3x Gonets could be switched to Soyuz-2.1v according to older information at http://www.russianspaceweb.com/2019.html.

According to NK forums and the members that post on this site the last version 1 civil government flight is November. August 30th flight was the last MoD manifested launch.<snip>

So, the LV for the three Rodnik satellites of blok 17 is currently unknown?

Does the one remaining Rokot v.1 vehicle become available for upgrading to v.2?  Or does it become a museum artifact?

[russianhalo117]

According to that TASS quote, the Rockot/Briz-KM launch on 30 August was the last one. This would mean that the remaining Rockot flight with the 3x Gonets-M has been cancelled. Right?

The 3x Gonets could be switched to Soyuz-2.1v according to older information at http://www.russianspaceweb.com/2019.html.

According to NK forums and the members that post on this site the last version 1 civil government flight is November. August 30th flight was the last MoD manifested launch.<snip>

So, the LV for the three Rodnik satellites of blok 17 is currently unknown?

Does the one remaining Rokot v.1 vehicle become available for upgrading to v.2?  Or does it become a museum artifact?

ROSCOMOS still has one flight allocated to them. It is currently listed as Gonets-M and is up to them. The remaining v1 Rokot if not flown can either be upgraded or returned to the arsenal for military use as a UR-100. They are stored in a state to initially fly as Strela then get updated for Rokot later.
Others can explain.

[zubenelgenubi]

Apparently the final version 1 Rokot launch is November 29, with a Gonets-M triplet payload.  Cross-post:

Last Rokot:
https://tass.ru/kosmos/6951950
Google translate:

MOSCOW, October 2. / TASS /. Operation of the Rokot launch vehicles of the basic version may end on November 29 with the launch of three communication satellites of the Gonets system from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, Oleg Khimochko, the first deputy general director of the Gonets Satellite System JSC, told TASS.
“The launch date is November 29, but the transfer may take place to December 20-29,” Khimochko said, adding that the decision whether to delay the launch or not will be made in the coming days.

[VDD1991]

Apparently the final version 1 Rokot launch is November 29, with a Gonets-M triplet payload.  Cross-post:

Last Rokot:
https://tass.ru/kosmos/6951950
Google translate:

MOSCOW, October 2. / TASS /. Operation of the Rokot launch vehicles of the basic version may end on November 29 with the launch of three communication satellites of the Gonets system from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, Oleg Khimochko, the first deputy general director of the Gonets Satellite System JSC, told TASS.
“The launch date is November 29, but the transfer may take place to December 20-29,” Khimochko said, adding that the decision whether to delay the launch or not will be made in the coming days.

The final Rokot rocket launched today, meaning that Russia no longer has any space rockets based on Soviet-era ICBM technology (the Proton-M derives its heritage from the UR-500 ICBM project, although the UR-500 ICBM was never built).

[Steven Pietrobon]

Yes, but Russia plans to use Rokot-M, which is a Rokot using Russian electronics.

[owais.usmani]

https://twitter.com/katlinegrey/status/1269878714638229504

[Rondaz]

Russia’s Rokot-M carrier rocket to be launched in 2024 — Khrunichev Center.

We had to settle some issues regarding ground equipment, CEO of the Khrunichev Space Center Alexey Varochko said.

3 MAY, 18:06

MOSCOW, May 4. /TASS/. An inaugural launch of a Rokot-M carrier rocket from the Plesetsk space center is planned for 2024, CEO of the Khrunichev Space Center (the rocket’s developer) Alexey Varochko told TASS.

"We are planning the launch [of Rokot-M] for 2024," he said.

Varochko also said that the inaugural launch of the Rokot-M upgraded carrier rocket with the Russian control system had been initially planned for 2022. However, he said that following a detailed audit, experts concluded that the rest of the space carrier’s equipment should be upgraded as well.

"We had to settle some issues regarding ground equipment," Varochko said. "We also made a number of decisions concerning the control system, namely - to ditch the current system, which is outdated, and to install the up-to-date equipment."

In 2018, the Khrunichev Space Center announced that it was carrying out work on creating the Rokot-2 carrier rocket with a new control system to replace the Ukrainian equipment installed on Rokot launch vehicles.

The Rokot light carrier rocket has been derived from the RS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile under the program of re-converting military hardware into civil products.

The first launch of a Rokot rocket took place from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia in 2000. Overall, the Khrunichev Space Center produced and launched over 30 rockets with the Ukrainian control system under the Rokot project.

The last liftoff of the baseline Rokot launch vehicle took place from the Plesetsk spaceport on December 27, 2019 when it delivered Gonets-M communications satellites and a military space vehicle into orbit.

https://tass.com/science/1446563

[owais.usmani]

https://nauka.tass.ru/nauka/17485337

Production of the first Rokot-M rocket started in Russia

MOSCOW, 10 April. /TASS/. Center them. M.V. Khrunicheva (part of Roskosmos) has begun manufacturing some elements of the first Rokot-M flight launch vehicle with a domestic control system instead of the Ukrainian one. This was announced in an interview with TASS by the general director of the enterprise Alexei Varochko.

"As part of the Rokot-M project, a contract was made with our cooperation on component parts, bench products are being manufactured, as well as a number of elements of the first flight rocket with long production times," Varochko said.

In August 2018, in the materials of the Center. M. V. Khrunichev, presented at the Army-2018 forum, it was reported that the company is working on the creation of the Rokot-2 launch vehicle with a new control system that will replace the Ukrainian one installed on the Rokot missiles. Initially, the launch was planned for 2022.

In May last year, the Director General of the Center. M. V. Khrunicheva said in an interview with TASS that after a detailed audit of the equipment for the Rokot, experts came to the conclusion that it was also necessary to put in order the equipment that had been in operation for a long time and had already exhausted its resource. Therefore, now the first launch of the Rokot-M launch vehicle from the Plesetsk cosmodrome is planned for 2024.

[Tywin]

Any new info about Rockot-2, if flight this year?

[russianhalo117]

Any new info about Rockot-2, if flight this year?

It is scheduled to fly this year. Hardware is in preparation. 133/3 is completing its upgrade work and may be ready to support a first launch very soon..

[Tywin]

Any new picture of the integration of the rocket?

[russianhalo117]

Any new picture of the integration of the rocket?

AFAIU the pad is still undergoing modernization.

[B. Hendrickx]

The latest official information on the launch date of Rokot-M/Rokot-2 came from (former) Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who said during a visit to Plesetsk in April 2024 that the rocket would fly before the end of that year. That clearly was too optimistic.

Recently published court documentation may indicate that the first launch of Rokot-M is still not imminent. It is related to the development of the most important new element of the rocket, namely its flight control system, which is installed aboard the Briz-KM2 upper stage. It replaces the flight control system of the original version of Rokot, which was provided by the Ukrainian company  Khartron. Rokot’s dependence on this critical piece of Ukrainian-built hardware was one of the main reasons for its cancelation.

The development of the modernized flight control system was entrusted to the Russian company MOKB Mars, which also supplies the control system for the Briz-M stage flown on both Proton and Angara-A5. In 2017 the company was transferred from Roscosmos to the Rosatom State Corporation, even though nothing it (publicly) does is even remotely related to the nuclear industry. In December 2021 it was incorporated into the Dukhov Research Institute of Automatics (VNIIA), another organization under Rosatom.

As can be learned from the court documentation, MOKB Mars received a contract for the modernization of the Rokot flight control system from the Khrunichev Center (the rocket’s manufacturer) on October 1, 2021. This in turn was based on a government contract awarded by the Ministry of Defense on May 18, 2020, which would seem to be the official start date of the Rokot-M project.

The court case (between Khrunichev and VNIIA) revolves around delays in the delivery of hardware by VNIIA/MOKB Mars, which had not met numerous deadlines by August 2024. Conversely, there have also been several delays in the supply of equipment by Khrunichev to VNIIA/MOKB Mars. One such item mentioned in the document is called an “electric equivalent of the Briz-KM2 upper stage”. It was delivered to VNIIA/MOKB Mars in September 2024, but had to be returned back to Khrunichev in November because it was “not in accordance with design documentation”. At the time the court document was compiled (April 30, 2025), the equipment had still not been sent back to VNIIA/MOKB Mars.

I presume that an “electric equivalent” is the same as what the Russians also call an “electric analogue”. In the manned space program, this term is used for full-scale models of spacecraft that contain much of the real hardware and are an essential step to building the actual flight-rated vehicles. They are also used to troubleshoot problems with the flight hardware after it reaches orbit. If the “electric equivalent” of Briz-KM2 serves similar functions, it is a critical piece of equipment that VNIIAM/MOKB Mars needs to finish the flight-rated version of the flight control system. The fact that it was not yet available two months ago is obviously not a good sign.

Khrunichev also launched a court case against another subcontractor for Rokot-M, namely NPO Izmeritelnoi Tekhniki (NPO IT), which received a contract in January 2022 to supply what would appear to be a new telemetry system called Astra. However, this court case dealt with relatively minor delays back in 2023 that should not have an impact on the current target launch date.

[Tywin]

So Rockot-2 now Q1 of 2026?

[russianhalo117]

So Rockot-2 now Q1 of 2026?

NET 2026 pending completion of the modernisation work to all infrastructure and launcher testing.