Author Topic: CNIIHM: Russia’s secret satellite builder  (Read 24859 times)

Offline Star One

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CNIIHM: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« on: 05/06/2019 08:22 pm »
From The Space Review.

Some ten kilometers south of Red Square in Moscow’s Nagatino-Sadovniki District is a drab-looking ten-story building that is unlikely to attract the attention of any casual passers-by. Anyone interested in finding out what goes on inside will learn little more from the name inscribed in a gold-colored plate hanging near the entrance: Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics Named After D.I. Mendeleyev (Cyrillic initials , transliterated either as CNIIHM or TsNIIKhM). At first sight, there is nothing to suggest that it has anything to do with the Russian space program. However, plenty of evidence has emerged from open-source intelligence that CNIIHM has become one of the most important satellite builders outside the structure of Roscosmos, specializing in the development of small sаtellites for military purposes, including what likely is a new Russian co-orbital anti-satellite system.

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3709/1
« Last Edit: 03/30/2022 06:03 am by zubenelgenubi »

Offline zubenelgenubi

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #1 on: 05/07/2019 01:43 am »
Great piece, Bart!
Support your local planetarium! (COVID-panic and forward: Now more than ever.) My current avatar is saying "i wants to go uppies!" Yes, there are God-given rights. Do you wish to gainsay the Declaration of Independence?

Offline Star One

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #2 on: 05/07/2019 10:51 am »
Great piece, Bart!

I will add my thanks as well for the article. I certainly didn’t know much before about the Soviet era ASAT satellites outlined in the article.

Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #3 on: 05/07/2019 01:18 pm »
Thank you for the positive reactions to the article. It is mainly a summary of what I have written on this forum during the past months about Nivelir, Burevestnik and Numizmat, but also contains additional details on the history and structure of TsNIIKhM (in the article I used the easier-to-read transliteration CNIIHM) and on the institute's work on nanosatellites (under a theme called Naveska). I will wrote more about the nanosatellites here a bit later, although very little is known about them.

By the way, for more on the Soviet-era ASAT project "IS" I can recommend this article by Asif Siddiqi, published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society in 1997:

https://faculty.fordham.edu/siddiqi/writings/p7_siddiqi_jbis_is_history_1997.pdf

The Soviet Union also worked on a number of other ASAT projects, which I covered in this article for "Space Chronicle "in 2016 ("Naryad and the Soviet anti-satellite fleet"):

http://www.bis-space.com/belgium/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Naryad-V-and-the-Soviet-Anti-Satellite-Fleet.pdf



Offline Star One

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Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #4 on: 05/07/2019 01:44 pm »
Thank you for the positive reactions to the article. It is mainly a summary of what I have written on this forum during the past months about Nivelir, Burevestnik and Numizmat, but also contains additional details on the history and structure of TsNIIKhM (in the article I used the easier-to-read transliteration CNIIHM) and on the institute's work on nanosatellites (under a theme called Naveska). I will wrote more about the nanosatellites here a bit later, although very little is known about them.

By the way, for more on the Soviet-era ASAT project "IS" I can recommend this article by Asif Siddiqi, published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society in 1997:

https://faculty.fordham.edu/siddiqi/writings/p7_siddiqi_jbis_is_history_1997.pdf

The Soviet Union also worked on a number of other ASAT projects, which I covered in this article for "Space Chronicle "in 2016 ("Naryad and the Soviet anti-satellite fleet"):

http://www.bis-space.com/belgium/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Naryad-V-and-the-Soviet-Anti-Satellite-Fleet.pdf

Thank you for both of those links.

I know this is outside the remit of the article but the program that I feel we haven’t heard much of is what I can only call the Persona follow on program as from what’s been written on here and elsewhere Persona was only a ‘stopgap’ solution.
« Last Edit: 05/07/2019 01:46 pm by Star One »

Offline Phillip Clark

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #5 on: 05/07/2019 02:13 pm »
I am not sure about Persona being a "stop-gap" solution, but the replacement appears to be the Razdan satellite which is supposed to debut this year, although of course the launch might well have slipped.

Not a lot is known about the Razdan satellite, apart from some material that came out 2-3 years ago.   Patience is a virtue .......... ;)
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Offline Star One

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #6 on: 05/07/2019 02:34 pm »
I am not sure about Persona being a "stop-gap" solution, but the replacement appears to be the Razdan satellite which is supposed to debut this year, although of course the launch might well have slipped.

Not a lot is known about the Razdan satellite, apart from some material that came out 2-3 years ago.   Patience is a virtue .......... ;)

Thanks. Do we know at least what type of launcher has been allocated to them? The Persona’s used a Soyuz 2.1b.

Offline Phillip Clark

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #7 on: 05/07/2019 03:05 pm »
I am not sure about Persona being a "stop-gap" solution, but the replacement appears to be the Razdan satellite which is supposed to debut this year, although of course the launch might well have slipped.
Not a lot is known about the Razdan satellite, apart from some material that came out 2-3 years ago.   Patience is a virtue .......... ;)
Thanks. Do we know at least what type of launcher has been allocated to them? The Persona’s used a Soyuz 2.1b.

The Soyuz-2 class of launcher has been identified in the material from 2-3 years ago but the specific variant was not given: I would agree that Soyuz-2-1B would be the most logical to use.
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Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #8 on: 05/17/2019 03:03 pm »
Somebody was kind enough to translate the article into Russian here:
https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3636133.html

This translation has spread to other Russian Internet sources, with someone even reading it aloud on YouTube:
 

There is just one misunderstanding I would like to set straight. The translator added that CNIIHM's website went down "for maintenance" shortly after the article was published on "The Space Review". That is definitely not true. The site had been taken offline well before the publication of the article, so there is absolutely no connection. The site doesn't have any information on CNIIHM's space-related activities anyway. The only information I used from CNIIHM's website was from an older version of the site that is still accessible through the Internet Wayback Machine. This did give away some information on the company's space-related departments, albeit very little.



Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #9 on: 06/27/2019 11:32 pm »
In my article on CNIIHM’s space projects published on "The Space Review" last month I briefly mentioned the company’s work on nanosatellites, which are usually defined as satellites weighing between about 1 and 10 kg. Indications are that this work is being conducted separately from Nivelir, Burevestnik and Numizmat, which likely are microsatellites weighing somewhere between 10 and 100 kg. I will go into the nanosat work in more detail here.

One CNIIHM nanosat may already be orbiting the Earth under the name Cosmos-2523. Possibly, this is the satellite that some sources refer to as Napryazheniye.  CNIIHM also seems to have worked on nanosats under two research projects called Nota (first half of the decade) and Naveska (beginning in 2015). Both projects consisted of several elements, some of which clearly had to do with nanosat technology.  In addition to that, CNIIHM has ordered nanosat parts under a program that seems to be separate from Nota and Naveska. There is also information on other nanosat work that cannot be directly linked to any of these projects. 

The information on the nanosat work is fragmented and the links between the various projects are unclear.  Here is what I've been able to collect from open sources in the past months.   

Napryazheniye (Напряжение)

Although Napryazheniye (“Tension”, “Voltage”) was identified as a satellite project several years ago, its manufacturer was unknown until it was linked to CNIIHM in a presentation of solar panel and battery manufacturer PAO Saturn earlier this year. The information given here suggests that PAO Saturn provided the solar cells for the satellite, which are likely mounted on the satellite body rather than on solar panels.

https://docplayer.ru/124565554-Sostoyanie-kvalifikacii-litiy-ionnyh-batarey-pao-saturn.html
(see p. 35)

Napryazheniye has been discussed in several posts in the Cosmos-2519/2521/2523 and Burevestnik threads, but I will repeat here what is known about it. The project first appears in the annual report of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MFTI) for 2012, where it and Nivelir are mentioned as research projects conducted jointly by MFTI and an organization subordinate to MFTI called  the Education-Science-Production Complex (NOU UNPK), which the report says has close ties with CNIIHM.

http://mipt.ru/upload/4fb/2012-arphcump3pi.doc
(p. 105)

The name also shows up along with Nivelir and Burevestnik in the annual reports of 2012, 2013 and 2014 of RNII Elektronstandart, a leading institute in the field of certification, standardization and quality control of electronic devices. More particularly, the institute was to test methods to certify electronic components for Napryazheniye (under a theme known as “Napryazheniye-E”). See for instance the 2012 report:

www.e-disclosure.ru/portal/FileLoad.ashx?Fileid=679596
(p. 19-20)

Napryazheniye is also seen in the 2013 annual report of NPP Geofizika, a manufacturer of optical sensors for attitude control systems. The report talks abоut the possible use of Geofizika’s instruments “on the satellites Spektr-RG, Nivelir-L, Napryazheniye-L, Rezonans and 14F01” (the latter being NPO Mashinostroyeniya’s Neitron).

http://www.geofizika-cosmos.ru/assets/files/otchyotnost/godovoj-otchet-2013.pdf
(p. 40)

Nivelir and Napryazheniye also appear together in procurement plans for 2013 and 2014 of RKTs Progress in Samara, which delivered what appear to be “memory units” for the satellites. Only the 2014 plan is still available online:
https://www.docme.ru/doc/1042461/fr.samspace.ru-upload-iblock-6c1-plan-zakupki-oao-«rkc-«p...

Finally, Napryazheniye was also the name of a research project at the Scientific Research Institute of Television (NIIT). This is known from a 2017 PhD thesis of a NIIT researcher (Aleksei Morozov) related to TV observations of rendezvous and proximity operations in space. It is mentioned here alongside with a star tracker for Burevestnik. However, it is not known if there is a link with CNIIHM’s Napryazheniye project.

https://etu.ru/assets/files/nauka/dissertacii/2017/Morozov/Avtoreferat_Morozov.pdf
(p. 6)
     
Given the fact that Napryazheniye was started around 2012 and is always mentioned together with Nivelir, it is reasonable to assume that the first Napryazheniye satellite was Cosmos-2523, ejected in October 2017 from CNIIHM’s Cosmos-2521 inspector satellite (probably 14F153), which in turn had separated from NPO Lavochkin’s Cosmos-2519 (14F150) “mother satellite” in August 2017. Both of these satellites are part of project Nivelir. Since Cosmos-2523 is a subsatellite deployed from another subsatellite, it is likely to be a nanosat-class satellite.

Shortly after it separated from Cosmos-2521, Cosmos-2523 performed a burn that lowered its perigee by about 100 km. It has since remained inert. This could point to the use of a solid-fuel propulsion system. CNIIHM has worked on miniature solid-fuel propulsion systems for nanosatellites under the Nota and Naveska research projects. The lack of restart ability in such systems is compensated by the fabrication of arrays of micro thrusters that together can still produce significant thrust. However, it is highly questionable whether such propulsion systems would be powerful enough for the maneuver performed by Cosmos-2523.   


Nota-H / Naveska-H (Нота-Х/Навеска-Х)


Studies of miniature solid-fuel propulsion systems were carried out under research projects called Nota-H and Naveska-H (the word "nota" is usually used in the meaning "musical note" and "naveska" has several meanings including "hinge" and "sample").  Development of solid propellants was part of CNIIHM’s core business until it expanded into other fields earlier this century. CNIIHM’s partner for these studies was the Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology (РХТУ/RHTU), more particularly the university’s  Department for the Chemistry and Technology of Organic Nitrogen Compounds (ХТОСА/HTOSA). The two projects involved many of the same researchers and were both led by Valeriy Sinditskiy, the head of the HTOSA department. The Cyrillic “X” (transliterated both as "Kh" and "H") in the project name almost certainly stands for the Russian word meaning “chemistry” or “chemical”.

Most of the information on these projects was on the “ISTINA” website of Moscow State University, where researchers from all over Russia can publish an overview or their papers. . However, the pages on Nota-H and Naveska-H disappeared from the website not long after the publication of the article on The Space Review article. I have attached screenshots for those interested.
   
Nota-H was defined on the website as being focused on “experimental studies on the development of advanced propellants and fuel elements for matrix micro engines”. It ran from February 2012 until February 2015 and was part of CNIIHM’s research program for the period 2011-2015. Nota-H consisted of two stages, the first of which (February 2012-August 2012) focused on the composition of the propellants and the second (July 2012-February 2015) on testing experimental solid-propellant units containing those propellants, some of which would be obtained using a technique called “self-propagating high-temperature synthesis”.

During a conference at the MFTI in 2013 a CNIIHM researcher presented a paper on solid-propellant micro propulsion systems that may well have been related to Nota-H.
https://mipt.ru/upload/medialibrary/7dd/prog.pdf
(p. 34-35)

The results of Nota-H were briefly mentioned in this article by researchers of RHTU published in 2017.

https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/optimizatsiya-retseptury-borsoderzhaschego-pirotehnicheskogo-topliva

The propellant studied was based on a mixture of potassium nitrate and boron with the addition of a small amount of potassium perchlorate. The combustion rate was 2-3 cm/s at a pressure of about 2-3 MPa.


Naveska-H ran from March 2016 until June 2017. Not many more details were given on the ISTINA website, but because of the involvement of CNIIHM and many of the same researchers, there can be little doubt that this was a continuation of the Nota-H project. Some of the researchers also did another study on solid-propellant micro thrusters for “small satellites” in 2017:

https://istina.msu.ru/reports/77137109/
A student of the university defended a master thesis on the same subject in 2018:
https://istina.msu.ru/diplomas/83917382/

In May 2015 four of the HTOSA researchers involved in Nota-H and Naveska-H along with four CNIIHM researchers filed a patent called “solid-fuel charge for micro engines” (the application was granted in December 2016). Two possible propellant mixtures are discussed in the text with a combustion of between 0.10-0.20 m/s and at pressures of 3-6 MPa. Strangely enough, neither of the mixtures looks similar to the one studied under Nota-H. According to the authors, the engines are planned to be used to “create a torque or correct the flight trajectory of a special small-size object”.

https://patents.google.com/patent/RU2605482C2/ru
English machine translation:
https://patents.google.com/patent/RU2015119132A/en

One of the patent holders on the CNIIHM side was Vladimir Turkov, the head of CNIIHM’s Scientific Research Center for Nanotechnology.

Turkov and several other researchers of the nanotechnology center also authored this 2014 article, which gives an overview of solid-fuel and other micro thrusters developed abroad, but also briefly describes the center’s own work on such systems:

http://novtex.ru/nmst/files/full/mc201412.pdf
(p. 7-20)


Naveska-N  (Навеска-Н)


Naveska-N is the name of a joint research project between CNIIHM and the MFTI university, kicked off by a contract signed on 30 December 2016 (nr. 1438G).

Its existence is known from a series of procurement documents published on zakupki.gov.ru between April and September 2017:

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31705004371
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31705088601
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31705122608
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31705447573
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31705533174


It is not clear what the “N” in the project name stands for (a wild guess would be “nanosatellite”). As part of Naveska-N, MFTI signed a contract in April 2017 with a company called Sputnix for the delivery of cubesat parts. Sputnix is a Russian private company affiliated with the Skolkovo Innovation Center that manufactures nanosatellites and microsatellites and also offers components for such satellites to other customers. The items ordered by MFTI under Naveska-N were an on-board computer (SX-CU-04), Sun sensors (SX-SUNM-01), a GPS/GLONASS receiver (SX-NAV-02) as well as simulator for on-board equipment (SX-SATM-02) and a space environment simulator (SX-SPIMIT-06).

MFTI’s own contribution to the project appear to be reaction wheels called MFTI-M-019 with a 37.5 W electric motor. That work may have been assigned to MFTI’s Laboratory of  High Precision Orientation Systems headed by Nikita Ivlev. Established in December 2014, it signed a contract with Sputnix on 20 March 2015 for the delivery of a reaction wheel called SXPH-WH-100. This was intended for a 100 kg class Earth remote sensing satellite to be developed by Sputnix, but according to reports at the time the laboratory was hoping to produce reaction wheels that would be compatible with satellites ranging in mass from 5 to 500 kg. Possibly, MFTI-M-019 is a product of that research. It is worth noting that the Laboratory of High Precision Orientation Systems is under the same faculty that also has a department run by CNIIHM.
 
See for instance these articles:
https://sputnix.ru/ru/o-nas/novosti/fiztekh-i-sputniks-budut-delat-makhoviki-dlya-mikrosputnikov
https://mipt.ru/news/mfti_uchastvuet_v_glavnoy_nauchnoy_vystavke_strany_vuzpromekspo_2015
http://kmu2015.cosmos.ru/sites/kmu2015.cosmos.ru/files/Abstracts-kmu2015.pdf
 (p. 39)

Also under Naveska-N, MFTI teamed up in September 2017 with the Scientific Research Institute of Electromechanics (NIIEM) to conduct “mechanical and thermal vacuum tests” of the “on-board control complex” (BKU) (including the on-board computer and the reaction wheels). NIIEM (a former branch of VNIIEM based in the Moscow suburb Istra) itself specializes in electromechanical attitude control systems, but its involvement in the project was apparently needed because MFTI  itself does not have the infrastructure to perform these tests.


Naveska-Ya (Навеска-Я)

This was a research project involving the Skobeltsyn Scientific Research Institute of Nuclear Physics (НИИЯФ/NIIYaF) of Moscow State University that was conducted in May-September 2017. All that is known about it is here on the ISTINA website of Moscow State University:

https://istina.msu.ru/projects/83848291/

Although CNIIHM is not mentioned, the contract number leaves little doubt that CNIIHM was NIIYaF’s partner in the project (along with the fact that CNIIHM is definitely involved in two other Naveska themes). All that is revealed about Naveska-Ya is that it was about “the interaction between radiation and material” and was related to Russia’s “nanosystem industry”. The “Ya” in the project name probably stands for the Russian word meaning “nuclear” (ядерный).

The background of most of the researchers is in space physics and space materials science, more particular in the effects of space conditions (such as cosmic radiation) on satellite materials. Some of them are also involved in a recently proposed satellite constellation called Universat-SOKRAT that would be deployed in various types of orbits to study “natural and technogenic space hazards” such as cosmic radiation, Earth-threatening asteroids and space debris. NIIYaF’s director said in a recent interview that the idea is to use small satellites built by NPO Lavochkin. Some of the satellites could carry the same type of telescope flown aboard the Lomonosov satellite (a payload launched on the first mission from Vostochnyy in April 2016) to observe space debris. Universat-SOKRAT would appear to be a new version of a similar constellation proposed by NIIYaF back in 2014 (in close cooperation with NIIEM). More on Universat-SOKRAT can be found here:

https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/astro.2018.27.issue-1/astro-2018-0022/astro-2018-0022.pdf
(English article on Universat-SOKRAT)
https://ria.ru/20190211/1550603531.html
(interview wth NIIYAF's director)
http://sovet.cosmos.ru/sessions/2018-06-27
(click on presentation nr. 2)

One of the NIIYaF researchers involved in Naveska-Ya (Anton Paskhalov) is known to have worked together with CNIIHM researchers named Nikolai Yeremin and Yegor Tsvetkov on studies related to nuclear physics (involving the use of radiation detectors and femtosecond lasers). Tsvetkov later went on to present several papers on cubesats (see later in this post). Whatever Naveska-Ya was all about, CNIIHM’s background does suggest that the project was not for purely scientific purposes. Since the project was linked to Russia’s nanotechnology industry and some of the NIIYaF researchers have studied the effects of space radiation on nanomaterials, one possibility is that it was designed to study the effects of space conditions on the stealthy material for satellites that CNIIHM is known to work on. The production of such materials usually requires the use of nanotechnology. However, this is sheer speculation.

It is also worth noting here that CNIIHM signed a contract with a company called Tekhnologii GEOSKAN (GEOSCAN Technologies) (another resident of the Skolkovo Innovation Center) for the delivery of “an electromagnetic device” needed for a “test satellite designed to study how Russian satellites stand up to the effects of space conditions”. This was mentioned in a PowerPoint presentation of GEOSCAN Technologies that is no longer online. This description, of course, could also refer to the Nivelir inspection satellites.

Other Nota projects

CNIIHM was also involved in at least two other “Nota” themes, but it is not clear if these were specifically related to nanosatellites.

Nota-D (Нота-Д): a joint effort with NII Ferrit-Domen to study radar absorbing materials.  This is mentioned in Ferrit-Domen’s annual reports for 2012 and 2013.

2012 report (p. 14):
https://www.e-disclosure.ru/portal/FileLoad.ashx?Fileid=691499
2013 report (p. 15):
https://www.e-disclosure.ru/portal/FileLoad.ashx?Fileid=907966


As explained in the Cosmos-2519/2521/2523 thread, Ferrit-Domen signed a contract with CNIIHM  in Novermber 2016 for a project called Nivelir-RP, which very likely is for the delivery of radar absorbing materials to be used in the Nivelir project  Nivelir-RP. TsNIIKhM’s nanotechnology center itself has also done research on radar absorbing materials, as is clear from this patent (filed in 2014) (although no space-related applications are mentioned):

https://patents.google.com/patent/RU2566338C2/ru
English machine translation:
https://patents.google.com/patent/RU2566338C2/en


Nota-T (Нота-Т): a joint project between CNIIHM and the MFTI university carried out in 2012. No further information is available.
https://itk-mdl.asutk.ru/upload/iblock/13d/izq%20uqzuei%205l.pdf
(see p. 42)

Nota-TsS (Нота-ЦС) is a research project mentioned in the 2012 and 2013 annual reports of the Moscow Factory Sapfir (now part of the Shvabe holding), which designs and builds infrared detectors (also for the space program). The work was related to a microbolometer, which is a small uncooled thermal sensor. Sapfir’s partner in this project is not mentioned, but CNIIHM is known to have worked on microbolometers. One CNIIHM article in 2013 described the possibility of using space-based microbolometers to spot space debris and referred to an American cubesat called COPPER (launched in 2013), which evaluated the suitability of using a microbolometer array for Earth observation and space situational awareness.

http://vestnik.kubsu.ru/article/view/551/865

As can be deduced from procurement documentation, technical articles as well as one patent, CNIIHM’s nanotechnology center went on to work on microbolometers with a company called TsNII Tsiklon (as part of a joint Russian-Belarusian project) but none of these sources mention space-related applications. 

Orders for cubesat components

Russia’s government procurement website zakupki.gov.ru contains information on tenders organized by CNIIHM (in the form of electronic auctions) for the delivery of cubesat components. The following two are for the delivery of  “a small orientation control system”:

http://www.zakupki.gov.ru/epz/order/notice/ea44/view/common-info.html?regNumber=0473100000117000015
(placed online in May 2017)

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31806232980
(placed online in March 2018)

The two tenders are clearly related because they are mostly for the same components with identical specifications (including an on-board computer, reaction wheels and magnetometers). In the 2018 documentation the orientation control system is identified as CubeADCS 3-Axis, which is a three-axis attitude control system with three reaction wheels produced by the South African company CubeSpace, based in Stellenbosch. More details here:

https://www.cubesatshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/CubeADCS-3-Axis-Option-Sheet-v1.8.pdf

Apparently, CNIIHM had decided from beforehand that it wanted the CubeADCS 3-axis system and the tenders were organized with the sole purpose of finding a Russian intermediary to buy the components from the South African company. It seems to be common practice for Russian defense companies to buy parts from Western suppliers not directly, but via intermediaries. The single bid received in 2017 did not meet the requirements, but the second tender resulted in a contract being awarded in April 2018 to an intermediary called OOO Legran.

The timing of the first tender suggests that it has nothing to do with the orders placed almost simultaneously for similar nanosat components under the Naveska-N project. This would indicate that the orders were for different nanosat projects. It is somewhat puzzling that CNIIHM orders components abroad that can apparently just as well be manufactured by the Russian industry, especially in light of the “import substitution” policy introduced in the wake of the Western-imposed sanctions.


In February 2018 CNIIHM announced a tender for a star tracker called AZDK-1:

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31806135457

AZDK-1 is a small star tracker for nanosatellites produced by a private company called OOO Azmerit. This was founded in 2012 under the Skolkovo Innovation Center by specialists of Moscow State University’s Sternberg Astronomical Institute and is now part of a holding called Russian Space Systems (RKS). The company specializes in star trackers for nanosatellites and AZDK-1 is the only product it is currently marketing. AZDK-1 completed ground tests last year and the first one is expected to fly late this year on a Russian nanosat called TNS.

OOO Azmerit has an English-language website here:
http://www.azmerit.ru/azmerit.html

A detailed technical description of AZDK-1 (in Russian) is here:
http://www.azmerit.ru/Content/files/AZDK-1_technical_description.pdf

With OOO Azmerit being the single supplier of this specific star tracker, the tender was probably no more than a formality, but, surprisingly, the documentation available on zakupki.gov.ru says that “no bids were received within the requested period”.


Other nanosat research

CNIIHM has worked together with IZMIRAN (the Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation) on a miniature magnetometer that uses the so-called Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) effect to determine the relative orientation of a spacecraft in the geomagnetic field. Similar magnetometers have been studied in the West for use in attitude control systems of nanosat-class satellites. IZMIRAN’s leading researcher under this joint project is Sergei Gudoshnikov, the head of the institute’s Center of Cryogenic Magnetometry.

See this article on IZMIRAN’s space-related work published in May 2018:
http://троицкинформ.москва/o-tretem-sputnike/

An IZMIRAN report published in 2017 says the institute signed a contract with CNIIHM for the magnetometer in 2015. It also mentions a contract signed with CNIIHM the same year for an “automatic device” to be used in “the power supply system of a small satellite”. There is no apparent relation with the magnetometer.

http://www.izmiran.ru/info/docs/IZMIRAN_37_ref_gr_13b.pdf
(p. 17)

Gudoshnikov started research on GMR magnetometers well before the contract with CNIIHM was signed, as is clear from this patent filed in 2013:
https://yandex.ru/patents/doc/RU130409U1_20130720

Another patent for the GMR magnetometer appeared online earlier this year. Among the patent holders are Gudoshnikov and Vladimir Turkov, head of CNIIHM’s nanotechnology center.

https://edrid.ru/en/rid/219.016.bc4f.html

Finally, several papers on cubesats were presented by CNIIHM researchers during annual scientific conferences at the MFTI university in 2016 and 2017. One researcher involved in all these papers was Yegor Tsvetkov.

http://conf59.mipt.ru/static/reports_pdf/2347.pdf

Here the researchers discuss possible configurations for the placement of microthrusters on cubesats to maximize fuel efficiency. One of the thrusters used in the computer simulations was the VACCO CubeSat High Impulse Propulsion System (CHIPS-R134A) of the American company CU Aerospace. 

https://abitu.net/public/admin/mipt-conference/FAKT.pdf
(p. 71-73)

Here the authors discuss ways of maneuvering cubesats from their deployment orbits to their final operational orbits (assuming they ride to space as co-passengers with other satellites). Another paper focuses on the use of star trackers to measure mutual distances between cubesats in a constellation of such satellites.

Conclusion

Although the information is scarce, the evidence presented here suggests that CNIIHM may be working on three separate nanosat projects:

- Napryazheniye (with one satellite possibly already in orbit)

- Naveska : cubesats being developed in co-operation with the MFTI university and Sputnix, possibly carrying miniature solid-fuel propulsion systems. Nota may have been a research project in support of Naveska. While Naveska is also described as a “research project” (“NIR” in Russian), the fact that flight hardware has been ordered under Naveska-N suggests that it may be the name of an actual satellite project.

- cubesats using the CubeADCS 3-Axis orientation system built in South Africa

However, I should stress that much of the information remains open to interpretation and some of the work discussed here may also be applicable to microsatellites such as Nivelir, Burevestnik and Numizmat. After all, the distinction between "nanosatellites" and "microsatellites" is somewhat arbitrary.

The biggest question that remains unanswered is what the nanosatellites are intended for. The least one can say is that CNIIHM’s background and the hush-hush nature of the research point to military objectives, possibly even offensive ones. Prospects for more information leaking out on these projects look dim and we may have to wait until they actually appear in orbit to draw conclusions about their exact purpose. 

Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #10 on: 07/09/2020 11:03 am »

A couple of new findings on the space-related activities of the Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics (CNIIHM):


1) In April 2017 OKB Fakel (a manufacturer of satellite thrusters) signed a contract with a company called NPO Tsentrotekh that in turn was based on a contract between CNIIHM and OKB Fakel dated  January 9, 2017. Documentation related to the April 2017 contract is here:

https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=3194259

The contract was for the delivery of three experimental high-pressure tanks strengthened with composite materials and intended for small satellites. The first of these was to be delivered within three months of the contract date and the two remaining ones at the end of the fourth month after the signing of the contract. The documentation includes a drawing of the tank (see attachment 1). It is identified as E1015-0-0 and is 24 cm long and 5 cm wide.

NPO Tsentrotekh, based in Novouralsk (Sverdlovsk region), was founded (under another name) in 2007 and is part of the TVEL Fuel Company, which is under the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation. Tsentrotekh manufactures a wide range of products (its core business being gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment) and its role in the space program has so far been limited to the production of cooling systems for satellite electronic parts. The company has recently also turned to manufacturing products made of composite materials  and the work on the satellite tanks is part of that. 

The small tanks produced for OKB Fakel are also seen in a brochure of NPO Tsentrotekh (see attachment 2, upper part of the slide).

https://vniigaz.gazprom.ru/d/textpage/01/513/25_smirnov.pdf
(p. 5)

The operating pressure of the tank is given as 400 atm (equivalent to 5878 psi), although it has been tested at pressures up to 600 atm (8817 psi). It can operate at temperatures ranging from -60° to +80°.  Also mentioned is that “the medium is oxidizer”, which is presumably a mistake, because OKB Fakel does not manufacture thrusters requiring the use of an oxidizer.

In the lower part of the slide is another satellite tank, which NPO Tsentrotekh is developing for NIIMash, another manufacturer of satellite thrusters. This is somewhat surprising, because NIIMash itself also builds tanks, including the MVSK 84 hydrazine tank used by CNIIHM’s Nivelir and Burevestnik satellites. 

The Russian word used here for tank (баллон – “ballon”) always refers to tanks carrying gaseous components.  This would indicate that the tanks manufactured by NPO Tsentrotekh are intended for cold gas thrusters. Although OKB Fakel specializes in electric and hydrazine monopropellant thrusters, it has also been working on nitrogen gas thrusters for nanosatellites. This work was first described in a presentation given by the company in June last year:

http://www.volgaspace.ru/RusNanoSat-2019/second%20day/E/2-5.pdf

The thrusters have a maximum thrust of  0.196N and can be used to move nanosatellites from the injection orbit to their operating orbit, carry out orbit corrections and deorbit the satellites at the end of their operational lifetime. The slides show a satellite carrying two of the gaseous nitrogen tanks (see attachment 3). The operating pressure of the tank is given as 400 kg/cm2 (387 atm or 5869 psi), very close to the value given for the tanks that NPO Tsentrotekh has built for OKB Fakel.

It therefore looks like E1015-0-0 is a small gaseous nitrogen tank that will feed cold gas thrusters of OKB Fakel installed on nanosatellites built by CNIIHM. As explained in the previous post, there is evidence that CNIIHM is developing several such satellites. 


2) Last November, NIIEM (the Scientific Research Institute of Electromechanics) ordered electric heaters for a CNIIHM satellite. The order was based on a contract signed between CNIIHM and NIIEM on June 21, 2019.

https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=7922051

NIIEM specializes in electromechanical attitude control systems and various other parts for satellites. So far, it is not clear to which CNIIHM satellite the contract is related, although NIIEM is known to have a role in the Naveska-N nanosat project (see the previous post).


3) The 2014 annual report of NIITFA (Scientific Research Institute of Technical Physics and Automatization, also under Rosatom) says the institute had produced seven space-based radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) for CNIIHM. Later annual reports still mention the institute’s involvement in space-based RTGs, but without referring to CNIIHM. NIITFA’s annual reports are here:
https://www.e-disclosure.ru/portal/files.aspx?id=18027&type=2

The only other link between CNIIHM and RTGs is seen in a presentation given in 2014, which said that CNIIHM’s Nanotechnology Center was involved in developing small-size RTGs.
https://4science.ru/external/downloads/conference2015/14.581.21.0007-Presentation.pdf
(p. 9)

It is not at all clear why CNIIHM ordered the RTGs. None of the satellites known to be developed by the institute would seem to require them. RTGs are mostly used by deep space probes that venture far out into the Solar System where they can no longer rely on solar energy. The only RTGs that the Russians have flown to date were on Kosmos-84 and 90 (two Strela-1 satellites which carried experimental RTGs called Orion), the Lunokhod Moon rovers and on the ill-fated Mars-96 mission. The Strela-1 and Lunokhod RTGs used polonium-2010 and the Mars-96 RTG plutonium-238.  At a conference organized by NIITFA in 2012, it was said that Russia had produced new 120 W and 6.5 W RTGs for use in space, both with plutonium-238, but it is not known if there is a link with the ones ordered by CNIIHM. See this article:

https://www.atomic-energy.ru/news/2012/10/12/36650

So far, the purpose of the RTGs ordered by CNIIHM remains a mystery.


Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #11 on: 10/25/2020 10:09 pm »
Not space-related, but CNIIHM has been put on the US sanctions list for its alleged involvement in a cyber-attack on a petrochemical facility in the Middle East in 2017.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1162

Quote
Treasury Sanctions Russian Government Research Institution Connected to the Triton Malware

October 23, 2020

Washington – Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated, pursuant to Section 224 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), a Russian government research institution that is connected to the destructive Triton malware. The Triton malware — known also as TRISIS and HatMan in open source reporting — was designed specifically to target and manipulate industrial safety systems. Such systems provide for the safe emergency shutdown of industrial processes at critical infrastructure facilities in order to protect human life. The cyber actors behind the Triton malware have been referred to by the private cybersecurity industry as “the most dangerous threat activity publicly known.”

“The Russian Government continues to engage in dangerous cyber activities aimed at the United States and our allies,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “This Administration will continue to aggressively defend the critical infrastructure of the United States from anyone attempting to disrupt it.”

In recent years, the Triton malware has been deployed against U.S. partners in the Middle East, and the hackers behind the malware have been reportedly scanning and probing U.S. facilities. The development and deployment of the Triton malware against our partners is particularly troubling given the Russian government’s involvement in malicious and dangerous cyber-enabled activities. Previous examples of Russia’s reckless activities in cyberspace include, but are not limited to: the NotPetya cyber-attack, the most destructive and costly cyber-attack in history; cyber intrusions against the U.S. energy grid to potentially enable future offensive operations; the targeting of international organizations such as the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the World Anti-Doping Agency; and the 2019 disruptive cyber-attack against the country of Georgia.

Triton Malware

In August 2017, a petrochemical facility in the Middle East was the target of a cyber-attack involving the Triton malware. This cyber-attack was supported by the State Research Center of the Russian Federation FGUP Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics (TsNIIKhM), a Russian government-controlled research institution that is responsible for building customized tools that enabled the attack.

The Triton malware was designed to target a specific industrial control system (ICS) controller used in some critical infrastructure facilities to initiate immediate shutdown procedures in the event of an emergency. The malware was initially deployed through phishing that targeted the petrochemical facility. Once the malware gained a foothold, its operators attempted to manipulate the facility’s ICS controllers. During the attack, the facility automatically shut down after several of the ICS controllers entered into a failed safe state, preventing the malware’s full functionality from being deployed, and prompting an investigation that ultimately led to the discovery of the malware. Researchers who investigated the cyber-attack and the malware reported that Triton was designed to give the attackers complete control of infected systems and had the capability to cause significant physical damage and loss of life. In 2019, the attackers behind the Triton malware were also reported to be scanning and probing at least 20 electric utilities in the United States for vulnerabilities.

TsNIIKhM is being designated pursuant to Section 224 of CAATSA for knowingly engaging in significant activities undermining cybersecurity against any person, including a democratic institution, or government on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation.

As a result of today’s designation, all property and interests in property of TsNIIKhM that are in or come within the possession of U.S. persons are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. Additionally, any entities 50 percent or more owned by one or more designated persons are also blocked. Moreover, non-U.S. persons who engage in certain transactions with TsNIIKhM may themselves be exposed to sanctions.


View identifying information on the entity designated today.

Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #12 on: 06/03/2021 11:56 am »
There are several signs that the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MFTI) plays a leading role in computer and software development for CNIIHM satellites (Nivelir, Burevestnik, Numizmat). MFTI is a university based in the Moscow suburb of Dolgoprudnyy and is known to have close ties with CNIIHM. The university’s Faculty of Aerophysics and Space Research (FAKI) has a department established by CNIIHM in 2005 (now called “Department of Advanced Technologies for Security Systems”). Also under FAKI is the Department of Applied Mechanics, which has a Laboratory of Applied Nanotechnology that was founded at the same time as CNIIHM’s Nanotechnology Center and closely collaborates with it.

1) A list of research projects carried out by MFTI between 2010 and 2014 includes a project called Nivelir-PO, conducted in co-operation with CNIIHM. “PO” is the Russian abbreviation for software.
https://docplayer.ru/26137567-Tehniko-ekonomicheskoe-obosnovanie.html#show_full_text
(p. 59)

2) Another list of research projects (undated) mentions a joint project between the FAKI faculty and CNIIHM for the development of software for the on-board control system of small satellites.
 https://mipt.ru/science/ntp/sakas.php

3) MFTI’s annual report for 2011 said that the Laboratory of Applied Nanotechnology had carried out tests of software for the on-board control system of small satellites and had also developed “experimental hardware” for this system.
https://mipt.ru/upload/441/2011-arphbxfb8i4.pdf
(p. 255)

4) One paper published in early 2019 mentions an on-board computer for small satellites which was developed by MFTI and  at the time of writing was flying on two satellites, with two more having finished pre-launch tests.
http://spacedevice.ru/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/7_p55_0601.pdf

Among the authors of the paper were Sergei Negodayev, the head of FAKI’s Department of Applied Mechanics, and Aleksandr Zlobin, a senior researcher at MFTI.  Zlobin was also the chief designer for work carried out under a contract signed between CNIIHM and MFTI on October 1, 2014, as can be seen in this follow-up contract for radiation tests of satellite electronic parts:
https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=3736086

This documentation can be linked to Numizmat (see the Numizmat thread, post 9). It was also signed by Mikhail Ryzhakov, the head of FAKI’s Laboratory of Applied Nanotechnology.

The 2019 paper deals not so much with the on-board computers themselves, but with a  “universal portable functional control system” that was used to test them on the ground. This is a computer system that can be used to process the results of radiation, mechanical, thermal and vacuum tests of satellite components. One of its advantages is that it is small and compact and can therefore easily be transported to the various locations where these tests take place. It actually incorporates some of the technology that had earlier been developed for the on-board computer itself.

Work on the functional control system began in 2013 and it has since undergone several modifications. The “first-generation” system was used for thermal, radiation and vacuum tests of two MFTI space-qualified computers that were “successfully working in space” when the article was written. A second-generation system had been used by that time to conclude pre-launch tests of two more on-board computers. Work on the control system was co-ordinated by the Laboratory of Applied Nanotechnology and the team received an award for this in 2015, as can be seen in this MFTI press release:
https://vk.com/wall-56212407_31491

The on-board computer is probably called VM24 (“VM” stands for vychislitelnaya mashina, a Russian word for 'computer”), which is seen in another of the Numizmat-related contracts signed by MFTI:
https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=1030011

However, VM24 is also seen in a list of components that were to undergo radiation testing for the Burevestnik project:
https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31705218363

It is also identified here as MFAS.466226.004 and its dimensions are given as 220x120x32 mm.

This would indicate that Burevestnik and Numizmat carry one and the same on-board computer system. The same computer may also be used by CNIIHM's Nivelir satellites. One of the two MFTI computers that were in orbit in early 2019 could have been aboard Kosmos-2521, very likely a CNIIHM Nivelir satellite. The two that were being prepared for launch may have been intended for the Kosmos-2535/2536 pair launched in July 2019 or for the Kosmos-2542/2543 mission launched in November 2019.

Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #13 on: 09/02/2021 02:14 pm »
The website of CNIIHM is back up again after having been offline “for maintenance” for  about 2.5 years.
https://cniihm.ru

It is a slightly reworked version of the previous website, which itself was a much downsized version of the earlier website. Missing is any information on the institute’s structure and management team.

One novelty on the latest version of the site is a page devoted to the institute’s space-related activities:
https://cniihm.ru/о-фгуп-цниихм/научные-направления/космические-средства-контроля/

But, not surprisingly, the wording is very vague. CNIIHM is said to be engaged in developing “breakthrough hi-tech space systems for monitoring the effectiveness of defensive measures against foreign technical reconnaissance [assets]” (whatever that is supposed to mean).  The systems “have broad functional possibilities” and offer “a number of advantages over technical solutions used in the domestic industry”. CNIIHM has “experimental production [facilities]” that are outfitted with “modern technological equipment” as well as test facilities that make it possible to test all the developed systems.

The page also mentions so-called “integrated ground stations”, which are known to have been built for Nivelir. It also has a picture of a telescope for which CNIIHM received a patent in 2011 and which may be linked to Nivelir as well. I’ll have more on both of those in the Nivelir thread.

One of the other pages on the website describes a laser center which is equipped with powerful picosecond and nanosecond laser systems used among other things for the production of “finely dispersed particles”. Such particles are the subject of a CNIIHM patent released in 2019 in which it is proposed to use them against space debris in geostationary orbit. However, reading between the lines, an ASAT role is more likely. The patent (only in Russian) is here:
https://edrid.ru/en/rid/219.017.d3ec.html

I discussed it in the Kosmos-2535/2536/2537/2538 thread:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48521.60

Quote
The patent involves the use of electrostatically charged “finely dispersed particles” to destroy space debris with an opposite electrostatic charge. The authors explain how this technique could be used to deal with space junk in geostationary orbit, which after some time in space gets a negative electrostatic charge. The interceptor would eject a cloud of lithium-coated particles which would become positively charged through interactions with the surrounding plasma as well as solar and cosmic radiation. Even if the particles are not aimed at the target and, say, released in the opposite direction, they would still be attracted by the negatively charged target. This places less stringent design requirements on the interceptor’s orientation systems and reduces the number of particles that need to be released. The particles would spread over all surfaces of the target, not just the side facing the interceptor, and, according to the authors, would destroy it, sending the resulting debris particles “on other trajectories”.

In other words, the net result of the interaction between the particles and the target would be the production of even more space debris. This would suggest that the research was not so much focused on cleaning up space debris, but on ASAT applications instead (which would also be more in line with CNIIHM’s background). One also wonders if the charged particles wouldn’t be more likely to affect on-board electronic systems rather than physically destroy the target, in which case this should be seen as non-destructive ASAT technology





Offline Steven Pietrobon

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #14 on: 09/03/2021 06:43 am »
Not only would a fine coat of lithium short out the electrical system of a satellite, but it could also cover the solar arrays (cutting off its power) and cover any optical sensors (blinding any star or solar tracking system and optical telescopes, such as that used for infrared tracking of missile launches).
Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design #1:  Engineering is done with numbers.  Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

Offline libra

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #15 on: 09/03/2021 09:09 am »
Frightening ! Even more when ASAT is a "wolf in sheep clothing", hidden behind "let's clean space junk / debris".

Offline eeergo

Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #16 on: 09/03/2021 09:38 am »

The patent involves the use of electrostatically charged “finely dispersed particles” to destroy space debris with an opposite electrostatic charge. The authors explain how this technique could be used to deal with space junk in geostationary orbit, which after some time in space gets a negative electrostatic charge. The interceptor would eject a cloud of lithium-coated particles which would become positively charged through interactions with the surrounding plasma as well as solar and cosmic radiation. Even if the particles are not aimed at the target and, say, released in the opposite direction, they would still be attracted by the negatively charged target. This places less stringent design requirements on the interceptor’s orientation systems and reduces the number of particles that need to be released. The particles would spread over all surfaces of the target, not just the side facing the interceptor, and, according to the authors, would destroy it, sending the resulting debris particles “on other trajectories”.

In other words, the net result of the interaction between the particles and the target would be the production of even more space debris. This would suggest that the research was not so much focused on cleaning up space debris, but on ASAT applications instead (which would also be more in line with CNIIHM’s background). One also wonders if the charged particles wouldn’t be more likely to affect on-board electronic systems rather than physically destroy the target, in which case this should be seen as non-destructive ASAT technology


I guess the destructiveness of the system depends on what the relative velocity of the particles with respect to the target is though?

If your intention is to lower the orbit of a target, or better still - a distributed target (debris cloud), and said target's orbit is pretty well defined, the system could be made to release the particles with approximately the same orbital parameters but slightly ahead of the target, and a small receding dV. Then the particles would reach (and be electrostatically attracted to, and stick to, or at least impart a retrograde push to) the targets somewhat quickly, before drag or other external effects increase the velocity difference and the grains disperse too much.

Of course, this application would only be feasible with the caveats that the orbit under discussion is free of any other non-debris objects, and subject to enough drag that the particles which don't manage to stick to the target decay rapidly.
-DaviD-

Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #17 on: 03/22/2022 10:15 pm »
CNIIHM appears to be working on a satellite project together with ISS Reshetnev. This can be determined from documentation published on Russia’s government procurement website in late 2020, more particularly a contract awarded in November 2020 by a company called NPP Geofizika-Kosmos for the delivery of printed circuit boards.

https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=10178842
Since the website seems to have been inaccessible outside Russia since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, I’ll copy the most relevant information from the documentation:

Quote
Настоящий Договор заключен и исполняется в целях выполнения государственного оборонного заказа:
–   Контракт № 110/1-2017/1653-Г от 01.12.2017г. между ФГУП «ЦНИИХМ» и АО «ИСС»;
–   Контракт № 1605/19-ЕП-732/228/1904/8001 от 25.07.2019 г. между АО «ИСС» и АО «НПП «Геофизика-Космос».

This shows that CNIIHM and ISS Reshetnev signed a contract on December 1, 2017, with ISS Reshetnev acting as the subcontractor (this can be deduced from the contract number: contracts awarded by CNIIHM typically have numbers ending with the Cyrillic letter “G”). Subsequently, ISS Reshetnev concluded a contract with NPP Geofizika-Kosmos on July 25, 2019, presumably as part of the same project. Geofizika-Kosmos then in turn placed an order for the printed circuit boards. Geofizika-Kosmos, which since 2009 has been part of an integrated structure based on ISS Reshetnev, manufactures satellite attitude control sensors (Earth, Sun and star sensors).

The 2017 contract number also shows up in other procurement documentation:
https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=9416742
a contract awarded by the Penza Electrotechnical Research Institute (PNIEI) in July 2020 for the delivery of “power supply modules”.

https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=32109889263
a contract awarded by the Research Institute of Automatics and Electromechanics of the Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics (NII AEM TUSUR) in January 2021 for the delivery of unspecified metal parts.

Most likely, both PNIEI and NII AEM TUSUR are subcontractors to ISS Reshetnev in the project. NII AEM TUSUR, which like ISS Reshetnev is based in Siberia, has been a close partner of ISS Reshetnev for many years, supplying test equipment for satellite power supply systems.

The partnership between CNIIHM and ISS Reshetnev is not new. ISS Reshetnev has played a role since early last decade in building the ground segment for CNIIHM’s Nivelir project (mainly through its daughter company NPO PM Razvitiye) and there is also evidence that it produces the solar array backbone structure for CNIIHM’s Numizmat satellites (something it has also done for several NPO Lavochkin satellites).

The 2017 contract between the two companies is probably not related to the Numizmat solar array work because ISS Reshetnev appears to have been assigned to that in 2016 or earlier (see the Numizmat thread). The contract between ISS Reshetnev and Geofizika-Kosmos suggests that ISS Reshetnev ordered attitude control sensors for the project, which points to a broader role in developing the bus.

If this is indeed a so far unidentified project, one can only guess what its purpose is. One remote possibility is that it envisages the deployment of a constellation of small Earth observation satellites. A TASS report published in December 2020 hinted that ISS Reshetnev was working on such a constellation.
https://nauka.tass.ru/nauka/10293773
It said that the company was co-operating with the Siberian Federal University (SFU) and its so-called “Military Training Center” on a computer model to simulate high-precision navigation techniques for clusters of Earth observation satellites. This would make it possible to develop an on-board navigation system for such satellites that would increase the accuracy of the data they obtain.

Some of the results of that research were published (in English) here:
https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2020/83/e3sconf_rpers20_02011.pdf

CNIIHM has also studied such satellite constellations, as is clear from these two articles, which describe techniques to place into polar orbit at least eight 100 kg satellites at a time using the Soyuz-2-1v rocket and the Volga upper stage:
http://trudymai.ru/upload/iblock/a20/Ulybyshev_rus.pdf?lang=ru&issue=98
https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/analiz-osobennostey-realizatsii-shemy-poleta-bloka-vyvedeniya-pri-zapuske-mikrokosmicheskih-apparatov-na-promezhutochnuyu-orbitu-s
(the authors of the second article are identified as working for the MFTI university, but are also CNIIHM employees)

ISS Reshetnev’s annual report for 2016 mentioned a deal between the company and RKTs Progress to adapt the Soyuz-2-1v rocket to launch a “block of satellites”. 
https://www.e-disclosure.ru/portal/files.aspx?id=17407&type=2
(p. 46)
However, this deal preceded the start of the CNIIHM-Reshetnev project in 2017. A more plausible explanation is that the idea was to use the rocket to launch one or more sets of Gonets-D1M communications satellites (as a replacement for Rokot).  Such plans were announced by ISS Reshetnev chief Nikolai Testoyedov in 2013 (but never materialized):
https://www.militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=2&nid=327496&lang=RU

It is not clear if the small remote sensing satellites studied by ISS Reshetnev are in the research phase or have been approved for development. Nothing else seems to have been revealed about them apart from what was reported in late 2020. If they are indeed the satellites jointly developed by CNIIHM and Reshetnev, they would most likely be used for military intelligence.  However, there is no conclusive evidence linking them to the joint project with CNIIHM. There would actually be little reason for CNIIHM to outsource this work to ISS Reshetnev given the fact that ISS has little or no experience in developing such satellites. 

Another possibility is that CNIIHM and ISS Reshetnev joined forces to develop an anti-satellite system that would knock out satellites in geostationary orbit by spraying them with electrostatically charged “finely dispersed particles”. Such a system (ostensibly intended for cleaning up space debris) was described in a patent published by CNIIHM in 2019.  CNIIHM’s website mentions the use of laser techniques to produce such finely dispersed particles, a possible sign that this work has gone beyond the research phase (more on this in Reply 13 in this thread). By teaming up with ISS Reshetnev, CNIIHM could potentially benefit from the extensive experience that the company has gained with operating satellites in geostationary orbit. 
But again, this is highly speculative.


Another Siberian partner of CNIIHM is Siberian Instruments and Systems (SPS) in Omsk, which is also part of ISS Reshetnev’s integrated structure. According to its website, SPS produces a variety of electrical subsystems for satellites as well as ground-based test equipment for satellites. SPS was already known to have some kind of role in Numizmat. Its co-operation with CNIIHM is confirmed in the company’s annual reports for 2018 and 2019: 

http://www.sibpribor.ru/godovoj-otchet/godovoj-otchet-za-2018-g/
http://www.sibpribor.ru/godovoj-otchet/godovoj-otchet-za-2019-god/attachment/godovoj-otchet-za-2019-god-2/

According to the 2018 report, SPS had signed a number of contracts with companies outside the structure of Roscosmos, including CNIIHM. During that year, CNIIHM accounted for 2.6 % of the company’s business (its biggest partner was NPO Lavochkin (21.6 %), with ISS Reshetnev accounting for 12% ). In 2018 SPS had produced two sets of satellite test equipment for CNIIHM and was also expected to deliver a rotatable/tiltable test stand to CNIIHM (as is known from other sources, it also produced similar test stands for NPO Lavochkin’s Araks-R radar reconnaissance satellites and the Kometa Corporation’s early warning satellites).   

The annual report for 2019 mentions SPS’ involvement in a CNIIHM project called Emulyator (“emulator”). It is identified as an OKR (Russian short for “experimental design work”), indicating it is an approved, government-funded project. Nothing else is revealed about it, so it is not even certain if this is space-related (although logic would suggest it is). An identically named project was assigned by the Ministry of Defense to KB Navis in 2014 and was aimed at developing ground-based Glonass satellite navigation equipment. However, it seems to have been finished in 2017 and there most likely is no connection whatsoever with the CNIIHM project (as is well known, the Russians tend to recycle names for totally unrelated projects). It is not impossible that Emulyator is the name of the CNIIHM-ISS Reshetnev project, but so far there is no evidence to back this up.


Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: CNIIHM: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #18 on: 06/03/2022 07:03 pm »
One more piece of information has come to light on Naveska, which probably is a nanosatellite project run by CNIIHM. The name shows up in the 2017 annual report of AO Angstrem, a manufacturer of electronic products and semiconductors based in Zelenograd (sometimes called the "Russian Silicon Valley"). The report can be downloaded here:
https://e-disclosure.ru/portal/files.aspx?id=3782&type=2&attempt=1
(see p. 13)

The company was involved in research work called “Naveska-A”, focused on developing inertial navigation sensors. More particularly, AO Angstrem produced and tested experimental versions of “microelectronic subsystems for single-chip accelerometers” using two different designs.

Angstrem’s customer for this work is not mentioned, but it is clearly CNIIHM. In 2018 researchers of CNIIHM and AO Angstrem wrote an article on single-chip accelerometers for a journal called “Nanoindustry”.
https://www.nanoindustry.su/journal/article/6845
Among the CNIIHM authors is Vladimir Turkov, the head of the institute’s Nanotechnology Center, which plays a leading role in its nanosat work.

The article deals with dual-axis single-chip micromechanical (MEMS) accelerometers that are either installed inside a metal-ceramic housing or encapsulated by a protective silicon layer (the latter design is seen in the attachment). These are probably the two different designs mentioned in Angstrem’s annual report. The authors note that the world’s leading producer of single-chip accelerometers is the US company AnalogDevices, acknowledging that such accelerometers are currently not being serially produced in Russia.

The article says the accelerometers can be used in miniature strapdown inertial navigation systems. These are navigation systems in which the inertial sensors are fastened directly to the vehicle’s body, which means the sensors rotate together with the vehicle. This distinguishes them from traditional inertial navigation systems, in which the sensors are rigidly mounted on a stable platform that is isolated from the moving vehicle. The drawbacks of such systems are their large size, poor reliability and high cost. 

No mention is made in the article of the accelerometers’ use aboard satellites (another example of how technological innovations in the Russian space program are being cloaked in secrecy). However, the article is clearly connected to Naveska-A, meaning they are intended for inertial navigation systems of nanosats. Another attitude determination system for nanosatellites that CNIIHM’s Nanotechnology Center has worked on is a magnetometer using the so-called  “giant magnetoresistance effect” to determine the relative orientation of a satellite in the geomagnetic field.   

The “A” in Naveska-A could stand for either “Angstrem” or “accelerometer”. The name Naveska has also appeared in combination with other letters (see Reply 9 in this thread for all the details):

-Naveska-H: research on miniature solid-fuel engines (in collaboration with the Mendeleyev Unversity of Chemical Technology)  (“Kh” probably standing for “chemical”)
-Naveska-Ya: research on “interaction between radiation and matter”  (in collaboration with the Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics) (“Ya” probably standing for “nuclear”)
-Naveska-N:  production of reaction wheels and various cubesat parts (in collaboration with Moscow Insititute of Physics and Technology (a university) (the meaning of “N” is not clear):

Presumably, Naveska is the general name for a CNIIHM nanosat project and the letters denote various aspects of the nanosat work that the institute has subcontracted to other organizations.

The only dedicated Russian military nanosatellite launched so far is Kosmos-2548  (also known as ERA-1), which was placed into orbit together with three Gonets-M satellites in December 2020 and was announced as being designed to test new minitiature orientation and astronavigation systems. This may have been a product of CNIIHM, although the name ERA could also point to a connection with the ERA Military Innovation Technopolis, a military R&D center established near the Black Sea resort of Anapa in 2018. ERA has a division that works on cubesats, but that work does not seem to have begun in earnest until after the launch of that satellite.






Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: CNIIHM: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #19 on: 07/12/2022 07:49 pm »
The only dedicated Russian military nanosatellite launched so far is Kosmos-2548  (also known as ERA-1), which was placed into orbit together with three Gonets-M satellites in December 2020 and was announced as being designed to test new minitiature orientation and astronavigation systems. This may have been a product of CNIIHM, although the name ERA could also point to a connection with the ERA Military Innovation Technopolis, a military R&D center established near the Black Sea resort of Anapa in 2018. ERA has a division that works on cubesats, but that work does not seem to have begun in earnest until after the launch of that satellite.

A court document that appeared only several days ago now leaves no doubt that Kosmos-2548 (ERA-1) was produced by CNIIHM. It deals with a legal dispute between ISS Reshetnev and NPO Lavochkin over the launch of three Gonets-M satellites ("Block-17") in December 2020 with which Kosmos-2548 rode to space. ISS Reshetnev manufactured the Gonets-M satellites and NPO Lavochkin provided the Fregat upper stage. CNIIHM is mentioned as a third party in the dispute, a clear sign that it developed the piggyback payload. It signed a contract with ISS Reshetnev for the launch on October 1, 2018.

All this still doesn't rule out a support role for the ERA Military Innovation Technopolis, which in a certain sense is the military equivalent of the Skolkovo Innovation Center. According to its website, ERA is involved in cubesat development.

https://www.era-tehnopolis.ru/technologies/malye-kosmicheskie-apparaty/
https://www.era-tehnopolis.ru/education/7-rota/

Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: CNIIHM: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #20 on: 01/06/2023 10:35 am »
Although CNIIHM’s involvement in the development of so-called “inspector satellites” has been obvious for quite some time, it has now also been acknowledged for the first time in an official document, namely a report on worldwide commercial space activities published last year by Samara University in collaboration with Roscosmos.
https://kosmos.ssau.ru/files/Kosmos_SSAU_marketrepot_2022.pdf

In a chapter devoted to the Russian space market, CNIIHM is listed as a manufacturer of what are literally called “microsatellites of the inspector type” (see p. 67). Also included is a graph showing that CNIIHM accounted for 2.4 % of the Russian satellites that were in orbit in early 2022 (see attachment 1).


Meanwhile, it seems that CNIIHM is now also beginning to play a role in Russia’s manned space program. This can be determined from a court case between CNIIHM and the Progress Rocket and Space Center (RKTs Progress) in which RKK Energiya acts a third party. The court case is still ongoing and so far only some preliminary documentation has been published.
https://kad.arbitr.ru/Card/14a3c703-0dad-44e2-bf3b-d0d982e4e8a7

What can be learned from this is that CNIIHM received some type of contract from RKTs Progress on January 22, 2020, with Progress in turn being a subcontractor to RKK Energiya. The contract number makes it possible to establish that the work is part of a contract awarded by Roscosmos to RKK Energiya on December 19, 2016 for “Proton-NEM”. This covers all the work needed to prepare the Science Power Module (NEM) for launch and place it into orbit with a Proton rocket. At the time, NEM was still planned to be attached to the Russian segment of the International Space Station, but it is now scheduled to become the first element of the new Russian space station called ROSS. It is now also likely to fly on an Angara-A5M rocket from Vostochnyy instead of a Proton from Baikonur.

RKTs Progress has a dual role in the NEM project. It built a static test model of NEM’s pressurized section and may also build the hull of the flight-rated version (although that is not entirely clear). As is known from technical specifications for Proton-NEM, it is also responsible for what in Russian is called the “assembly and protection unit” (“sborochno-zashchitnyy blok” or SZB), which is a technical term for the combination of the payload fairing and the adapter that attaches it to the rocket’s upper stage. In June 2021, RKTs Progress issued a press release on tests of the SZB, including a picture of a separation test of one of its elements (see  attachment 2).
https://www.samspace.ru/news/press_relizy/15314/

CNIIHM is presumably involved in the latter work, not the development of the module itself  (which is covered by another contract between Roscosmos and RKK Energiya). The contract number includes the abbreviation TsBS (ЦБС), which may refer to the specific system that CNIIHM is responsible for, but it is not seen in space-related literature. Given its historical background in explosives and solid-fuel engines, CNIIHM may provide pyrotechnic charges needed to separate elements of the payload fairing, but that is entirely speculative. 

While CNIIHM plays only a minor role in this project as a subcontractor, this is its first known involvement in not only a manned space project, but even a civilian space project. It is a sign of the company’s expanding role in Russia’s space program.     

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Re: CNIIHM: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #21 on: 04/07/2023 10:52 pm »
As explained here in Reply 17, there is evidence from procurement documentation that CNIIHM is working on a joint satellite project with ISS Reshetnev. What is known from that documentation is that CNIIHM awarded a contract to ISS Reshetnev on December 1, 2017. Subsequently, ISS Reshetnev concluded a contract with NPP Geofizika-Kosmos on July 25, 2019, presumably as part of the same project. Geofozika-Kosmos develops attitude control sensors for satellites.

Another clue that such a project indeed exists came in an article published by a CNIIHM specialist (Valeriy Shilnikovskiy) in the journal of the Mozhaisky Military Space Academy last year:
https://vka.mil.ru/upload/site5/document_file/nn0e9qhIvf.pdf
(p. 74-83)

The article discusses an autonomous navigation system for small satellites which is based on an optical system that uses the Moon to accurately determine the satellite’s orbit parameters. It describes a three-step process to achieve that goal. The author performed a simulation of this autonomous navigation technique for a small satellite in geostationary orbit, noting that it is difficult for GEO satellites to rely on signals from navigation satellites. The reference given for that simulation is a so-called “engineering note” written by ISS Reshetnev in 2019 and titled “Development of navigation equipment for a small satellite”. In Russian terminology, an “engineering note” (inzhenernaya zapiska) is a document that outlines the basic design features of a system. It is intended only for internal use and the fact that the author has access to it strongly suggests that the simulation was performed in the framework of a joint CNIIHM-ISS Reshetnev project and was not done merely for academic purposes. 

Shilnikovskiy has also co-authored two related patents that were placed online last year:
https://patents.google.com/patent/RU2776096C1/en
https://patents.google.com/patent/RU212327U1/en
(these are links to the English machine translations)

The first describes the navigation technique in more detail, saying it can be used in "control systems for small satellites". The on-board optical system uses images of stars to determine the satellite’s orientation in space (like a traditional star tracker), but in addition to that can be used for navigation purposes by imaging the Moon. In the attached scheme from the patent (also published in the article) (2) is the orbit of the satellite, (3) the orbit of the Moon, (4) the position of the satellite and (5) that of the Moon.

The second patent focuses on the optical system itself, which is capable of taking separate images of star fields and the Moon with the same exposure time and then blending them into a single high-quality image. It says that hardware and software of the Astrol-17 star tracker (a product of NPO Lepton) can be used for this purpose, but that its Kodak KAI-2020 image sensor would have to be replaced by a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensor with a resolution of 2048x2048 pixels, such as those produced by Gpixel (a Chinese company). According to the patent, the device can be used most effectively in machine vision systems needed for "automatic on-orbit servicing". 

The other patent holders besides Shilnikovskiy are Sergei Khramov (another CNIIHM employee) and two specialists (Denis Puzikov and Ivan Pastukhov) who can be identified as working for a company named NPP Astroorientir. This is based in Zelenograd near Moscow, which is home to much of the Russian electronic industry and is therefore sometimes nicknamed Russia’s Silicon Valley. There is very little information on this company. Its name suggests it specializes in astronavigation systems. One article published in 2017 said the company had developed a small, lightweight star tracker (A-14), a “prototype” of which had already been tested in space:
https://www.nkj.ru/archive/articles/31025/

In late 2018, NPP Astroorientir received a contract from MFTI university (the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology) to study the feasibility of developing a space-based machine vision system using Russian-built electronics.
https://www.tenderguru.ru/contract_na_zakupku/38986923
As noted in the accompanying documentation, it would be needed for satellites in Sun-synchronous orbits and geostationary orbit. Although there are no indications of any connections between this contract and the presumed CNIIHM/ISS Reshetnev project, the MFTI university does have close links with CNIIHM.

According to a conference paper presented in 2019, Astroorientir had developed a star tracker for small satellites together with NPP Elar and TsNIIMash. It was described as being part of NPP Elar’s work on systems for “special purposes”, a word combination often used in Russian as a euphemism for “military”. NPP Elar provided a CMOS image sensor for the star tracker and an accompanying table gives a pixel resolution of 2048x2048 (as in one of the patents), although it is not entirely clear if that relates to that particular sensor.
https://www.vniiem.ru/ru/uploads/files/conferences/190513/materialy_2019.pdf
(p. 56-57)


What can be deduced from all this is that the joint CNIIHM/ISS Reshetnev project most likely involves a small satellite in geostationary orbit. It appears to have some type of machine vision system that includes a star tracker capable of using both the Moon and background stars to determine its orientation and orbit parameters. There is some confusion though over the subcontractor(s) involved in that aspect of the project. Three companies with an apparent role in the project (NPP Geofozika-Kosmos, NPO Lepton and NPP Astroorientir) all produce star trackers.

Obviously, a computer vision system would be needed for rendezvous and proximity operations with other satellites. On-orbit servicing of satellites, an objective mentioned in one of the patents, could indeed be the project’s goal. Numerous plans have been published in Russia for on-orbit servicing of satellites, but none of these are known to have moved beyond the proposal stage. ISS Reshetnev, which produces the bulk of Russia's geostationary satellites, has done research in a related field, namely technology to remove defunct satellites from the geostationary belt  (in collaboration with both its daughter company NPTs MKA (which specializes in small satellites) and the Moscow Aviation Institute). 

It should be pointed out, however, that this clearly is a highly secretive project that is most likely military in nature. Other goals could be on-orbit inspection of GEO satellites (also performed by several American and Chinese satellites) or even ASAT operations. It’s worth noting that one of the CNIIHM patent holders, Sergei Khramov, has also co-authored a patent on a satellite designed to destroy space debris in GEO by spraying it with electrostatically charged particles (see Reply 13). This might just as well have less peaceful applications.

The exact division of labor between CNIIHM and ISS Reshetnev in the project is unknown. The two may have needed to team up only because the satellite needs to ride to GEO together with an ISS Reshetnev satellite. Similarly, three of CNIIHM’s small “inspector satellites” (Kosmos-2491,2499, 2504) hitched a ride to space together with ISS Reshetnev’s Strela-3M and Gonets-M satellites in 2013-2015 and a CNIIHM nanosat (Kosmos-2548 or ERA-1) flew as a co-passenger with three Gonets-M satellites in 2020. The latter work had to be co-ordinated via a contract awarded by CNIIHM to ISS Reshetnev (see Reply 19). However, it is more likely that CNIIHM has a key role in developing the satellite itself, drawing from its long-standing experience in building and operating GEO satellites. This would also appear from the “engineering note” mentioned here earlier.

Finally, more evidence for the close ties between CNIIHM and ISS Reshetnev comes in this review of a PhD dissertation in 2021:
http://195.19.40.226/dissertations/var/www/uch/assets/essay_reviews/Отзыв_на_автореферат_Корчагина_Е.Н..pdf

The review is signed by Yevgeniy N. Korchagin, who is described as a “permanent authorized representative” of CNIIHM at ISS Reshetnev. Korchagin is also identified in the document as “chief specialist of the Design Bureau of Applied Mechanics” (KBPM), which is a design bureau within CNIIHM that specializes in space-related systems (by sheer coincidence, KBPM is also the name that ISS Reshetnev had from 1966 until 1977). An online search shows that Korchagin is a veteran of ISS Reshetnev who later also worked for NPO Lavochkin. The PhD dissertation that he reviewed is about clusters of Earth observation satellites, but CNIIHM is not among the companies where the results of the PhD were applied.  Anyway, the fact that CNIIHM has a permanent representative at ISS Reshetnev is a clear sign that the connections between the two companies are more than casual.


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Re: CNIIHM: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #22 on: 05/02/2023 01:17 pm »
Meanwhile, it seems that CNIIHM is now also beginning to play a role in Russia’s manned space program. This can be determined from a court case between CNIIHM and the Progress Rocket and Space Center (RKTs Progress) in which RKK Energiya acts a third party. The court case is still ongoing and so far only some preliminary documentation has been published.
https://kad.arbitr.ru/Card/14a3c703-0dad-44e2-bf3b-d0d982e4e8a7

What can be learned from this is that CNIIHM received some type of contract from RKTs Progress on January 22, 2020, with Progress in turn being a subcontractor to RKK Energiya. The contract number makes it possible to establish that the work is part of a contract awarded by Roscosmos to RKK Energiya on December 19, 2016 for “Proton-NEM”. This covers all the work needed to prepare the Science Power Module (NEM) for launch and place it into orbit with a Proton rocket. At the time, NEM was still planned to be attached to the Russian segment of the International Space Station, but it is now scheduled to become the first element of the new Russian space station called ROSS. It is now also likely to fly on an Angara-A5M rocket from Vostochnyy instead of a Proton from Baikonur.

RKTs Progress has a dual role in the NEM project. It built a static test model of NEM’s pressurized section and may also build the hull of the flight-rated version (although that is not entirely clear). As is known from technical specifications for Proton-NEM, it is also responsible for what in Russian is called the “assembly and protection unit” (“sborochno-zashchitnyy blok” or SZB), which is a technical term for the combination of the payload fairing and the adapter that attaches it to the rocket’s upper stage. In June 2021, RKTs Progress issued a press release on tests of the SZB, including a picture of a separation test of one of its elements (see  attachment 2).
https://www.samspace.ru/news/press_relizy/15314/

CNIIHM is presumably involved in the latter work, not the development of the module itself  (which is covered by another contract between Roscosmos and RKK Energiya). The contract number includes the abbreviation TsBS (ЦБС), which may refer to the specific system that CNIIHM is responsible for, but it is not seen in space-related literature. Given its historical background in explosives and solid-fuel engines, CNIIHM may provide pyrotechnic charges needed to separate elements of the payload fairing, but that is entirely speculative. 

CNIIHM’s role in the NEM project indeed turns out to be the delivery of pyrotechnic devices to jettison the launch vehicle’s payload fairing, which is built by the Progress Rocket and Space Center (RKTs Progress) in Samara. This is confirmed by newly published court documentation:

https://kad.arbitr.ru/Card/14a3c703-0dad-44e2-bf3b-d0d982e4e8a7

This mentions pyrotechnic charges (PDO-1) for explosive bolts which are needed for something called 374OD55. A similar index (374ОD57) is used for the payload fairing (literally the “assembly and protection unit”) of the next-generation piloted vehicle Oryol. Moreover, the PDO devices are linked to the separation of payload fairings on CNIIHM’s website:

https://cniihm.ru/научные-направления/пироэнергодатчики

CNIIHM acts as a subcontractor to RKTs Progress, having received a contract for the work on January 22, 2020. RKTs Progress in turn is a subcontractor to RKK Energiya, the prime contractor for NEM. The documentation doesn’t specifically mention NEM, but does refer to the December 2016 government contract between Roscosmos and RKK Energiya that covered work to launch  NEM into orbit. Originally planned for launch on a Proton-M rocket from Baikonur, NEM is now scheduled to fly on an Angara-A5M from Vostochnyy in late 2027, becoming the first element of Russia’s new space station ROSS.   




Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: CNIIHM: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #23 on: 09/22/2024 04:35 pm »
Most of the space-related work of CNIIHM is shrouded in secrecy and so, naturally, are the people who actually do that work. It took some effort several years ago to find out that the man in charge of this work is Vladimir I. Verkhoturov, who heads the institute’s Design Bureau of Applied Mechanics (KBPM), which is a sort of cover name for its space department. Verkhoturov’s name has publicly appeared mainly in obscure procurement documents and a handful of patents. Now some more background on his career has been given in a recent issue of a journal published by the TUSUR university in Tomsk, Siberia, from which Verkhoturov graduated in 1969.

https://storage.tusur.ru/files/171917/Журнал%20Радиоэлектроник%202024.pdf
(see p. 3)

From 1969 until 1998 Verkhoturov worked at the design bureau in Siberia which is now called ISS Reshetnev, where he was involved in developing communications satellites like Molniya, Ekran, Gorizont, Meridian, Express and SESAT as well as the Glonass navigation satellites. From 1998 to 2005 he held a top management position at OAO Gazkom, where he led work to develop the Yamal-100 and Yamal-200 satellites, the first Russian communications satellites to use unpressurized platforms. From 2005 to 2007 Verkhoturov was the first deputy general designer of RKK Energiya, being involved among other things in the Sea Launch and Land Launch projects (RKK Energiya developed the Blok D upper stage for the Zenit launch vehicles used in those projects).

Verkhoturov moved to CNIIHM in 2008. According to the bio, it was under his leadership that CNIIHM developed technology to ”monitor space objects in the interests of the country’s information security”, a clear reference to the so-called “inspection satellites” that the institute has worked on as part of the Nivelir project. In a way, Verkhoturov can be considered the “father” of Russia’s inspection satellites. He was named a “general designer” by an order from Putin in 2018 and was awarded the prestigious title of “Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation” in December 2022. He continues to head KBPM today.

It would seem that Verkhoturov’s move to CNIIHM coincided with the formation of KBPM. Last year, CNIIHM released a pin on the occasion of KBPM’s 15th anniversary (2008-2023). The space symbolism seen on the pin illustrates the design bureau’s core business. 
https://artsuvenir.com/product/catalog/znak/yubileynye-znaki/znachki-kbpm-tsniikhm-15-let/

One might even wonder if Verkhoturov came up with the design bureau’s name himself. From 1966 to 1977 KBPM was also the name of Reshetnev’s design bureau, where Verkhoturov spent almost thirty years of his career.

Not long after the formation of KBPM, CNIIHM became a significant player in Russia’s space industry, being unique in that it operated outside the structure of the Russian space agency.  It received its first major space-related orders from the Ministry of Defense in September 2011, when it was named prime contractor for Nivelir and was also given a leading role in the Burevestnik anti-satellite project. Back in the Soviet days, CNIIHM’s only significant role in the space program had been the development of explosive charges for the interceptors of the IS anti-satellite project.

Offline B. Hendrickx

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Re: CNIIHM: Russia’s secret satellite builder
« Reply #24 on: 10/02/2024 05:38 pm »
As explained in Replies 20 and 22, CNIIHM contributes to the piloted space program by developing pyrotechnic charges for the payload fairing that will be used for the launch of the NEM module, the first element of the new Russian space station. Another role in the program is its participation in the development of the emergency escape system for the next-generation piloted vehicle Oryol. This can be learned from court documentation placed online in recent months:
https://kad.arbitr.ru/Card/437f8e64-fb44-48dc-8bd7-a551137ee519

This is a court case between the MIT Corporation and CNIIHM, with RKK Energiya acting as a third party. The documents refer to the following contracts:
- 7 Nov 2016 :  Roscosmos --> RKK Energiya
- 8 Jul 2019   : RKK Energiya –> MIT Corporation
-13 Feb 2020 : MIT Corporation --> CNIIHM 

They reveal nothing about the substance of these contracts, but it is known from other sources that the November 2016 contract was awarded to RKK Energiya for Oryol and that the MIT Corporation is the company in charge of developing its emergency escape system. In other words, CNIIHM acts as a subcontractor to the MIT Corporation for the production of this system. This could involve the supply of pyrotechnic charges and/or solid propellant.

The MIT Corporation is best known as the prime contractor for solid-fuel ICBMs such as Topol-M, Yars and Bulava. Both it and CNIIHM are newcomers to the field of emergency escape systems. Responsibility for all generations of Soyuz emergency escape system has been in the hands of MKB Iskra (overall design) and FTsTD Soyuz (delivery of solid fuel). 

A model of Oryol’s emergency escape system was put on display at an exhibition in 2022, during which the MIT Corporation also showed animation of its functioning. One big difference between the Soyuz and Oryol escape systems is that the latter lacks grid fins for stabilization. This task is completely taken over by the upper set of solid-fuel motors. 

The animation can be seen here:
https://pikabu.ru/story/video_dnya_kak_rabotaet_sistema_avariynogo_spaseniya_dlya_pilotiruemogo_korablya_oryol_9570264



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