OPSEK Question

[B. Hendrickx]

Latest developments on the new Russian space station (and perhaps it would be better to change the title of this thread to "new Russian space station") :

12 January :

http://www.rg.ru/2015/01/13/roskosmos.html

In an interview for “Rossiyskaya Gazeta”, Roskosmos deputy chief Sergei Savelyev says  the agency is still in the process of deciding whether to extend its participation in ISS beyond 2020. The creation of a Russian national space station is “possible in principle” and could also involve foreign partners, including China. However, no such plans have so far been included in the draft version of the Federal Space Program for 2016-2025 and they may hinge on how long the ISS will continue to be operated. 

Savelyev does not rule out the possibility of conducting joint Russian-Chinese experiments on the ISS Russian segment and on the OKA-T free-flyers.  However, he considers the chances of Shenzhou vehicles flying to ISS very low because of the need to make modifications to the vehicle and also because of the station’s relatively high inclination.

13 January :

http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/2644884

The Kommersant newspaper quotes a source within Roskosmos as saying that a decision on continued Russian participation in ISS is expected in May, the same month that the agency is to present the Federal Space Program for 2016-2025 to the government.  Everything depends on the funding that the Russian government can promise for this period, the source says.

As reported earlier by Kommersant, completion of the draft Federal Space Program was delayed from December until May because it did not take into account new plans for a Russian space station that began surfacing in late 2014. Roskosmos is expected to present proposals for the Russian space station to the Putin Administration in January or February. If these receive political support, Kommersant says, Russia will extend its ISS operations only for commercial purposes, such as sending tourists to the Russian segment or leasing the segment to other nations.   

19 January :

http://itar-tass.com/kosmos/1705555

ITAR-TASS says that Roskosmos’ “think tank” TsNIIMash has finished work on a concept for a Russian high-latitude space station which is expected to be reviewed by the nation’s Military Industrial Commission (VPK) in the first quarter of this year. TsNIIMash deputy general director Aleksandr Danilyuk says that approval by the VPK could pave the way to including the new space station in the Federal Space Program for 2016-2025. Danilyuk says the creation of such a space station should not present any technical problems.

19 January :

http://itar-tass.com/kosmos/1706259

In a paper to be presented at the Korolyov readings in Moscow later this month it is said that the Scientific Energy Module (NEM) may become the central module of the new Russian space station. The on-board control systems have been designed such that they allow the NEM to operate as part of the ISS or “as the [first element] of a new Russian space station”. They include “digital control systems developed by RKK Energiya, a central on-board computer developed by NII Argon, Glonass and GPS sensors and a broadband communication system using the Luch relay satellites”.

[B. Hendrickx]

http://itar-tass.com/kosmos/1731690

Speaking at the Korolyov Readings in Moscow yesterday, RKK Energiya deputy general designer Nikolai Bryukhanov said his company is against launching the new Russian space station into a high-inclination orbit, preferring instead to use the traditional 51.6° orbit. Bryukhanov counters the arguments in favor of a 65° inclination orbit (namely the better remote sensing coverage of Russian territory and the possibility to launch over land from Vostochnyy, obviating the need to deploy costly recovery forces in the Pacific) :

- remote sensing of Russian territory should be primarily entrusted to unmanned satellites
- when launching into a 65° orbit from Vostochnyy, rockets will pass over mountainous terrain, which would also hamper recovery operations in case of an abort   
- launching into a 65° rather than a 51.6° orbit will result in a 5 percent decrease in payload capacity
- the high-inclination orbit would make it difficult for potential international partners to launch missions to the station (for instance, range safety restrictions would make it impossible to launch missions to the station from Cape Canaveral)
- the high inclination would make it impossible to use the station as a staging point for piloted lunar missions (which, according to Bryukahnov, is the main argument against the high-inclination space station). Lunar missions need to be launched into the lowest possible inclination attainable from Vostochnyy (51.6°) and will make it necessary to develop an ocean search & rescue infrastructure anyway. 

[B. Hendrickx]

From the Roskosmos website :
http://www.federalspace.ru/21321/

There was a meeting today of the Scientific Technical Council of Roskosmos (chaired by former Russian Space Agency chief Yuri Koptev) that discussed plans for Russia's piloted space program until 2030. The idea is to continue participation in the ISS until 2024 and subsequently establish a Russian space station consisting of elements detached from the ISS (the MLM Multipurpose Module, the UM Node Module and the NEM Scientific Power Module).

Piloted flights to the Moon would take place by the year 2030 and would be preceded by unmanned lunar orbiters and landers.

Koptev is quoted as saying that the Council today approved the basic elements of the plan until 2025. Final decisions will be made during subsequent meetings of the Council, taking into account recommendations from the Russian space industry.

So it would seem Russia is sticking to plans to build a Russian space station using elements of the ISS Russian segment, but is shying away from an early withdrawal from the ISS, electing instead to deploy the new station after the ISS finishes its mission.   

[baldusi]

Well, let's be frank, I doubt they have any money for actually developing and operating their own station. Besides, ISS means a lot of flexibility, redundancies and even revenue opportunities. I believe that by 2020 they'll agree with NASA to extend to 2028. Which, incidentally, I believe it will be needed to develop the experience on 500 days in space lessons on physiology that will be needed for anything beyond the Moon.

[Lars-J]

From the Roskosmos website :
http://www.federalspace.ru/21321/

There was a meeting today of the Scientific Technical Council of Roskosmos (chaired by former Russian Space Agency chief Yuri Koptev) that discussed plans for Russia's piloted space program until 2030. The idea is to continue participation in the ISS until 2024 and subsequently establish a Russian space station consisting of elements detached from the ISS (the MLM Multipurpose Module, the UM Node Module and the NEM Scientific Power Module).

Piloted flights to the Moon would take place by the year 2030 and would be preceded by unmanned lunar orbiters and landers.

Koptev is quoted as saying that the Council today approved the basic elements of the plan until 2025. Final decisions will be made during subsequent meetings of the Council, taking into account recommendations from the Russian space industry.

So it would seem Russia is sticking to plans to build a Russian space station using elements of the ISS Russian segment, but is shying away from an early withdrawal from the ISS, electing instead to deploy the new station after the ISS finishes its mission.

It makes a lot of sense to do that. They likely cannot really afford to run their own station in the immediate future, so it makes more sense to defer a new station until at least 2024. I don't think anyone really is expecting any new Russian ISS components at this point anyway.

[fregate]

From the Roskosmos website :
http://www.federalspace.ru/21321/

There was a meeting today of the Scientific Technical Council of Roskosmos (chaired by former Russian Space Agency chief Yuri Koptev) that discussed plans for Russia's piloted space program until 2030. The idea is to continue participation in the ISS until 2024 and subsequently establish a Russian space station consisting of elements detached from the ISS (the MLM Multipurpose Module, the UM Node Module and the NEM Scientific Power Module).

Piloted flights to the Moon would take place by the year 2030 and would be preceded by unmanned lunar orbiters and landers.

Koptev is quoted as saying that the Council today approved the basic elements of the plan until 2025. Final decisions will be made during subsequent meetings of the Council, taking into account recommendations from the Russian space industry.

So it would seem Russia is sticking to plans to build a Russian space station using elements of the ISS Russian segment, but is shying away from an early withdrawal from the ISS, electing instead to deploy the new station after the ISS finishes its mission.

It makes a lot of sense to do that. They likely cannot really afford to run their own station in the immediate future, so it makes more sense to defer a new station until at least 2024. I don't think anyone really is expecting any new Russian ISS components at this point anyway.

FYI MLM Module would be completed by Khrunichev in Feb 2016

Центр Хруничева завершит сборку модуля для МКС в феврале 2016 года
25 Feb 2015 RIA Novosti, Science section

И.о. гендиректора Центра Андрей Калиновский заявил, что дооснащение модуля МЛМ "Наука" планируется завершить в феврале 2016 года. Далее модуль будет перевезен в РКК "Энергия" для финишной доводки.
МОСКВА, 25 фев — РИА Новости. Центр имени Хруничева завершит сборку нового модуля МЛМ для МКС в феврале 2016 года, далее готовое изделие передадут в РКК "Энергия" для последующего запуска, сообщил журналистам и.о. гендиректора Центра Андрей Калиновский.
"Дооснащение модуля планируется завершить в феврале 2016 года. Далее модуль будет перевезен в РКК "Энергия" для финишной доводки, после чего его можно будет запускать и включать в состав международной космической станции", — сказал Калиновский.
Модуль МЛМ "Наука" должен обеспечить развитие российского сегмента МКС и проведение полноценных научных исследований. В новом модуле будет размещено дополнительное оборудование, пространство для хранения грузов.
Кроме того, с помощью МЛМ можно будет обеспечивать поддержание функций жизнеобеспечения станции, управлять МКС по крену с помощью двигателей. Также с включением "Науки" в состав станции на МКС появится дополнительный порт для транспортных кораблей и исследовательских модулей.

Acting Khrunichev Centre General Director Andrey Kalinoskiy announced in front of journalists that his company would complete furnishing of the Module MLM (aka "Nauka") in Feb 2016 and after that module would be transferred to RSC ENERGIA for final furnishing before it will be launched into space and will be docked with ISS.
Module MLM Nauka would extend Russian segment of ISS and would allow to perform scientific studies. New module would bring an additional hardware and spare space for cargo storage, On top of that new module would provide life support system, and alos would provide station roll control via on-board RCS thrusters. Module woudl also provide an addtional docking port for cargo spacecrafts and reaseach module [I presume for servicing autonomous Oka-T Module]

[K-P]

Acting Khrunichev Centre General Director Andrey Kalinoskiy announced that his company would complete furnishing of the Module MLM (aka "Nauka") in Feb 2016 and after that module would be transferred to RSC ENERGIA for final furnishing.

And after that module would be transferred to a storage unit for final rest.
 

[Danderman]

Acting Khrunichev Centre General Director Andrey Kalinoskiy announced that his company would complete furnishing of the Module MLM (aka "Nauka") in Feb 2016 and after that module would be transferred to RSC ENERGIA for final furnishing.

And after that module would be transferred to a storage unit for final rest.
 

as noted elsewhere, 18 months is the normal processing time for Energia to receive the model, perform all necessary tasks, transfer to Baikonur, and launch.

[baldusi]

Acting Khrunichev Centre General Director Andrey Kalinoskiy announced that his company would complete furnishing of the Module MLM (aka "Nauka") in Feb 2016 and after that module would be transferred to RSC ENERGIA for final furnishing.

And after that module would be transferred to a storage unit for final rest.
 

as noted elsewhere, 18 months is the normal processing time for Energia to receive the model, perform all necessary tasks, transfer to Baikonur, and launch.

So, we could expect an August 2017 launch?

[Danderman]

Barring political turmoil, new engineering problems, or some accident, look for MLM to be ready to launch mid-2017.

YMMV.

[fregate]

Barring political turmoil, new engineering problems, or some accident, look for MLM to be ready to launch mid-2017.

YMMV.

It would be a maiden launch of Proton-M LV with LEO payload.   

[Prober]

Barring political turmoil, new engineering problems, or some accident, look for MLM to be ready to launch mid-2017.

YMMV.

It would be a maiden launch of Proton-M LV with LEO payload.

don't wish to hijack this thread but do wonder as the norm is around 10 Protons per year produced.  Has production stopped? 

[Stan Black]

Barring political turmoil, new engineering problems, or some accident, look for MLM to be ready to launch mid-2017.

YMMV.

It would be a maiden launch of Proton-M LV with LEO payload.

don't wish to hijack this thread but do wonder as the norm is around 10 Protons per year produced.  Has production stopped? 

Still in production this year:-
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=17568.msg1323688#msg1323688