Sea Launch Future

[THeel01]

Could be nothing but here's some news from RSW:
http://russianspaceweb.com/angosat.html

[Steven Pietrobon]

I thought these two paragraphs were interesting.

"However, immediately after the signing of the deal between RKK Energia and S7 in September, Ukrainian space officials said that they would be open to cooperation with the Russians on the Sea Launch venture. "

"According to industry sources, at the beginning of October, Roskosmos hosted a meeting of all interested parties involved in the use of the Zenit rocket, which included Ukrainian representatives, and which resulted in the signing of ? joint protocol. This preliminary agreement still needs political approval in both Russia and Ukraine, but if it goes ahead, it could see a Russian order for as many as 12 Zenit rockets."

[Kryten]

https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russias-s7-receives-a-go-for-space-launch-57224

Russia’s largest private airline, S7, has been given a license to begin operations in outer space. The Novosibirsk-based holding company plans its first-ever rocket launch from Kazakhstan sometime this year.

The launch will be conducted by a subsidiary, S7 Space Transport Systems, which holds the Russian government license. It is one of over 1,000 companies licensed to either produce or operate space hardware — a strictly regulated military and civilian industry.

[russianhalo117]

https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russias-s7-receives-a-go-for-space-launch-57224

Russia’s largest private airline, S7, has been given a license to begin operations in outer space. The Novosibirsk-based holding company plans its first-ever rocket launch from Kazakhstan sometime this year.

The launch will be conducted by a subsidiary, S7 Space Transport Systems, which holds the Russian government license. It is one of over 1,000 companies licensed to either produce or operate space hardware — a strictly regulated military and civilian industry.

Counter Argument:
http://russianspaceweb.com/angosat.html#2017

2017: Political problems delay Angosat mission

On Feb. 20, 2017, the S7 airline announced that it had obtained a license for space activities in Russia. The document gave the S7 airline a permission to operate the Zenit-M rocket, whose launch was planned during 2017, the company said. However, at the same time, industry sources told RussianSpaceWeb.com that all work on adapting the only completed Zenit rocket for the launch of the Angosat satellite had to stop due to lack of necessary permissions from Moscow.

The management of the S7 airline sent a letter to KB Yuzhnoe in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, promising to resolve all the political problems and resume preparations for the mission as soon as the approval from the Kremlin is secured. However, the delay in the work would likely require to postpone the launch of the Angosat satellite previously scheduled for July 15, 2017.

The Russian-Ukrainian cooperation on the Angosat mission coincided with another flareup of violence in the border regions between the two former Soviet republics.

The political problems between Russia and Ukraine also stalled plans at Roskosmos to order the production of three new Zenit rockets in Ukraine, industry sources said.

(To be continued)

[Space Ghost 1962]

(For your amusement and predictable entertainment.)

Pivdenmash resumes manufacture of Zenit carrier rockets for Sea Launch, Land Launch

Ukraine's state-owned Production Association Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant named after A.M. Makarov (Yuzhmash, or Pivdenmash from Ukrainian) has announced it is about to resume the manufacture of the Zenit carrier rockets under such international projects as the Sea Launch and the Land Launch, the plant's press service said on Friday, June 2.

On April 28, Pivdenmash and S7 Sea Launch Limited signed a contract for manufacturing and supplies of 12 carrier rockets of the Zenit family for space exploration and use for peaceful purposes as part of the Sea Launch and the Land Launch international programs, the press service said.

(Idle thought: Angara 5P has gotten so expensive/delayed that Soyuz 5 has been chosen as a LV for the Federation capsule. Could it become also "too expensive"? Could Zenit become a "fall back" because it is developed, has significant flight history, ... such that funding put into it could more quickly address competitive launch economics for Russian interests?)

Another tease?

(Could you build a reusable LV out of Zenit? Could Antares/Cyclone-4M be enough of a risk for losing control of Yuzhnoye vehicles that they need to keep them on the hook with a deal?)

[Lars-J]

The Russian space launch industry is a hot mess right now.

Zenit was a great LV 20 years ago. They had a perfect booster to build a whole series of LVs from, but they threw it all away. Why? Was it the "not invented here" syndrome form Khrunichev, Samara, and Energia? Yes it had Ukrainian components, but surely those could be replaced.

But now? Is the situation really that dire that Zenit is being resurrected?

[russianhalo117]

The Russian space launch industry is a hot mess right now.

Zenit was a great LV 20 years ago. They had a perfect booster to build a whole series of LVs from, but they threw it all away. Why? Was it the "not invented here" syndrome form Khrunichev, Samara, and Energia? Yes it had Ukrainian components, but surely those could be replaced.

But now? Is the situation really that dire that Zenit is being resurrected?

Well its pretty bad when Angara first stage booster cores cant pass joint and individual MoD/Roscosmos quality control and acceptance tests at the new factory. All cores planned for this year and next were rejected and sent back to the manufacturing floor for moderate/major corrections because they failed pre-shipment inspections.

[SweetWater]

(Could you build a reusable LV out of Zenit? Could Antares/Cyclone-4M be enough of a risk for losing control of Yuzhnoye vehicles that they need to keep them on the hook with a deal?)

There were, apparently, plans to recover the liquid rocket boosters used on the Buran vehicle (see link here: http://www.buran-energia.com/energia/energia-consti-1eretage.php). As I understand it, the Buran LRBs were very similar to Zenit first stages (small differences included RD-170 engines on the LRBs and and RD-171s on Zenits). Apparently several methods of recovery were studied, including recovering the entire first stage (which looks to have involved a downrange recover utilizing both parachutes and retrorockets) and recovering only the engines (which sounds similar to the SMART reuse proposed for ULA's Vulcan).

[Steven Pietrobon]

Pivdenmash resumes manufacture of Zenit carrier rockets for Sea Launch, Land Launch

Ukraine's state-owned Production Association Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant named after A.M. Makarov (Yuzhmash, or Pivdenmash from Ukrainian) has announced it is about to resume the manufacture of the Zenit carrier rockets under such international projects as the Sea Launch and the Land Launch, the plant's press service said on Friday, June 2.

On April 28, Pivdenmash and S7 Sea Launch Limited signed a contract for manufacturing and supplies of 12 carrier rockets of the Zenit family for space exploration and use for peaceful purposes as part of the Sea Launch and the Land Launch international programs, the press service said.

But what about the RD-171 engine? Can they still get them from Russia?

[gongora]

Pivdenmash resumes manufacture of Zenit carrier rockets for Sea Launch, Land Launch

Ukraine's state-owned Production Association Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant named after A.M. Makarov (Yuzhmash, or Pivdenmash from Ukrainian) has announced it is about to resume the manufacture of the Zenit carrier rockets under such international projects as the Sea Launch and the Land Launch, the plant's press service said on Friday, June 2.

On April 28, Pivdenmash and S7 Sea Launch Limited signed a contract for manufacturing and supplies of 12 carrier rockets of the Zenit family for space exploration and use for peaceful purposes as part of the Sea Launch and the Land Launch international programs, the press service said.

But what about the RD-171 engine? Can they still get them from Russia?

When I was looking on Google yesterday I found a couple Russian articles asking that same question.

[russianhalo117]

Pivdenmash resumes manufacture of Zenit carrier rockets for Sea Launch, Land Launch

Ukraine's state-owned Production Association Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant named after A.M. Makarov (Yuzhmash, or Pivdenmash from Ukrainian) has announced it is about to resume the manufacture of the Zenit carrier rockets under such international projects as the Sea Launch and the Land Launch, the plant's press service said on Friday, June 2.

On April 28, Pivdenmash and S7 Sea Launch Limited signed a contract for manufacturing and supplies of 12 carrier rockets of the Zenit family for space exploration and use for peaceful purposes as part of the Sea Launch and the Land Launch international programs, the press service said.

But what about the RD-171 engine? Can they still get them from Russia?

When I was looking on Google yesterday I found a couple Russian articles asking that same question.

Yes they can get the engines This has already been achieved for the 2 Zenit flights targeted to fly this year.
http://russianspaceweb.com/2017.html#lybid
http://russianspaceweb.com/angosat.html#201704

[Tomness]

Is the RD-171 & RD-171M still superior to dual RD-180s or quad RD-191/RD-181s for Zenit?

[russianhalo117]

Is the RD-171 & RD-171M still superior to dual RD-180s or quad RD-191/RD-181s for Zenit?

yes because all four chambers are powered via single shaft and turbopumps in addition to other advantages thus better T/W ratio compared to engine clusters you mention above.

[Steven Pietrobon]

Yes they can get the engines This has already been achieved for the 2 Zenit flights targeted to fly this year.
http://russianspaceweb.com/2017.html#lybid
http://russianspaceweb.com/angosat.html#201704

Weren't those vehicles built a while ago, before the sanctions?

[Danderman]

https://www.rt.com/business/410989-roscosmos-s7-build-orbital-spaceport/

Is this Orbital spaceport somehow related to Sea Launch?

[russianhalo117]

https://www.rt.com/business/410989-roscosmos-s7-build-orbital-spaceport/

Is this Orbital spaceport somehow related to Sea Launch?

Yes it says that the project involves Sea Launch in the bottom half of the article.

[THeel01]

TASS is reporting readiness in 2019

http://tass.com/science/990437

[Sam Ho]

Anatoly Zak has an update quoting sources saying that they will have a hard time putting the supply chain back together. Also, Russia doesn’t want the RD-171 sent to Ukraine, and there isn’t a good way of installing the engines in the US at the moment.

http://www.russianspaceweb.com/sea-launch-2018.html#0221

[kq6ea]

Curiouser and curiouser.......

- Jim

[Lars-J]

Everyone knows this is isn't happening, so I'm not sure why they bother to put up the act.

Even if they could solve the multitude of technical and assembly problems, the launch market is a lot more competitive now compared to when Sea Launch began.