Rokot to stop flying soon after swaying into Russia-Ukraine affairs?

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Well I sort of guessed that the Zenit and Dnepr would be affected due to the recent situations, but it looks like the fire has spread to Khrunichev's Rokot too! 

According to a Russian newspaper today, it was claimed that Roscosmos announced that Rokot would be grounded after one more upcoming flight on March 3 because the Russians have problems with getting the control equipments for the Briz-KM upper stage from JSC Khartron of Ukraine, apparently due to Ukraine recently banning export of equipment to Russia that could be used in military programs. 3 Briz-KMs are in Russia, but there are also problems with personnel required from JSC Khartron.

Roscosmos and Eurockot did not comment. A Khrunichev spokesperson reassured that flights for civilian and foreign customers will continue, but did confirm that the co-operation between the Russian MoD and JSC Khartron has been suspended. JSC Khartron's chief designer did confirm that the relationship with their Russian partners have strained in the last few months.

Somehow I doubt this scenario will roll out like this and this report is a bargaining chip..... but does that mean that ESA will need to find someone else to launch 3 of their spacecraft (Sentinel-3A/2B/5P)? 

[baldusi]

I understand that Soyuz-2.1v and Angara-1.1 were developed specifically to replace Rokot/Strela, Dnepr, Kosmos and Tsyklon. So, I would not be surprised if this was just an acceleration of the process. ESA has more than enough capacity to move those payloads to Vega.

[Danderman]

So, is Rokot dead because there is no control system for Briz-KM? How does that impact Proton-Briz-M?

Also, whatever happened to the Briz-KS planned for Angara?

[russianhalo117]

So, is Rokot dead because there is no control system for Briz-KM? How does that impact Proton-Briz-M?

Also, whatever happened to the Briz-KS planned for Angara?

AFAIK Briz-KS was sidelined when federal funding was halted or denied and further sidelined when Russia announced plans to switch to clean fuels just before sanctions struck and Khrunichev went bankrupt and was placed in state controlled reorganization and cost cutting.

[Danderman]

So, is Rokot dead because there is no control system for Briz-KM? How does that impact Proton-Briz-M?

Also, whatever happened to the Briz-KS planned for Angara?

AFAIK Briz-KS was sidelined when federal funding was halted or denied and further sidelined when Russia announced plans to switch to clean fuels just before sanctions struck and Khrunichev went bankrupt and was placed in state controlled reorganization and cost cutting.

How does this impact Proton and Angara?

[russianhalo117]

So, is Rokot dead because there is no control system for Briz-KM? How does that impact Proton-Briz-M?

Also, whatever happened to the Briz-KS planned for Angara?

AFAIK Briz-KS was sidelined when federal funding was halted or denied and further sidelined when Russia announced plans to switch to clean fuels just before sanctions struck and Khrunichev went bankrupt and was placed in state controlled reorganization and cost cutting.

How does this impact Proton and Angara?

neither of the launcher versions flying/planned use the Briz-KS or KM. an optimized Briz-M was considered and was to be call Briz-MS however the optimizations were introduced under Briz-M name during Proton Upgrades phases III and IV. Proton-M+ will see the latest Briz-M upgrades which are also the the last remaining upgrades planned under the never realized Briz-MS programme.

[Danderman]

Actually, I was referring to the news that Briz uses a Ukrainian control system, which impacts both Rokot and Proton.

[anik]

Actually, I was referring to the news that Briz uses a Ukrainian control system, which impacts both Rokot and Proton.

What link between Ukrainian control system and Proton-M/Briz-M combination? No link at all. Check before post.

[Danderman]

Actually, I was referring to the news that Briz uses a Ukrainian control system, which impacts both Rokot and Proton.

What link between Ukranian control system and Proton-M/Briz-M combination? No link at all. Check before post.

To be clear, you are suggesting that Briz-KM uses a Ukrainian control system, but Briz-M does not?

[anik]

To be clear, you are suggesting that Briz-KM uses a Ukrainian control system, but Briz-M does not?

Briz-M does not have Ukrainian control system.

[Danderman]

To be clear, you are suggesting that Briz-KM uses a Ukrainian control system, but Briz-M does not?

Briz-M does not have Ukrainian control system.

Yep, it was produced by OKB Mars, which reportedly has been assimilated by Khrunichev.  They were mentioned in the wake of one of the Briz-M failures, and the head was  A.S.Syrov (Chief Designer of FSUE OKB "Mars"), per a post here.

So, that means that Briz-KM and Briz-M have different control systems.

One would imagine that the task of adapting the OKB Mars control system to Briz-KM would be trivial, but ..................