Author Topic: Project Numizmat  (Read 18803 times)

Offline B. Hendrickx

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1516
  • Liked: 2190
  • Likes Given: 75
Project Numizmat
« on: 04/09/2019 12:50 pm »
Analysis of publicly available procurement documentation has made it possible to uncover another secret Russian space project with the rather odd name Numizmat (which means “numismatist” or “coin collector”).

The project officially got underway on 1 July 2014 with the signing of a government contract identified in the documentation as 3/Ts/2014 (Cyrillic: 3/Ц/2014) (which is presumably part of a longer contract number). The parties involved in that contract are not given in the available documentation. However, a number of follow-up contracts signed under the project strongly suggest that the system integrator is the Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics (ЦНИИХМ, transliterated as TsNIIKhM or CNIIHM). TsNIIKhM is also known to play a leading role in two other top-secret space projects, Nivelir (presumably satellite inspectors) and Burevestnik (presumably a co-orbital ASAT system). TsNIIKhM’s chief designer for the project appears to be Vladimir I. Verkhoturov, who heads the institute’s Design Bureau for Applied Mechanics (KBPM).

Subcontractors to TsNIIKhM for this project that have been identified so far are:

1) FNPTs NIIIS imeni Sedakova (the Sedakov Scientific Research Institute of Measuring Systems) in Nizhniy Novgorod (contract with TsNIIKhM signed on 10 January 2015).
This is an affiliate of the Russian Federal Nuclear Center – All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNTs VNIIEF), which is part of the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation.
 
A brief profile of NIIIS in English is given here:
https://rasu.ru/en/company/partners/niiis/

Quote
NIIIS carries out research, development and fabrication in the following areas:
•    Information transmission, receiving, processing and registration technology;
•    Radio communication, telemetry and radar technology;
•    Software/hardware sets for industrial enterprises;
•    Semiconductor microelectronics.

The institute’s exact role in Numizmat is not immediately obvious from the documentation, which only refers to the delivery of “an electronic unit” that seems to have the designator 14V735.  NIIIS delegated some of the work on this “electronic unit” to a Moscow-based company called NPP Pulsar under a contract signed between the two companies on 1 July 2016. This refers to that work as Numizmat-ShPS-RChM (Cyrillic: Нумизмат-ШПС-РЧМ). This is for the delivery of ‘radio frequency modules’ (RChM) of the receiving channel”. The function of these is described as “reception of very high-frequency signals in a wide dynamic range, their amplification, detection and conversion into digital form”.  ShPS is not deciphered, but presumably stands for “wideband signal” or “wideband system”. 

One of the documents says TsNIIKhM called in the help of NPP Pulsar in order to meet the required deadlines for the delivery of the radio frequency modules, adding that they are complex devices which need to be able to stand up to space conditions. This suggests that NIIIS was unable to produce these devices itself due to a lack of earlier experience with this type of work.

NPP Pulsar in turn signed contracts with other subcontractors for work on the radio frequency modules under themes known as Numizmat-I (measuring systems), Numizmat-R (components for the modules), Numizmat-N (component testing) and Numizmat-KP (radiation testing).

These are the links to the procurement documentation involving NIIIS (placed online between June 2016 and October 2017). Most of the information given here is from the first link.

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31603751148
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31604062303
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31604059372
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31604277500
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31705441615
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31705660989

2) OKB MEI  (Special Design  Bureau of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute). It signed a contract on Numizmat with TsNIIKhM on 22 July 2015. This is mentioned in a contract that OKB MEI signed with another company for the delivery of related computer equipment (placed online in March 2018).

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31806281439

OKB MEI was founded in 1947 and has delivered ground-based and on-board radio communications equipment for satellites and spacecraft since the early days of the Space Age. TsNIIKhM also signed a contract with OKB MEI in late 2011 for the delivery of an on-board radio complex for the Nivelir satellites (see the Cosmos-2519/2521/2523 thread).

3) NTTs Polyus (based in Tomsk). Contract with TsNIIKhM signed on 11 March 2015 for a reaction wheel called (U)DM-2-50GK. This is mentioned in a contract signed between NTTs Polyus and another company last year related to lubricants for the reaction wheel: 

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31807010028

Also see the summary of this PhD thesis on satellite reaction wheels defended last month at the Tomsk State University for Control and Radioelectronic Systems (TUSUR). Here the work is referred to as Numizmat-MDP:

https://www.nstu.ru/files/dissertations/avtoreferat_v.15_154720194086.pdf
(see p. 6)

NTTs Polyus’ website has information on a reaction wheel called UDM-2-50 that is probably nearly identical to the one intended for Numizmat:
http://www.polus.tomsknet.ru/?id=211



4) Contracts as part of Numizmat were also signed between the Izhevsk Radio Factory (IRZ) and RNII Elektronstandart (theme Numizmat-EB-ES) (presumably for testing of electronic components) and between an unidentified party and Siberian Instruments and Systems (OAO SPS) in Omsk for the delivery of “cables and conductors”.

See the annual report of Elektronstandart for 2016:
https://www.e-disclosure.ru/portal/FileLoad.ashx?Fileid=1353798

Procurement documentation published in October 2018:
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31807083141

The procurement documentation found so far reveals nothing about the exact purpose of the Numizmat project. However, there is good reason to believe that the contract with NIIIS  is not for a subsystem, but for a payload. As can be deduced from more than twenty papers published by NIIIS specialists since 2012, the company has been working on a space-based ultra-wideband (UWB) radar. The papers mostly focus on one component of such a system called a spectrum analyzer which uses a technique called double spectral processing to study the spectrum of reflected UWB radar signals. The spectrum analyzer has a multichannel receiver that converts the reflected signals into a form that makes it possible to analyze them. This involves passing the signals through a set of filters, amplifiers, amplitude detectors and analog-to-digital converters. Some of the papers deal with the propagation of UWB signals through the ionosphere (at altitudes between 100 km and 1000 km) and also with their ability to withstand electronic jamming. Here are just a handful of the articles (all in Russian):

(2012)
http://elar.urfu.ru/bitstream/10995/61986/1/978-5-7271-1046-1_2012_014.pdf
(2014)
http://www.kuriermedia.ru/ru/archiv/716/2273/
(see pp. 68-70)
(2015)
https://www.psuti.ru/sites/default/files/field/attachments/2018/12/ftpvp_2015_-_sbornik_trudov.pdf
(see p. 110)
(2016)
http://www.ckba.net/media/files/konferenc/svch_2016.pdf
(see pp. 195-207)
(2018)
http://microelectronica.pro/wp-content/uploads/docs-2018/Thesis2018.pdf
(see pp. 347-351)


The 2014 article mentions plans to install an experimental multi-channel spectrum analyzer aboard a satellite with the aim of “conducting a space experiment to study the dissipative and dispersive characteristics of the atmosphere and ionosphere”. The article has a picture of the analyzer (attachment 1) and a drawing of the analyzer mounted on a satellite (attachment 2).  It should be noted that the article was written before NIIIS was awarded the contract for Numizmat, so the drawing is not necessarily a representation of Numizmat. 


Several patents filed by NIIIS also seem to be related to the UWB radar, including this one placed online in 2016:   

https://patents.google.com/patent/RU2625170C1/ru
(English machine translation)
https://patents.google.com/patent/RU2625170C1/en


There are several indications that Numizmat will indeed carry the UWB radar system:

1) several of the NIIIS specialists who signed the available Numizmat contracts are co-authors of one or more of the articles mentioned above (Aleksandr V. Kashin, Vyacheslav A. Bazhilov, Sergei V. Zozulya, Dmitriy R. Shishkin and R.A. Yaremchuk). Kashin, identified in one of the contracts as the institute’s Deputy Chief Designer for Defense Matters, seems to be the chief designer of the system that NIIIS is working on. Researchers involved in virtually all of the papers (but not seen in the contracts) are Maria M. Ivoilova, Valeriy A. Kozlov, and Anatoliy L. Kunilov.   


2) the acronym ShPS seen in the contract involving NIIIS likely stands for “wideband signal” or “wideband system”

3) several components of the “radio frequency modules” (RChM) mentioned in the procurement documentation are also mentioned in the NIIIS papers. The RChM modules appear to be part of the multichannel receiver that converts the reflected UWB signals into a form needed for analysis.



None of the articles say anything about the UWB radar’s intended targets of observation. However, they discuss only range measurements and not radar imaging of the Earth’s surface. One of the papers on the propagation of UWB radar signals through the ionosphere analyzes their possible distortion during range measurements at distances of 600 m and 6 km.

Indications are that the radar under development for Numizmat is a so-called UWB noise radar. The main advantage of such radars over conventional radars is their inherent immunity from jamming, detection, and external interference. This is how this is described in a paper on the military applications of UWB noise radars written by Canadian experts in 2006:
http://cradpdf.drdc-rddc.gc.ca/PDFS/unc55/p526766.pdf

Quote
Because of the truly random transmitting signal, noise radars have many advantages compared with conventional radars, including unambiguous measurement of range and Doppler estimations, high immunity to noise, very low probability of intercept (LPI), high electro-magnetic compatibility, good electronic counter countermeasure (ECCM) capability, good counter electronic support measure (CESM) capability, and ideal ’thumbtack’ ambiguity function.
 

All this suggests that Numizmat will carry a system to emit hard-to-detect UWB signals with the purpose of measuring the distance to relatively nearby objects in space. The jury is still out on whether that is for satellite inspection, satellite negation or other objectives. TsNIIKhM’s likely involvement in other inspection and ASAT projects does point to one of those two roles. It is worth noting in this respect that a radar system (albeit a conventional one) was used for target detection in the Soviet-era co-orbital ASAT project called "IS".
   
It is impossible to determine at this point if the UWB system is the only payload or one of several payloads for Numizmat and if Numizmat is a one-off experimental mission to study the effectiveness of space-based UWB radars or is intended to become an operational program. At any rate, any Numizmat test flight would likely involve a target satellite to test the radar, whether that be a satellite launched earlier, one deployed together with Numizmat or detached from Numizmat as a subsatellite. 

One possible hint that there may be more to Numizmat than just the UWB radar comes in a short biography of Andrei V. Mikhalitsyn, a specialist of the State Institute of Applied Optics (GIPO) in Kazan.

http://www.rusea.info/eoaywinners/12078

The bio, written after Mikhalitsyn won an award in 2017, mentions his involvement in the development of “(high-)altitude infrared camera and infrared television systems for OKR (“experimental design work”) Nivelir-SOS-KTZ, Lotos-MOK, Numizmat-IKG and Burevestnik”. It adds that Numizmat-IKG and Burevestnik are two themes that he was still working on at the time of writing.

IKG is an acronym sometimes used for “infrared quenching”, but it could mean something else here. At any rate, it would seem that GIPO is developing some type of infrared payload for Numizmat, probably to detect other objects in space.

GIPO was already known to play a role in Burevestnik, acting as a subcontractor to KB Tochmash. See this documentation related to a contract signed between the two companies in August 2014:

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31401679524

The subject of the contract is not given. However, this summary of GIPO’s activities acknowledges that the company has produced components for  “space weapon systems”.

http://151.248.116.124/u-302/i-18417/


As for Nivelir-SOS-KTZ, it can be inferred from other sources that this is a theme that involves both GIPO and a company based in Ryazan called the State Ryazan Instrument Factory (GRPZ), but as of now there is no conclusive evidence that it is related to the Nivelir satellite inspection project. I will write about this later in the Cosmos-2519/2521/2523 thread.

Lotos is the name of an electronic intelligence satellite built by KB Arsenal, but it is unlikely that Lotos-MOK has anything to do with that (it is hard to see why an ELINT satellite would need an infrared camera). It is quite common for one and the same OKR name to be used for totally unrelated projects. That also means that the Numizmat, Burevestnik and Nivelir themes mentioned here may not (all) be space-related. However, given the known links between these projects, that would seem to be almost too much of a coincidence to be true.

Offline B. Hendrickx

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1516
  • Liked: 2190
  • Likes Given: 75
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #1 on: 05/08/2019 08:11 am »
Some newly found procurement documentation shows that another subcontractor in the Numizmat project is the Scientific Research Institute of Television (NII Televideniya or NIIT) in St.-Petersburg. Although the documentation does not mention the name Numizmat, it refers to the contract that is known to have started the project (nr. 3/Ts/2014 on 1 July 2014). The parties involved in that original contract were not identified in the documentation discussed in the first post in this thread, but now turn out to be the Ministry of Defense and the Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics (CNIIHM or TsNIIKhM). This confirms that TsNIIKhM is the prime contractor for the project. TsNIIKhM signed a contract (nr. 114/15/37/1291-G) with NIIT for the project on 1 September 2014 (one of the documents gives the date as 1 September 2015, but I’m assuming that is a mistake).


http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31604190926
(published in October 2016)

This has a contract between NIIT and a company called BIK-Inform (also based in St.-Petersburg) on the delivery of lenses. No further details are given.


http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31604552968
(published in December 2016)

A contract between NIIT and MAKRO SpetsPostavka (St.-Petersburg) for the delivery of three components identified as NOIP1SN016KA-GDI. An Internet search shows that this is one in a line of global shutter CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) image sensors known as Python, produced by ON Semiconductor, a company based in Phoenix, Arizona. It has 4096x4096 active pixels. More technical specifications are here:
https://www.onsemi.com/pub/Collateral/NOIP1SN025KA-D.PDF

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31705518361
(published in September 2017)

A contract between NIIT and NPTs Granat (St.-Petersburg) for tests to determine how a lens called Kowa LM8XC stands up to “low pressure” (which may have to be interpreted here as the vacuum of space). Kowa Optical Products (part of Kowa Company Ltd) is based in Tokyo, but has affiliates in other countries. LM8XC is a 4/3” megapixel lens with a focal length of 8 mm (picture attached). A data sheet is here:
https://lenses.kowa-usa.com/xc-series/386-lm8xc.html

It is clear that this is the same type of lens that is the subject of the contract with BIK-Inform. As mentioned on its website, BIK-Inform imports lenses (including those produced by Kowa Optical Products, more specifically its German affiliate Kowa Optimed) and adapts them for use in “non-standard situations”. Whereas BIK-Inform also produces its own optical equipment (mainly television and surveillance cameras), MAKRO SpetsPostavka specializes in importing electronic components (including the Python series CMOS image sensors) for use in the Russian industry. By buying these parts from Russian intermediaries, Russian defense industry companies don’t have to place direct orders with Western suppliers. These Numizmat contracts show how dependent even top-secret Russian military space projects remain on the delivery of Western-built electronic components despite the policy of “import substitution” introduced in the wake of the economic sanctions. 
 
In short, NIIT seems to be building some type of television camera for Numizmat. The company is known to have developed a TV camera for a star tracker that is likely intended for Burevestnik, but the technical specifications for that are totally different (see the Burevestnik thread). The TV camera for Numizmat is presumably designed to observe other objects in space. As explained in the first post, another payload likely under development for Numizmat is an ultrawideband radar for range measurements (built by the Sedakov Scientific Research Institute of Measuring Systems or NIIIS) and possibly an infrared TV camera (built by the State Institute of Applied Optics or GIPO), although the evidence for the latter is less convincing. The fact that NIIT was awarded a contract for Numizmat just two months after the start of the project may indicate that the TV camera is the primary payload (NIIIS wasn’t assigned to Numizmat until January 2015). The only conclusion that can be drawn from all this with a high degree of certainty is that Numizmat will perform rendezvous and proximity operations in space.

Offline B. Hendrickx

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1516
  • Liked: 2190
  • Likes Given: 75
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #2 on: 11/05/2019 11:10 am »
Another player in Numizmat appears to be ISS Reshetnev. On 4 May 2016 ISS Reshetnev signed a contract with its daughter company NPO PM MKB for the “design and production of support and test equipment for components of a satellite”. The work was called Numizmat-MKB. See this financial report of NPO PM MKB for 2016:

http://www.npopm-mkb.ru/files/revision/Отчет%20рев%20ком%202016%20г..pdf
(see p. 9-10)

The same contract is also mentioned in ISS Reshetnev’s annual report for 2016, but without reference to Numizmat.

Numizmat-MKB is also seen in the master thesis of a student of the Institute of Space and Information Technologies, which is part of the Siberian Federal University in Krasnoyarsk.

http://elib.sfu-kras.ru/bitstream/handle/2311/34091/macelya_0.pdf?sequence
(p. 45-47)

The thesis (defended in 2017) deals with “programmable logic controllers” and their use in test equipment for “mechanical systems” of Numizmat. The technical terms used here make it possible to find more information on NPO PM MKB’s role in Numizmat in the following sources, where the work is referred to as 218.OT.MKB.202-16.
http://www.npopm-mkb.ru/show/archive
http://www.gnedenko.net/library/Pokhabov/Theory%20and%20Practics%20of%20Reliability%20Assurance.pdf

The most likely interpretation of the information is that NPO PM MKB tested elements of Numizmat’s solar arrays such as the deployment mechanism and various sensors. This probably means that ISS Reshetnev builds the backbone structure of the satellite’s solar arrays. The company’s Department 304 is known to do that work both for ISS Reshetnev satellites and satellites built by other companies. For instance, it delivered the backbone structures for the solar arrays of NPO Lavochkin satellites such as Spektr-R, Spektr-UF and Elektro-L. The photovoltaic elements for those arrays were delivered by PAO Saturn in Krasnodar. See for instance these articles in in-house publications of ISS Reshetnev:


https://www.iss-reshetnev.ru/media/journal/journal-03-2008.pdf
(p. 22)
http://www.sci-lib.net/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=24236
(p. 4)

PAO Saturn is known to build the storage batteries for Numizmat’s power supply system under a theme called Numizmat-AB. See this presentation of PAO Saturn:
http://www.interbat.ru/Interbat20190320/SaturnProtsenko20190320.pdf
(p. 35)

NPO PM MKB was established in 2000. NPO PM (Scientific Production Association of Applied Mechanics) is the former name of ISS Reshetnev and “MKB” stands for “Small Design Bureau”. It performs tests of various satellite components (using, among other things, thermal vacuum chambers) and also produces containers used for the shipment of satellites. Its website is here:
http://www.npopm-mkb.ru

Finally, as mentioned in the second post here, CNIIHM signed a contract with the Scientific Research Institute of Television (NIIT) for the development of a TV camera for Numizmat. Available procurement documentation gives conflicting dates for the signing of that contract (1 September 2014 and 1 September 2015), but comparison with other CNIIHM contract numbers now makes it possible to determine the contract date as 1 September 2015.

Online Satori

  • Moderator
  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 14727
  • Campo do Gerês - Portugal
  • Liked: 2313
  • Likes Given: 1293
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #3 on: 11/26/2019 03:10 pm »
Do we know any GRAU number for the Numizmat Project?

Offline B. Hendrickx

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1516
  • Liked: 2190
  • Likes Given: 75
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #4 on: 11/26/2019 09:33 pm »
Do we know any GRAU number for the Numizmat Project?

No, we don't. There should be four numbers : one for the "space system" (14K0..), one for the "space complex" (14K1..), one for the "rocket and space complex" (14K2..) and one for the actual satellites (14F...).

The "space complex" index for Numizmat may be 14K177. This is mentioned along with 14K167 (Nivelir) and 14K168 (Burevestnik) in recent procurement documentation for infrastructure at Plesetsk.

http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31908173944
http://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?regNumber=31908195888

This may mean that, like 14K167 and 14K168, 14K177 is a project run by CNIIHM (which Numizmat is).

Numizmat officially got underway on 1 July 2014 and the next military satellite project known to have been approved (on 1 September 2014) was ISS Reshetnev's Repei (a constellation of SIGINT satellites in both highly elliptical and geostationary orbits). This project got the "space complex" numbers 14K178 and 14K179 (obviously for those two components). In other words, if the sequence of the "space complex" numbers reflects the approval date of the projects, there is even more reason to believe that 14K177 is Numizmat. 

Online edzieba

  • Virtual Realist
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6891
  • United Kingdom
  • Liked: 10522
  • Likes Given: 48
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #5 on: 12/02/2019 12:11 pm »
I'm not too familiar with Russian nomenclature; what does the distinction between "X system" and "X complex" usually denote?

Offline Nicolas PILLET

  • Member
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2477
  • Gien, France
    • Kosmonavtika
  • Liked: 698
  • Likes Given: 154
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #6 on: 12/02/2019 12:27 pm »
"Complex" means there are several things.

For exemple, a "rocket complex" means : the rocket itself, the launch pad, the fueling system, etc.

A "satellite complex" is a satellite, a ground segment (antennas, transmitters, etc.), the preparation facilities, etc.
Nicolas PILLET
Kosmonavtika : The French site on Russian Space

Offline B. Hendrickx

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1516
  • Liked: 2190
  • Likes Given: 75
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #7 on: 12/02/2019 08:35 pm »
I'm not too familiar with Russian nomenclature; what does the distinction between "X system" and "X complex" usually denote?

- Space system (Russian acronym KS) (14K0xx) : consists of one or more "space complexes" (KK) and the "special complex" (SpK), which is the ground-based infrastructure to receive, process and store data obtained from the satellites and distribute it to end users  (see attachment 1).

- Space complex (KK) (14K1xx) : refers to the combination of the actual satellites (14F...) and all the infrastructure needed to ensure their functioning. It consists of the orbital constellation of satellites (OG KA), the rocket and space complex (RKK), the ground control network (NKU) and the landing and recovery complex (KPO) (the latter, of course, only needed for recoverable spacecraft) (see attachment 2).

- Rocket and space complex (RKK) (14K2xx) : consists of the rocket (RKN) and the ground-based infrastructure needed to prepare the rocket for launch, including the assembly and check-out buildings (TK) and the launch pad (SK) (see attachment 3).

One example of a "space system" consisting of several "space complexes" is the Repei signals intelligence project. The Repei space system has the designator 14K048 and consists of the space complexes 14K178 and 14K179, one of which will have satellites operating in highly elliptical orbits and the other of which will have satellites operating in geostationary orbit. 

 

Online edzieba

  • Virtual Realist
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6891
  • United Kingdom
  • Liked: 10522
  • Likes Given: 48
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #8 on: 12/06/2019 01:36 pm »
Thank you, that makes general Russian system organisation much more clear!

Offline B. Hendrickx

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1516
  • Liked: 2190
  • Likes Given: 75
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #9 on: 03/15/2020 05:30 pm »
Another subcontractor to CNIIHM in the Numizmat project is the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MFTI). This is a university that has close ties with CNIIHM, as I explained in an article on CNIIHM’s space projects last year:
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3709/1

CNIIHM signed a contract with MFTI for Numizmat on 1 October 2014 (nr. 1130-G), three months after the project officially started. This can be determined from seven follow-up contracts concluded by MFTI between December 2015 and October 2017:

https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=1030011
https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=1030858
https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=2021021
https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=1626338
https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=2076168
https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=3736086
https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=3870390

Only the last of these contracts links this work to the Ministry of Defense-CHIIHM contract that started the Numizmat project on 1 July 2014 (without mentioning the name Numizmat). All the follow-up contracts are for the supply or testing of various electronic components. Some of these are intended for a computer called VM24, which is also seen in documentation for Burevestnik. This may be an on-board computer used by both projects.

An analysis of procurement documentation also shows that CNIIHM concluded four other space-related contracts with MFTI on 1 September 2015 (1259-G), 31 March 2016 (1353-G), 1 July 2016 (1388-G) and 29 January 2018 (1703-G), but these cannot be linked to any of CNIIHM's space projects.  In addition to that, CNIIHM and MFTI signed a contract (nr. 1438-G) on 30 December 2016 for something called Naveska-N, which may be a joint nanosat project (see the thread “Russia’s secret satellite builder”):
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48108.0


Acceptance testing of electronic components for Numizmat is carried out by RNII Elektronstandart, which performs the same role in Burevestnik, Nivelir and various other Russian space projects. Elektronstandart in turn receives those components (both Russian and foreign built) from other companies. One of these is AKNIIPO (Aerospace Scientific Research Test and Production Association), as can be inferred from this documentation:

https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=1673054
https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/contract/public/contract/view/general-information.html?id=2436792

These documents have information on contracts signed under Numizmat between Elektronstandart and AKNIIPO on 19 April 2016, 1 December 2016, 21 March 2017 and 1 August 2017. The two companies also signed contracts on exactly the same dates for Burevestnik.  For both projects, the Western-built electronic components far outnumber Russian-built components. It is notable that the electronic components ordered for Numizmat under these contracts are exactly the same as those for Burevestnik (although there are fewer). It is hard to tell though whether this means that they share a common bus.


Offline B. Hendrickx

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1516
  • Liked: 2190
  • Likes Given: 75
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #10 on: 01/01/2021 11:27 pm »
Another subcontractor for Numizmat most likely is a company called NPP Advent, based in St.-Petersburg. It was established in 2006 and carries out a wide range of orders for several ministries, including the Ministry of Defense. One of its more eye-catching projects is a mobile, truck-based laser system to shoot down airborne targets.

A PowerPoint presentation on the company’s website lists a number of projects that the company has been working on in recent years. One of them is Numizmat, in which it became involved in 2015 (see attachment 1).
http://www.adventspb.ru/en/o-kompanii/prezentatcionnye-materialy/

Two other pieces of information on the website make it possible to determine with a high degree of likelihood that this is the Numizmat space project (the Russians tend to recycle names for totally unrelated projects, so one has to be careful jumping to conclusions when seeing these names). First, CNIIHM, which was named Numizmat’s prime contractor in July 2014, is mentioned as one of NPP Advent’s partners. Second, NPP Advent was given a Roscosmos license to “take part in space activities” on October 9, 2015, the same year that it became involved in Numizmat. More specifically, the license was for the development of control equipment for an on-board cryogenic cooling system.

The only other space-related work mentioned on the website is the development of software to simulate and visualize the orbital motion of Earth remote sensing satellites and to determine the thermal effects on satellites of solar and Earth radiation as well as those of collisions with air molecules present in (low) Earth orbit (see attachments 2 and 3). The software makes it possible to simulate the thermal condition of various parts of a satellite which are either covered or not covered with thermal insulation. NPP Advent does not seem to have published any papers or patents on its space-related work and there are no indications that it works on other space projects than Numizmat.

Assuming the cryogenic cooling system is needed for Numizmat, it is most likely intended to cool infrared sensors. As mentioned in the first post in this thread, there are indications that the State Institute of Applied Optics (GIPO) has developed an infrared payload for Numizmat under work called Numizmat-IKG (“IK” is the Russian abbreviation for “infrared” and GIPO has a background in this field). Since Numizmat is probably a relatively small satellite, the cryogenic cooling system would most likely use mini cryocoolers such as the ones that the company NTK Kriogennaya Tekhnika (based in Omsk) produced for an infrared telescope developed under the UFIK project, discussed here:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=46960.0
NPP Advent appears to be responsible only for control equipment for the cooling system, not the cooling system itself.

NPP Advent’s research into thermal effects on satellites could be related to the cryogenic cooling system. The simulation of the orbital motion of remote sensing satellites could point to a remote sensing role for Numizmat, but two other payloads carried by Numizmat (an ultrawide band radar and a TV camera) are more indicative of rendezvous and proximity operations. Another interpretation is that Earth imaging satellites will be targets for Numizmat, but all this, of course, remains very speculative.

Offline B. Hendrickx

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1516
  • Liked: 2190
  • Likes Given: 75
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #11 on: 05/24/2021 04:20 pm »
Procurement documentation placed online in April 2018 shows that another player in Numizmat is the Progress Rocket and Space Center (RKTs Progress) in Samara.

https://zakupki.gov.ru/223/purchase/public/purchase/info/common-info.html?purchaseId=6575865&purchaseMethodType=EP

This is a contract between RKTs Progress and a local supplier for bearings needed in the Numizmat project. Numizmat is not mentioned by name in the documentation, but reference is made to the contract between the Ministry of Defense and CNIIHM (the prime contractor) that is known to have started the project on July 1, 2014. CNIIHM subsequently signed a contract with RKTs Progress for the project on December 26, 2014.

The documentation doesn't say what exactly the bearings are needed for, but they were probably ordered for one or more Soyuz-class launch vehicles that RKTs Progress provides for Numizmat, most likely the Soyuz-2-1v. It is hard to see what else RKTs Progress' involvement in the project could be.



Offline B. Hendrickx

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1516
  • Liked: 2190
  • Likes Given: 75
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #12 on: 09/12/2021 09:53 pm »
https://kad.arbitr.ru/Document/Pdf/09f7f9f7-9832-48f3-be25-5815f038ba0a/f9fe6a13-07cc-4ed2-810e-400aba1159cd/A40-165711-2021_20210812_Opredelenie.pdf?isAddStamp=True

The Progress Rocket and Space Center is suing CNIIHM for not meeting certain financial obligations under the Numizmat project in the period from July 21, 2018 until June 4, 2021. RKTs Progress is one of CNIIHM's subcontractors for Numizmat, presumably for the delivery of one or more Soyuz launch vehicles. The document doesn't mention Numizmat by name, but does refer to the contract that CNIIHM and RKTs Progress are known to have signed for the project on December 26, 2014 (see the previous post).

The 7 million ruble (roughly $95,000) lawsuit was filed early last month, with court hearings scheduled to begin next month. Any documentation describing the specifics of this court case is likely to remain classified. 

Offline B. Hendrickx

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1516
  • Liked: 2190
  • Likes Given: 75
Re: Project Numizmat
« Reply #13 on: 05/21/2024 10:05 am »
There may be a link between Numizmat and research on ultra-wide band (UWB) electromagnetic pulse weapons aimed against satellites. There are strong indications that that the satellite(s) is/are supposed to carry receivers to study the propagation of UWB signals through the ionosphere. The organization in charge of this payload is the Sedakov Research Institute of Measurement Systems (NIIIS) in Nizhniy Novgorod, a branch of of RFYaTs-VNIIEF, which apart from being Russia’s leading research center on nuclear weapons has also done extensive work on electromagnetic pulse weapons. The antennas of the UWB signal receivers are seen mounted on a satellite in two academic papers by NIIIS published in 2013/2014, but it is far from certain if this is what Numizmat eventually ended up looking like. One of the signal receivers itself is seen in a 2019 paper by NIIIS.

Still, the exact purpose of the Numizmat payload remains open to speculation. Neither is it clear if Numizmat has already flown or not, although it definitely could have considering the fact that the project was started in 2014. Several Russian Kosmos satellites launched in recent years so far remain unexplained and one or more may be part of this project.     

More details in this week’s edition of The Space Review:
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4797/1

Tags:
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
1