Author Topic: New Molnya spaceplane (Read 4642 times)

lucspace · « **on:** 03/24/2021 07:29 pm »

According to the director of NPO Molnya, the company has been developing a new spaceplane and has built a full-scale mockup which is not yet accessible to the general public:

https://ria.ru/20210324/korabl-1602577361.html

npomolniya.ru/novosti/intervyu-s-generalnyim-direktorom-ao-npo-molniya-o.-m.-sokolovoj.html

lucspace · « **Reply #1 on:** 03/25/2021 07:17 am »

To be flown uncrewed: Source: https://ria.ru/20210325/chelnok-1602739827.html

yg1968 · « **Reply #2 on:** 03/27/2021 07:25 pm »

Russia has begun spaceplane project, says Soviet shuttle designer:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-russia-idUSKBN2BG1YR

yg1968 · « **Reply #3 on:** 03/27/2021 07:42 pm »

A new specific thread on this topic is a good idea but, for reference purposes, there was a prior discussion of this space plane in the Russian Reusable Space Systems thread:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32922.msg2090565#msg2090565

See namely the post below:

Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 06/01/2020 06:47 am

https://twitter.com/katlinegrey/status/1267341178460045312

Quote
The reusable winged crewed spaceship, which according to Rogozin will possibly be developed by Roscosmos, is not a revival of the Soviet space shuttle Buran, but rather of the #Spiral aerospace plane, said cosmonaut Oleg Artemiev in his Telegram channel: https://t.me/oleg_mks/165

Google translate:

Quote
🚀 Russia began work on a space fighter! 🚀

The head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin, speaking on the air of Komsomolskaya Pravda, said that the possibility of creating a winged manned spacecraft is now being considered.

According to him, the "spaceplane" will be able to work both in the atmosphere and in airless space, primarily in near space. And he called it a "very promising topic."

It is possible that work has already begun 😳

We are not talking about the revival of the Soviet space shuttle "Buran", but most likely, about the light orbital plane "Spiral".

This amazing spacecraft was developed and even tested in the Soviet Union several decades ago.

To this day, the technical ideologies embodied in it are not outdated😎

TrevorMonty · « **Reply #4 on:** 03/27/2021 08:16 pm »

It was good idea at time and still is and Dreamchaser will proof it. Dreamchaser can trace its heritance back to this Russian vehicle. Unfortunately Shuttle killed both US and Russian programs off, Russians felt next need to make Shuttle equivalent.

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

spacenut · « **Reply #5 on:** 03/27/2021 08:26 pm »

The Russian shuttle died because of the fall of Soviet Russia in 1991. The Shuttle lived on for another 20+ years.

B. Hendrickx · « **Reply #6 on:** 03/28/2021 07:43 pm »

The question here is if the NPO Molniya spaceplane is the same reusable vehicle that Rogozin has been talking about in recent months or if we’re dealing with two different projects. Here's a chronology of the news that has so far leaked on the spaceplane proposals.

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3586227

In March 2018 the Kommersant newspaper reported that the Kalashnikov concern was going to purchase NPO Molniya from the Rostekh conglomerate in order to “help it get out of its financial crisis and eventually take part in the development of a reusable spaceplane”. “Young engineers” would be hired who would join their colleagues from RKK Energiya, the Zhukovskiy Institute, the Myasishchev design bureau and other aerospace companies to study the possibility of developing a spaceplane. Kommersant had been told by its sources that deputy prime minister Dmitri Rogozin had already given a secret order to start work on such a vehicle (this was two months before Rogozin was named head of Roscosmos), but it did not specifically link that order to the NPO Molniya work.

https://ria.ru/20200525/1571941145.html

In an interview with "Komsomolskaya Pravda" in May 2020, Rogozin said Roscosmos and its leading R&D institute (TsNIIMash) had started drawing up plans for a piloted spaceplane to service space stations. He appeared to link the recent appointment of Igor Ozar as the new chief of RKK Energiya to the spaceplane work. Ozar had headed the Sukhoi aircraft company before being assigned to his new post.

https://ria.ru/20200807/1575441196.html

In an interview with the RIA news agency in August 2020, Rogozin said that Soyuz will eventually have to be replaced by a reusable winged vehicle. The Oryol vehicle was primarily designed for lunar missions and it wouldn’t be cost-effective to use it as a space station ferry. He added that RKK Energiya and “other teams” were going to forward proposals for a new reusable vehicle.

https://zakupki.gov.ru/epz/order/notice/ok504/view/common-info.html?regNumber=0995000000220000061&backUrl=c221e36f-163f-4362-a475-097c5f73ab89

In October 2020 documentation appeared on Russia’s government procurement website for a Roscosmos tender called “Avangard (Pilot)-MMKK”. The purpose of this was to study the need for and the technical feasibility of a “space complex with a reusable multifunctional winged vehicle (MMKK)” that would support “low-orbiting manned and automatic space assets”. The winner of the tender should also propose a preliminary design for such a vehicle. The vehicle has to be able to carry out different types of tasks during a single mission (such as servicing of several objects) or on consecutive flights without requiring any modifications in between those flights.

Among the capabilities to be studied are:
-to carry out suborbital flights
- to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere from space with a subsequent return to space without landing (?)
- to create piloted modifications of the MMKK

The documentation mentions the possibility of involving international partners in the project, but on the other hand also points to the need to prevent leaking information on the project that constitutes a “state secret”. The work is to be finished on August 30, 2022.

https://forum.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/index.php?topic=13840.740

Last week NPO Molniya’s director Olga Sokolova revealed plans for a spaceplane in an interview published on the company’s website. After the news had been picked up by various Russian news outlets, the interview was removed from the website. The link is to the “Novosti kosmonavtiki” forum, where the excerpts from the interview related to the spaceplane were reproduced.

This is what Sokolova literally said:

Quote

“In the past year we have made very significant progress in designing a new aerospace complex for civilian purposes. Before that there were some isolated [proposals], but there was no clear assignment. Now this assignment has been given and work is in full swing on designing a civilian multipurpose complex with a spaceplane. We displayed a full-scale mock-up at the Army-2020 exhibition [in August 2020]. It left a very positive impression, even though it was displayed in a closed section of the pavilion and could not be seen by the general public…
…Work on the reusable complex is continuing, the design bureau continues to improve it, we are actively hiring people for it…
We absolutely have to develop this reusable space complex, which will fly in space within the coming five years.”

Asked whether the spaceplane would be displayed at the MAKS aerospace show this summer, Sokolova said she saw no point in doing so because it is a civilian show and “for the time being we’re not allowed to show our aerospace vehicle to the general public.”

https://ria.ru/20210325/chelnok-1602739827.html

On March 25th, the RIA news agency quoted a source in the space industry as saying that NPO Molniya was working on the spaceplane “on its own initiative” and that it was intended “for the commercial market”, more specifically for “the unmanned transportation of cargo to orbit and its return to Earth”. The source said it would be similar in size to the American X-37B vehicle and would be launched by the Soyuz rocket.

So what we have are:

-Rogozin's announcement of plans for a piloted spaceplane to ferry crews and cargo to space stations
-a Roscosmos tender for a spaceplane to service both manned and unmanned vehicles in low Earth orbit. Reading between the lines of the documents, it would seem the primary version will be unmanned, but that it may eventually be turned into a piloted vehicle.
-NPO Molniya plans for a Soyuz-launched unmanned spaceplane the size of the X-37B. It is supposedly for civilian purposes, but for some reason cannot be shown to the general public. Moreover, information on it was removed from NPO Molniya’s website as soon as the Russian press took notice of it.

My impression right now is that we’re talking about two different projects:
- a Roscosmos project (still in the early proposal stage) to develop a spaceplane in the 10-20 ton range that can fly both unmanned and manned (somewhat similar to DreamChaser).
- an NPO Molniya proposal (not necessarily supported by Roscosmos) to develop an X-37B type unmanned vehicle (5-ton range), primarily for military purposes.

But I could very well be wrong. It's one of those typical Russian smoke screens and we’ll just have to await more information to be able to connect all the dots.

baldusi · « **Reply #7 on:** 03/30/2021 02:59 pm »

I would guess that if they were developing one, they would go with something that required a Soyuz-5 or Angara-5. Limiting themselves to Soyuz-2a payload would not only be limiting but also very shortsighted. I personally think that chances of us seeing it fly are slim to none, but they would still pretend it was for the future vehicle/architecture.
What I do remember from the BOR-4, HL-20 and HL-44 is that you can scale those things about 50% with "little" problem. So I wouldn't be surprised if they used most of the work done and then scaled to whatever they expect to need.

Asteroza · « **Reply #8 on:** 03/31/2021 11:03 pm »

For compatibility purposes, will this be an exposed payload or contained in a fairing? Russia is fairly comfortable with total encapsulation of a manned vehicle (Soyuz), but that is fairly snug with the fairing. There's a lot of gap space between a Spiral/BOR-4 derivative vehicle and a fairing, that might make manned operations difficult. But, flying exposed is a different set of issues...