10 thoughts on “Russian Progress In Space”

1. Supposedly they are building a new launch site at Vostochny.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostochny_Cosmodrome

   1. Yes, Zak discusses that, but it wouldn’t be much different than Baikonur.

      1. At almost 52 degrees north latitude, Vostochny is a little further north than Tyuratam (Baikonur). However, they don’t have much choice if they want to keep the launch site in Russian territory. Compared to Plesetsk’s almost 63 degree latitude, Vostochny is a much better choice for launching payloads into GTO/GEO. I have not seen any performance numbers for the new rocket but they intend to use it to replace the Proton so it must be a pretty strong rocket. Launching from Plesetsk likely costs them 1-2 tons (or more) to GEO.

   2. You mean close to the Equator? There is a Soyuz launch site at Kourou but I kind of doubt Arianespace is interested in an Angara launch pad. I guess they could ask Venezuela to build a launch pad there but god knows how stable that is. After what happened at Baikonur I doubt they will build a launch pad outside Russia anytime soon.

      1. Yes. I’m just curious about what its performance would be. In everything I’ve read, people talk about it as a “heavy” rocket, but I’m not seeing any numbers.

         1. Here are a few numbers. It’s rated at 24.5 to 25.8 metric tons to LEO from Plesetsk, 7.5 tons to GTO, and 3 to 4.5 tons to GEO. Moving to Vostochny would likely add at least a ton to those GTO/GEO numbers. Moving close to the equator could possibly double those numbers.

            1. Well the Briz-M upper stage is a bunch of crap that uses hypergolic fuel. The Russians were supposedly working on an hydrolox engine for upper stages so maybe that will get used eventually.

            2. “KVTK to give hydrogen power to Angara”
               http://www.russianspaceweb.com/angara_kvtk.html

      2. How about Cuba ? 🙂

         1. Actually, even better – Laos or Vietnam.

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