totm dec 2019 Russian Launch and Mission Thread

[kerbiloid]

https://www-interfax-ru.translate.goog/russia/813298?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=ru

Roscosmos has tested the modified hydrolox engine RD-0146D1 for the KVTK upper stage for heavy Angara.

[DDE]

In less pleasant news, the first "brigade",* of S-550s has gone online. The S-550 is said to be an anti-space/missile interceptor, is probably distinct from the two halves of S-500, and a lot of sources basically assume it's the mobile A-235, which makes its publication right around the time of the ASAT test... notable.

https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/13321835

* (1) that's a whole lot of new kit at once, (2) Aerospace Forces don't have AA brigades, they have S-300P/S-400/S-350 regiments and divisions, whereas Army maneuver AA (S-300Vs and Buks) does. So it's not impossible that S-550 is actually an updated S-300V that's finally changed the number.

[SOXBLOX]

Russian state media is contradicting itself as usual. RIA Novosti says the S-550 is under development, but no full-scale prototypes have been built, and no tests scheduled so far. This comes a day after TASS reported what DDE mentioned above.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43675/no-russias-s-550-missile-defense-system-hasnt-been-fielded

I'm not sure what to believe. I'll bet, however, that we can chalk a lot of this down to the "red-line issues" in Putin's *polite request* to NATO and questions over a certain small country on the Black Sea coast.

Direct link to RIA article: https://ria.ru/20211229/s-500-1766015268.html

Edited December 30, 2021 by SOXBLOX

[kerbiloid]

Anyway not Taran, 200 UR-100 x 10 Mt 

Edited December 30, 2021 by kerbiloid

[DDE]

3 hours ago, SOXBLOX said:

Russian state media is contradicting itself as usual. RIA Novosti says the S-550 is under development, but no full-scale prototypes have been built, and no tests scheduled so far. This comes a day after TASS reported what DDE mentioned above.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43675/no-russias-s-550-missile-defense-system-hasnt-been-fielded

I'm not sure what to believe. I'll bet, however, that we can chalk a lot of this down to the "red-line issues" in Putin's *polite request* to NATO and questions over a certain small country on the Black Sea coast.

Direct link to RIA article: https://ria.ru/20211229/s-500-1766015268.html

That's why I prefer regulatory signalling. We know for sure that the Russian executive has chosen a curious time to pass a national standard for mass graves, and that yesterday draft amendments for citizenship law that include a clause for optation "in case of changes to the state border" were submitted yesterday.

Spoiler

Meanwhile the Western media is... about two weeks behind on the story about foreign worker health check requirements, and misses some of the "tasty" bits like the requirements seemingly extending to minors, or the associated requirement for collecting biometrics.

https://www.rbc.ru/business/13/12/2021/61b7429a9a7947469a0aa495

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59820777

BTW this should actually extend to space flyers - one of the sources of controversy is that it cuts absolutely no slack for 'highly-qualified specialists'.

 

Edited December 30, 2021 by DDE

[sh1pman]

14 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

Roscosmos has tested the modified hydrolox engine RD-0146D1 for the KVTK upper stage for heavy Angara.

Looks remarkably similar to RL10. Same fuel, same cycle, same thrust, same Isp, similar extendable nozzle. Even developed in cooperation with Pratt & Whitney who made RL10.

4 hours ago, DDE said:

yesterday draft amendments for citizenship law that include a clause for optation "in case of changes to the state border" were submitted yesterday

Move along citizen, nothing to see here.

[kerbiloid]

5 minutes ago, sh1pman said:

Looks remarkably similar to RL10. Same fuel, same cycle, same thrust, same Isp, similar extendable nozzle. Even developed in cooperation with Pratt & Whitney who made RL10.

1. Great minds think alike.

2. Reduces twice the required amount of 3d models for the KSP modders.

[DDE]

52 minutes ago, sh1pman said:

Move along citizen, nothing to see here.

It's only in line with the lesser-noticed element of the Tereshkova Amendment.

Quote

The requirement to the candidate for the office of the President of the Russian Federation to having never had foreign citizenship does not extend to citizens of the Russian Federation that have previously been citizens of a state which, or a part of which, has been incorporated into the Russian Federation under a federal constitutional law...

 

[SunlitZelkova]

If the Yuzhnoye Design Office were to "somehow" become *fake cough* cooperative with Roscosmos and the Russian aerospace industry, would reviving Energia be a possibility? Would it be worth it?

[sh1pman]

1 hour ago, SunlitZelkova said:

Would it be worth it?

Worth what?

Also, there's no point in dealing with Yuzhnoye. Even if recreating "Energia" was planned for some reason. RD-171MV are built by "Energomash". Hydrogen engines can be ordered from KBKhA. Tanks can be built by RSC Energia, RSC Progress, Khrunichev or someone else.

Edited December 30, 2021 by sh1pman

[DDE]

 

[kerbiloid]

https://ru-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Орлёнок_(космический_корабль)?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=ru

Why nobody still has mentioned the lighter version of the PTKNP/Federation/Eagle, being developed? The Eaglet.

As the current PTKNP / Eagle weights 22 t and requires a heavy rocket which is not developed, they develop a lighter (by 5 t) version of it, for crrew of 2..4, to be tested in LEO by existing rockets, and possibly land on the Moon (with crew of 2).

[SunlitZelkova]

19 hours ago, sh1pman said:

Worth what?

Ignoring the part regarding who is "needed" to build it, allow me to rephrase my question- would it be easier to bring back Energia in some manner instead of trying to build Yenisei?

[sh1pman]

44 minutes ago, SunlitZelkova said:

Ignoring the part regarding who is "needed" to build it, allow me to rephrase my question- would it be easier to bring back Energia in some manner instead of trying to build Yenisei?

No, because Yenisei was designed to be built as easily as possible using existing rocket parts from Soyuz-5 and Angara. 

But of course, that was before it was frozen. Who knows what design it’s going to have now. Maybe it’ll use new methane engines from Amur rocket. 

[kerbiloid]

Today Roscosmos declared than in Dec'22 they'll launch Angara with a PTKNP mockup.

[DDE]

POV: you're trying to run a space program in the 2020s

Edited December 31, 2021 by DDE

[DDE]

Russia's EMERCOM denies responsibility for this year's first wave of Apophis doomsday predictions.

https://tass.ru/obschestvo/13345565

[kerbiloid]

No asteroid can threaten the Earth until some anti-asteroid defense system gets ready for deployment.

It's the law which both sci-fi and reality follow. Because why need an asteroid while it can't cause something constructive.

[DDE]

On 12/30/2021 at 3:38 PM, SunlitZelkova said:

If the Yuzhnoye Design Office were to "somehow" become *fake cough* cooperative with Roscosmos and the Russian aerospace industry

I'm going to make a risque post, but, instead of Yuzhnoe, look in the direction of Baikonur.

A military Il-76 has already flown to Alma-Aty from Moscow, and now a government Tu-214 appears to be en route... certain quarters are already beginning to celebrate, whereas Western media seems to be a bit at a loss.

Upd.: the President of Kazakhstan has officially requested CSTO (inter alia Russian) support amidst parallel reports of a full-on armed insurrection. As of tonight's evening it looks like we're about to see a full-on military intervention.

https://www.rbc.ru/politics/05/01/2022/61d5e5cb9a7947499455195e

All is quiet in and around Baikonur, at least for now.

https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/61d5767a9a79472c62d16067

Edited January 5, 2022 by DDE

[steve9728]

6 hours ago, DDE said:

I'm going to make a risque post, but, instead of Yuzhnoe, look in the direction of Baikonur.

A military Il-76 has already flown to Alma-Aty from Moscow, and now a government Tu-214 appears to be en route... certain quarters are already beginning to celebrate, whereas Western media seems to be a bit at a loss.

Upd.: the President of Kazakhstan has officially requested CSTO (inter alia Russian) support amidst parallel reports of a full-on armed insurrection. As of tonight's evening it looks like we're about to see a full-on military intervention.

https://www.rbc.ru/politics/05/01/2022/61d5e5cb9a7947499455195e

All is quiet in and around Baikonur, at least for now.

https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/61d5767a9a79472c62d16067

Oh damn. Meanwhile the Chinese media Global Time's title reporting this: Is it the "color revolution"?https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/4uFk47_rdIsdKPOcycrgDQ

I believe that the Central Asian countries and Russia with their experience of handling similar incidents, will be able to handle it properly?

Edited January 5, 2022 by steve9728

[Codraroll]

10 minutes ago, steve9728 said:

I believe that the Central Asian countries and Russia with their experience of handling similar incidents, will be able to handle it properly?

If you mean "Properly" in the sense of "Ensuring that the authoritarian regime is kept in place, or at least replaced with someone even more aligned with the interest of other dictators in the area", then yes. The last thing they want is for people to ask whether having a self-appointed dictator for life is actually in the best interests of the nation.

I guess there are plenty of neighbouring countries ready to help "maintaining stability", though, so it will probably blow over.

Edited January 5, 2022 by Codraroll

[steve9728]

5 minutes ago, Codraroll said:

If you mean "Properly" in the sense of "Ensuring that the authoritarian regime is kept in place, or at least replaced with someone even more aligned with the interest of other dictators in the area", then yes. The last thing they want is for people to ask whether having a self-appointed dictator for life is actually in the best interests of the nation.

Well what I really don't want to see is a protest that turns into a violent demonstration and ends up in civil war and turns into another 'proxy war' again in any country. Not for any political reasons, but simply from a humanitarian point of view. That's my "properly"

Edited January 5, 2022 by steve9728

[Beccab]

7 hours ago, DDE said:

I'm going to make a risque post, but, instead of Yuzhnoe, look in the direction of Baikonur.

A military Il-76 has already flown to Alma-Aty from Moscow, and now a government Tu-214 appears to be en route... certain quarters are already beginning to celebrate, whereas Western media seems to be a bit at a loss.

Upd.: the President of Kazakhstan has officially requested CSTO (inter alia Russian) support amidst parallel reports of a full-on armed insurrection. As of tonight's evening it looks like we're about to see a full-on military intervention.

https://www.rbc.ru/politics/05/01/2022/61d5e5cb9a7947499455195e

All is quiet in and around Baikonur, at least for now.

https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/61d5767a9a79472c62d16067

Everything is still unconfirmed, but there has been some reports that the "peacekeeping" troops will be sent.

I wonder though, in case the revolution is successful would the new government be friendly towards Russia or not? Losing access to Baikonour would be a big problem obviously, but unless the new relations are particularly hateful everything that be solved with enough money

[AtomicTech]

1 minute ago, Beccab said:

Everything is still unconfirmed, but there has been some reports that the "peacekeeping" troops will be sent.

I wonder though, in case the revolution is successful would the new government be friendly towards Russia or not? Losing access to Baikonour would be a big problem obviously, but unless the new relations are particularly hateful everything that be solved with enough money

*Panics*

[DDE]

39 minutes ago, Beccab said:

but there has been some reports that the "peacekeeping" troops will be sent.

Reportedly one Spetsnaz company from the 76th Air Assault Division and the one from the 45th Special Operations Brigade, with additional Spetsnaz and mountain rifle units on alert. An An-124 (RA82014) and additional Il-76s are already converging on Moscow for the airlift. Meanwhile I'm chasing a bunch of ground support machinery on the northern apron of Domodedovo which for some reason is broadcasting on ADS-B as civilian aircraft with RA500xx series of tail numbers,

39 minutes ago, Beccab said:

I wonder though, in case the revolution is successful would the new government be friendly towards Russia or not? Losing access to Baikonour would be a big problem obviously, but unless the new relations are particularly hateful everything that be solved with enough money

That is the billion-rouble question, of course. Right now, it's not certain who's plotting against whom, there's been a vigorous shakeup among Kazakh leadership - Nazarbayev, who'd been a president for 29 years, got stripped of all authority by his hand-picked successor. There is also confusion as to what the protesters want, as no clear leadership hasn't been identified; apparently, all of the various opposition forces are moving in, but they're just reacting to a situation they did not seem to create. Worst-case scenario would probably involve cutting away the majority of Kazakhstan's 20% Russian population into a "South Siberia";  a few guys were charged with trying that back in 1999. For reference, Baikonur is in the south-western quadrant of the country.