Echidna comments. Is Angara cheaper than Proton? Fantastic!
I can not help but comment news, which was with us that the Angara launch vehicle is much more expensive than the Proton launch vehicle. 7 billion against 2,33. Rubles, of course.
The Roskosmos explained the high cost of the Angara-A5 rocket. Very luxurious.
The reason, it turns out, is that they are assembling a rocket in two cities: Moscow and Omsk. And while this is a piece of goods. But when mass production is launched, then the price will become close to the market.
Are you laughing? It's time.
Here is the Proton launch vehicle.
The acceleration block for the Proton is made in Moscow. At the State Scientific and Technical Center named after Khrunichev.
The engine of the first stage is produced in Perm.
The engine of the second and third stage - in Voronezh.
And the final assembly takes place in the installation and testing complexes of Baikonur, since only from there "Protons" are launched.
As you can see, the geography of Moscow - Perm - Voronezh - Baikonur is no less than that of the Moscow - Omsk - cosmodrome link.
So geography has nothing to do with it, obviously. Yes, carrying elements of the Angara to Vostochny is not the smartest thing, but, in fact, no one Roskosmos forced them to build a cosmodrome there. One could otherwise get out of the problem than start a construction site there, and even this ...
Moving on.
Saying that the “launch vehicle" is a piece of goods is generally worthy of Zadornov. Of course, a booster rocket is such a thing, they are issued in a stream, they can be purchased by anyone with enough money on a credit card.
And this happens often, more often than the purchase of new Rolls-Royces, Maybachs or yachts.
More precisely, it should happen. But since the Angara is not produced as a Maybach conveyor, it is expensive.
This is logical. Manual assembly and all that. Accordingly, the costs. This means that as soon as (according to the figures of Roskosmos) the rocket gets into the flow, into mass production, it will immediately begin to get cheaper.
From March 10, 1967 (first launch) to March 30, 2012 (last launch) 310 Proton launches were made. 310 starts in 63 years. An average of 5 starts per year.
And this is mainly in the USSR (207), the rest in Russia.
310 starts in 63 years.
How many launches will need to be made to Angara in order to become cheaper? “Get closer to the market,” as the representatives of the press service of Roscosmos said?
In fact, the reason is not in mass production. And not in the number of starts, especially successful ones. The reason is somewhat different.
One could say that the ruble is to blame, which has fallen madly in price over the past 20 years. And that would be fair. How fair it would be to say that the Soviet “Proton” is absolutely not a couple of the Russian “Angara”. It was developed in a slightly different country, with a different approach. Then there was no such unscrupulous approach to work and saws did not scream at every stage of construction.
In order for the modern Angara to begin to cost, as promised in Roskosmos, not 7, but “only” 4 billion, which is still more than the cost of the ancient “Proton”, it is not necessary to produce a series of 100 units, calculated over the years at 20-25. Will not fall in price.
There will not be so many launches, according to the statistics of Roskosmos itself.
It will not fall in price, since recently the depreciating ruble simply will not allow it to be done. And given how they help him ...
Of course, if you reduce the number of loafers-managers in the departments of statistics, advertising and marketing at enterprises of the industry, if you bring the Roskosmos add-on at least in approximate conformity with the Ministry of General Engineering, disperse countless supervisory, audit and authorized councils, strange departments and so on ...
And then it is possible to reduce the cost of an unfortunate rocket.
A funny situation was created in the bowels of Roskosmos. The new rocket costs three times more expensive than the old one, there is no place to launch it yet, but the old one has already been abandoned. And the new rocket needs to be built in quantities not inferior to the old, and then it may become cheaper.
What interesting times do we live in ...
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