Launch complex of private space

17
Russian non-state companies can create everything from sensor to rocket

The Russian private space has not gone so far in its development as the American, but nevertheless it is actively developing. Domestic entrepreneurs successfully manufacture individual subsystems and in just five years they promise to launch a suborbital tourist shuttle (“Cosmocourse”), a private rocket (“Lin Industrial”), and also to provide the entire planet with Internet (Yaliny).

Russia moved to a market economy in 1992 year. The state-owned enterprises went into private ownership, the first individual entrepreneurs appeared, but these turbulent processes almost did not affect the space industry. Only individual enterprises (for example, RSC Energia) have moved into the form of a joint stock company, with the majority of the shares remaining under state control.

Private initiative was manifested in the creation of small groups of enthusiasts of companies that could fulfill small orders for space giants.

First steps


A typical example is NPO Lepton CJSC and its general director Oleg Kazantsev. The company began in 90-x as a manufacturer of video cameras, but then discovered that its experience allows us to manufacture star sensors for spacecraft, which it is now successfully engaged in. Is it also worth mentioning the engineering and technology center? ScanEx is a firm founded in 1989 to collect, process and sell photos from space satellites.

The noticeable initiative of those years was the participation of a group of Russian space engineers in the international competition of solar sailing ships. Back in 80, they prepared a project for a spacecraft with a solar sail, and in 90, they established the Space Regatta Consortium for commercialization of technology, suggesting to Russian gas workers, among other things, to illuminate the northern territories using a “sail” technologies. Gas workers were not interested in the mirror, but they needed communication satellites. As a result, a part of the Space Regatta team headed by Nikolai Sevastyanov (then an ordinary specialist at RSC Energia) took up communication satellites, becoming later Gazprom Space Systems company, the general designer of which is Mr. Sevastyanov.

The era of Skolkovo


In the 2000s, when there was a revival of the Russian economy and the private space was actively developing in the West, Western space start-ups began to arrive in our country. At first, MirCorp attempted to organize the first tourist flight to the Mir station. But Space Adventures managed to send the first space tourist (already on the ISS). The head of its Russian branch, Sergei Kostenko, later organized the Suborbital Corporation, which participated in the Ansari X PRIZE competition. Suborbital Corporation in conjunction with the Experimental Machine-Building Plant them. MV Myasishcheva created the project and built a mockup of the tourist shuttle (full size), which was supposed to start from the high-altitude aircraft M-55 "Geophysics" and take tourists to an altitude of about 100 kilometers. The project did not find funding and closed. In 2010, the same Sergey Kostenko created the Orbital Technologies company, which, together with the RSC Energia, developed a commercial orbital station. This project is also not developed.

Launch complex of private spaceIn the same years, the company "Aerospace Systems" (AKS). Its founder Oleg Alexandrov in 2004 promised to organize a flight to Mars and sell the rights to broadcast the life of the crew. But already in 2005, the company focused on a more realistic project - satellites with advertising signs. CJSC AKS received a license from Roscosmos, manufactured two satellites - AKS-1 and AKS-2, but then closed, without launching them.

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Russian space startups were more successful. In 2009, the Selenokhod company, led by Nikolai Dzis-Voinarovsky, decided to take part in the Google Lunar X PRIZE international competition to create a private lunar rover. The founders of Selenokhod invested their own funds in the project and started development. In 2011, a space cluster appeared in the Skolkovo Innovation Fund. The status of a cluster resident gave companies tax benefits and the prospect of receiving grants from the fund. Selenokhod became one of the first residents, but did not find funding for the lunar rover project, withdrew from the competition and then, under the name Sensepace, started creating rendezvous and docking systems for small spacecraft. RoboCV, a subsidiary of Selenokhod, applied the computer vision technology proposed for the construction robotswho deliver goods to warehouses. RoboCV is now a successful venture-backed firm with Samsung among its clients.

At the same time, really big money came into the private sector of Russian space. Sputnix received several tens of millions of rubles, which it was able to assemble and launch in 2014 year the first all-Russian private satellite, Tabletsat-Aurora (devices manufactured by Gazprom Space Systems and RSC Energia, cannot be called such, because shareholders is the state). The ex-owner of Technosila, Mikhail Kokorich, who made a fortune in retail, founded the Dauria satellite manufacturing company in 2012 year, investments in which exceeded 30 million dollars. In 2014, Dauria launched two Perseus-M series nano-satellites and one DX-1 microsatellite on which the system for monitoring the movement of sea-going AIS ships is installed.

After the creation of the Skolkovo space cluster, it turned out that there are more than a dozen space startups in Russia. And besides the numerous companies that develop individual subsystems (such as, say, SpectraLaser, which develops laser ignition for a rocket engine), there are truly ambitious projects. For example, the Kosmokurs company, a former employee of the Khrunichev Center and the Angara rocket developer Pavel Pushkin, is building a ship for suborbital tourism with the money of a large Russian industrial investor.

Will the Russian SpaceX take place?


Another large-scale Skolkovo project is being implemented by the private company Lin Industrial, founded by entrepreneur Alexei Kaltushkin and Alexander Ilyin (co-owner and general designer who previously worked at the Khrunichev Center and Selenohod). The company designs ultralight rockets that will be able to put satellites weighing up to 180 kilograms into orbit. Lin Industrial managed to attract investments from big business: the creators of the World of Tanks computer game were invested in it.

Recall that the flagship of the world of private space, SpaceX, also began with the creation of a small rocket. The carrying capacity of the Falcon 1 carrier to a low near-earth orbit was theoretically 670 kilograms, but in real flights the payload mass did not exceed 180 kilograms.

The relevance of the development of ultralight rocket is dictated by the following. At present, small small satellites can only be launched by a large rocket together with the corresponding satellite or with a sufficient number of the same “kids”. That is, customers have to wait, either when a large satellite is ready, or so that small satellites are accumulated for a whole rocket. Moreover, if the customer needs a specific orbit, the waiting for a suitable “ride” is further delayed. As a result, it may take one or two years to go into orbit.

Such launches can be compared with a trip by bus or minibus. Sending a satellite to the Taimyr carrier in this case is a taxi. Nano- (mass 1 – 10 kg) or microsatellite (10 – 100 kg) is delivered to the desired orbit individually and with a guarantee of high efficiency - no more than three months before the start.

Already in 2015, the company plans to test a liquid-propellant rocket engine. In July, she successfully launched an experienced 1,6 meter-long rocket to test the future control system of Taimyr.

The first flight of the "Taimyr" is scheduled for 2020 year.

In the future, it will become the ancestor of a whole family of rockets of various payloads, which will help to satisfy all the requests of small spacecraft manufacturers:

- “Taimyr-1A” - a one-piece, three-stage launch vehicle with a launch mass of about 2600 kilograms, which will be able to output a payload (PN) with a mass up to 11 kilograms to a low near-earth orbit;
- “Taimyr-1B” - is similar in design and characteristics, but displays up to 13 kilograms, and at its first stage, instead of nine engines with a thrust, according to 400 kilograms, there is one big ton with 3,5 tonnes, which will ensure the efficiency of commercial operation
- “Taimyr-5” - a three-stage rocket of the packet scheme (four side blocks) for launching into space Mon to 100 kilograms;
- “Taimyr-7” - a three-stage rocket of the packet scheme (six side blocks) for launching into space Mon to 180 kilograms.

The main question is - will there be a job for all these missiles?

In "Lin Industrial" believe that the market is not just there, but growing. The development of mini- (100 – 500 kg), micro- (10 – 100 kg) and nanosatellite (1 – 10 kg) platforms is observed worldwide. At the same time, both private and state-owned companies and educational institutions are involved in the creation of apparatuses of such classes.

According to the forecast of O2Consulting, the number of spacecraft weighing up to 500 kilograms launched into space will increase from 154 in 2014 to 195 in 2020. Spaceworks, an analytical company, makes even more optimistic conclusions by predicting the launch of 543 1 – 50 kilograms in 2020.

Thus, Russia is moving in line with global trends.

Private firms Dauria and Sputnix create micro-and nano-satellites. Sputnix launched the first Russian private satellite Tabletsat-Aurora (26 kg), Dauria - two Perseus-M (5 kg) and one DX-1 (15 kg), Russian Space Systems OJSC for technology testing sent to space TNS-0 No. 1 (5 kg).

Universities are not far behind. Several satellites of the Mozhaisk Academy operate in orbit. The last - "Mozhaets-5" weighed 73 kilograms. Moscow State University launched Tatyana-1 (32 kg) and Tatyana-2 (90 kg), Ufa State aviation Technical University - USATU-SAT (40 kg), MAI - MAK-1 and MAK-2 (20 kg each), and also, together with South-West State University, participated in the creation of the Radioskaf series devices (up to 100 kg).

Most likely, the number of nano- and microsatellites being created in Russia will continue to grow, and at an accelerated pace. Among the promising projects of private companies (in addition to the ongoing work in higher education institutions on the next “Radioskafs”, “Baumanets-2”, etc.), the following can be noted:

scientific experiment "Cluster-T" for the registration of gamma-ray bursts of cosmic and terrestrial origin ("Dauria" + IKI RAS) - 3 – 4 microsatellite;
microsatellite group of monitoring of emergency situations (Sputnix and ScanEx for EMERCOM of Russia) - 18 microsatellites;
Yaliny - 135 microsatellites + 9 backup all-planet cheap Internet.

Moon pull

If the American SpaceX plans to colonize Mars in the distant future, then in the Russian “Lin Industrial” they are sure that it is necessary to begin large-scale space exploration from the Moon.

Lin Industrial developed a plan to create a lunar base of the first stage for two crew members and the second for four people. According to preliminary estimates, the cost of the project called “Moon Seven” will be 550 billion rubles, while Roskosmos and the Russian Academy of Sciences are requesting two trillion rubles from the budget before 2025 for research and development of our natural satellite.

The highlight of the project is the use of already existing rocket and space technology and facilities, the creation of which is possible in the next five years. An upgraded heavy Angara-A5 is offered as a carrier. This will eliminate the long and costly development and construction of super-heavy media.

The piloted ship is planned to be made on the basis of the buildings of the descent capsule and the domestic compartment, which are now being used to deliver cosmonauts to the International Space Station using Soyuz spacecraft. The landing lunar module can be made on the basis of the Fregat upper stage.

To launch to the moon and build a base on its surface, 13 heavy rocket launches must be launched. In total, 37 start-ups for five years are necessary to maintain the base's vital activity.

The place to deploy the first lunar settlement is Mount Malapert, located near the south pole of the moon. This is a fairly flat plateau with a direct view of the Earth, which creates good conditions for communication and is convenient for landing. The mountain is almost constantly illuminated by the sun, and the duration of the night, which occurs only a few times a year, does not exceed three to six days. In addition, nearby are shaded craters, where deposits of water ice are likely under a layer of lunar soil.

The project implementation period is ten years from the beginning of the decision, five of them will be spent on the deployment of the base and the work of the crews.

"Moon seven" - the dream of not only private owners. Some proposals related to this project were included in the Federal Space Program (PCF) for the 2016 – 2025 years, approved in the spring. In particular, the FKP declared a refusal to build a super-heavy rocket in the near future, but the direction for the exploration of the Moon was preserved and the modernization of the Angara-A5 was added.

As for promising space undertakings not related to Skolkovo or state-owned enterprises, four of them are worth highlighting.

First, the amateur group Multipurpose Rocket Platforms developed and tested a hybrid rocket engine (SRD) in 2012 with about 20 kilograms and a rocket with it. In the same year, tested "hybrid" 500 kilograms. This is a great achievement if we recall that the world's first hybrid engine was built in the Soviet Union, with the last time the rockets on the GRD in our country flew in the 1934. The only functioning GRD in Russia (except for “Multipurpose jet platforms”) is owned by the State Center Keldysh. At the same time, in the USA, GRD is the basis of many private projects. So, the famous American private suborbital shuttle SpaceShip One flew precisely on the GRD. Unfortunately, “Multipurpose jet platforms”, having predicted an insufficient demand for their products and not having received support from Skolkovo and investors, eventually reassigned to the manufacture of composite structures.

Secondly, Alexander Galitsky, a well-known Russian entrepreneur and venture investor, chose not to invest in domestic space projects, but to make a sponsorship contribution to the private non-commercial foundation B612 with its headquarters in the USA, which is engaged in protecting the Earth from asteroids.

Thirdly, a group of enthusiasts called “Your Sector of the Cosmos”, which is headed by MAMI teacher Alexander Shaenko (Ph.D., in the past - lead engineer of “Dauria”), creates the satellite “Mayak”. It should deploy an inflatable metallized reflector in orbit in the fall of 2016, and for several months become the brightest object of the night sky. "Your sector of space" collects donations to pay for the launch of the Dnepr rocket.

Fourth, entrepreneurs Vadim Teplyakov and Nikita Sherman opened Yaliny in Hong Kong, whose team consists mainly of Russian specialists. The initial investment amounted to about two million dollars. Yaliny is going to provide the Earth with the satellite-based Internet, that is, to compete with the similar OneWeb project by Richard Branson and the worldwide Internet from Google / Fidelity / SpaceX.
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17 comments
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  1. +11
    18 October 2015 06: 30
    "God help". It's better than launching new Coca-Cola lines.
    1. +3
      18 October 2015 06: 50
      Hmm ... Freshly legend ... Yes, it is hard to believe ... !!!
    2. gjv
      0
      19 October 2015 11: 09
      Quote: velikoros-xnumx
      Everything is better than launching new Coca-Cola bottling lines.

      RoboCV, a subsidiary of Selenokhod, applied computer vision technology, which was proposed for the construction of robots that transport goods to warehouses. Now RoboCV is a successful venture capital firm, and Samsung is among its customers.

      The main users of RoboCV X-MOTION NG are warehouse operators (3PL), Retail companies and other organizations interested in improving the efficiency of warehouse processes.
      Typical cases of automatic movements include:
      Acceptance of goods - moving pallets from the gate zone to the rack or other outdoor storage place;
      Shipment of goods - moving pallets from the rack to the gate area;
      Cross-docking - moving pallets bypassing the rack storage area;
      Moving a pallet when picking an order (picking);
      Any other operations for the outdoor movement of pallets.
      Differences of X-MOTION NG from existing solutions:
      Intelligent interaction with nearby equipment with drivers;
      Easy to configure and reconfigure solutions;
      Minimization of requirements for changes in WMS;
      Convenience and clarity of managing logistics tasks for the operator;
      Minimum changes in regulations and new rules of action for a warehouse employee.
  2. +3
    18 October 2015 07: 24
    It is a pity that they all have production not in Russia.
  3. +1
    18 October 2015 07: 25
    Quote: Armagedon
    Hmm ... Freshly legend ... Yes, it is hard to believe ... !!!

    why? there are still people in Russia !!!
  4. +3
    18 October 2015 07: 34
    Talents in Russia have always been and will be, only for some reason there is a double impression from the article, space is a very broad topic and if there are those who want to invest and develop new things in this area, why not "legalize". Everything is clear with private companies, only registration and assets ( technical, mental), must and must be Russian
    1. 0
      18 October 2015 08: 13
      Quote: 31rus
      Everything is clear with private companies, only registration and assets (technical, mental) should and must be Russian

      Optionally, better on an island nation closer to the equator. because to launch a rocket in Russia is a terrible gimor with a bureaucracy and the military
      1. +1
        18 October 2015 16: 35
        All hemorrhoids are only with launch vehicles. Building new starts is a huge amount of money, and you need to get permission to launch an existing launch vehicle. And MIC is not a problem to build.
  5. +6
    18 October 2015 09: 29
    But from personal observations on the topic! The young man graduates from SSTU, faculty of FETIP. His graduation
    the project is embodied in metal, and flies into space on a satellite.
    Now the young man works in a small firm, in the basement of the hostel of a humanitarian university. Periodically them
    products are taken out by special mail where necessary, and components are delivered by special mail! No towers with
    guard, perimeter and service dogs. Everything is under the secret guard of the FSB. Little, not known to anyone
    firmochka contributes to the defense and space program of the country!
    And how many are there in different cities and villages? Another friend of mine, who served as a line in the BB, in the service
    special transport, says a lot! And they had to pick up special cargo in different cities, and in the most
    unexpected places!
  6. +6
    18 October 2015 09: 29
    I worked for a very long time in the space industry, and now I work in a private company.
    In comparison, it is "heaven and earth".
    A private firm may already have
    - wildly serious measuring equipment,
    - vibration stands, equipment for climatic tests, thermal imagers, ...
    - a significant part of the work is done on the conveyors of contract manufacturing (here in Russia)

    But the main difference for me as a specialist and developer.
    The space enterprises where I worked are a large hierarchical pyramid at the top of which Pharaoh and his Chief Priest in science are sitting (by the way, in technology and science - both are very dumb ..)
    And how is career growth seen in this space industry?
    Career growth there goes according to what kind of trakhodrom the developer initiated with his developments in the workshop, ..in production ..
    If there is a lot of noise - a person needs to be promoted to the top, and if there is silence ..?
    It is clear that such a developer can wait ... and with a career ... and with a salary ...

    And in a private company, creating a trachrome is highly discouraged ..
    The hierarchical structure is almost flat .. Developers are the elite on whom to bet ..
    1. avt
      +3
      18 October 2015 10: 14
      Quote: JustMe
      The space enterprises where I worked are a large hierarchical pyramid at the top of which Pharaoh and his Chief Priest in science are sitting (by the way, in technology and science - both are very dumb ..)
      And how is career growth seen in this space industry?

      Quote: JustMe
      In comparison, it is "heaven and earth".

      Quote: AlNikolaich
      Now the young man works in a small firm, in the basement of the hostel of a humanitarian university. Periodically them
      products are taken out by special mail where necessary, and components are delivered by special mail!

      The campaign had no idea what cooperation was, and where and how individual units and parts were made in the USSR. Although the list of cooperative enterprises working for Space was one of the real secrets, I remember how the academician’s birthday was, according to the wording
      Quote: JustMe
      Pharaoh

      the guests were going to congratulate, so the list of guests in the foyer was and there was sitting next to me from the first section, fucking grumbled about the fact that they put something on the table for themselves. So for people who know there is no wonderful diva, or there is NO wonderful miracle. Since the result is all one thing is the final start and how the machine worked. Well, HOW it is happening now, so look at "Vostochny" with outright theft through firms and firms and a shift in terms of six months. I doubt that they will be in time by April, but maybe they will start from a pryntsyp. So it is better to wipe the snot of emotion out and out. not to release.
      Quote: JustMe
      Career growth there goes according to what kind of trakhodrom the developer initiated with his developments in the workshop, ..in production ..
      If there is a lot of noise - a person needs to be promoted to the top, and if there is silence ..?

      That's how L.P. Beria did without noise and people had a career, even if the same Beria had flattened them mercilessly before, for example, when Kapitsa made a fuss, he went to the country house to bomb a bomb according to a home recipe. Why am I doing this? Yes, the fact that it is not necessary to compare green and sour. The space program is rising by the state everywhere. Yes - with private contractors, well, that's the thing
      Quote: JustMe
      Pharaoh and his Chief Priest in Science

      seek talent and achieve results. But here I agree - if they really don’t ask the result - it’s good for them, again a matter of age - there are a lot of people and I saw this lively, after a stormy production youth with winding up the training ground with age, quietly sniffed at work in an armchair and you’ll get the hell out of place - Pharaoh’s comrades-in-arms and friends. But this is again a question for those who order music - to shake for the result. Earlier, for example, grandfather Lenya called Afanasyev and although he was not 37, he told him - you won’t do it on time - we’ll put the wall. Imagine - Afanasyev believed him and did it on time. Something like that - you won’t do it by April, but okay - do it later, there weren’t anyway. Someone who was responsible for the deadline, especially when they signed up for their execution.
    2. +2
      18 October 2015 22: 53
      Here, like "Vaska listens and eats," that's the whole state trakhodrom. They do not give the president anything special, all of his undertakings are essentially rolled over. At the Vostochny cosmodrome, he already prayed, do what you want, but for God's sake do it - that's the whole trakhodrom, so Stalin would have carried out his instructions, but we have amer's democracy - liberalism.
  7. 0
    18 October 2015 11: 35
    Fine. Alexander Ilyin (“Lin Industrial”) is available on live -http: //users.livejournal.com/___lin___/
    1. 0
      18 October 2015 15: 21
      Unfortunately, this is still on paper .... the work of private business in Russia, especially in high-tech industries, does not cause delight. I am not talking specifically about Ilyin, just recent history shows examples of how not to work (the same "Yo-mobile") ...
      Quote: chunga-changa
      Fine. Alexander Ilyin (“Lin Industrial”) is available on live -http: //users.livejournal.com/___lin___/
  8. +2
    18 October 2015 13: 12
    Yes, this is not the first time, remember how all sorts of Germans beat themselves in the chest, that they would fold and build a replacement for World 2. Our business can only steal from the people, but it’s a solid ё-mobile to create something new. Even the production in Russia cannot be established: Iota von is in Shen's wife, Elbrus is in Taiwan.
  9. +1
    18 October 2015 13: 14
    I do not believe. Another way to steal money from the state. Our entrepreneurs are not able to do something new. Steal this yes. Mr. Prokhorov creator of the E-machine, how much has he invested? Only the project closed. And you say private space Russian business .....
  10. 0
    18 October 2015 17: 09
    Success to you! It's not with a screwdriver to collect other people's cars.
  11. +1
    18 October 2015 23: 09
    At this stage, private space is just a slogan. Super idea. It is obvious that neither technically, nor intellectually, nor financially, private traders are not ready to assume such a responsibility. And the state, dilegate it. Yes and should not.
    The development and manufacture of satellites is the direction that a "private trader" can master in Russia. The carrier - well ... in terms of individual technologies. And the fact that this is already happening, with varying degrees of applicability of the results to the "elephants" of the industry, is very good. From small, over time, it will come to large. But goal-setting is the concern of the state.
    It seems that it is necessary to distinguish between "corruption" and "theft". Corruption - throw up a contest (rudely). Theft - get state. money and not to make ... not to pay salaries and so on. And, oddly enough, it is the expansion of the presence of private capital in this area that will make it possible to start the decriminalization process. Together with control measures, and if the very model of financing and state regulation of the sphere changes. But at this wonderful time ...

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