Angara-A5V super-heavy carrier rocket

The Angara family of space launch vehicles has been in development since 1995. The new Angara rockets will increase Russia's independence in space exploration, according to Roscosmos.

The existing fleet of rockets does not provide the needs of the Defense Ministry for the removal of heavy military satellites into orbit, the head of the Scientific and Technical Council of the Russian Space Agency Yuri Koptev told reporters 24 March 2015. "There are a number of projects for the Ministry of Defense, where we do not provide the target orbit payload" - said Koptev, explaining the need for a new rocket with a carrying capacity of 35-37 tons into low Earth orbit.

Thus the representative of the Russian Space Agency said that the new "Angara-A5V" with oxygen-hydrogen third stage will be able to bring to geosynchronous transfer orbit 12-12.5 tons of payload, whereas "Angara-A5" with hydrogen upper stage - only 7 tons. Promising American"Delta Heavy" is expected to be delivered to geosynchronous transfer orbit a weight of 12-14 tons, the European "Ariane 6" - 10-11 tons, and Chinese heavy missiles - up to 10.

Flight tests of the Angara-A5V super-heavy class carrier rocket at the Vostochny space center in Russia's Far East may start in 2027, according to documentation prepared ahead of an April 2017 meeting of Russia's Military-Industrial Commission.

Angara-A5V, being developed by Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, was conceived as an upgraded Angara A5 variant which includes a hydrogen-propelled upper stage to deliver some 35 tonnes of payload into low earth orbit compared to the regular A5 payload of less than 25 tonnes. Initially proposed in 2014, it was seen as a cost-efficient alternative to the Angara A7 variant.

Russia will not develop a super-heavy space launch vehicle in the near future, but will modify a heavy Angara-A5 rocket to lift super-heavy loads, Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said 22 April 2015. "We have re-allocated funds for launch vehicles, especially in the super-heavy category, but ensured that all payloads planned until 2030 will be launched to orbit," Roscosmos head, Igor Komarov told reporters. "We are planning to resolve this issue by developing Angara-5B [by adding extra booster stage], and I believe it is an optimal variant," Komarov said.

According to previous reports, the decision to abandon plans to build a super-heavy launch vehicle from scratch allows Roscosmos to reduce the project's cost tenfold — to 60 billion rubles ($1.1 bln). Komarov said that the first launch of the Angara super-heavy carrier rocket will take place in 2021.

In 2016, Igor Komarov, the head of the state-owned Roscosmos space corporation, said there were plans to use the rocket for manned lunar missions. The first flight to the moon could take place by 2030, with a lunar landing mission to follow by 2035. The Angara family of space-launch vehicles is designed to provide lifting capabilities of between 2 and 40.5 tonnes into low Earth orbit. It has been in development since 1995 and was the first orbit-capable rocket developed by Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union to replace the older Proton-M and Rocket rockets.

The beginning of the flight tests of the Angara-A5B heavy rocket is scheduled for 2027-2028. This is stated in the materials of the Roscosmos State Corporation on the space industry development strategy 31 March 2018. In the section of the document "System of launch vehicles" as the dates for the start of flight tests are designated 2027-2028. The decision to establish the Angara-A5B was made by the Scientific and Technical Council of Roskosoms in March 2015. The difference between the "Angara-A5B" and the "Angara-A5" is that the oxygen-kerosene third stage will be replaced by the oxygen-hydrogen one. As reported, the draft design of "Angara-A5B" should begin to develop in 2017. The development of the rocket should be completed by 2025.

The head of the Roskosmos Scientific and Technical Council, Yuri Koptev, told reporters that the cost of creating a new modification of the Angara-A5B launch vehicle would be 37 billion rubles, and the entire program to create the Angary-A5B, taking into account the construction and equipment of the entire ground infrastructure for this carrier will cost 150 billion rubles.

The Angara-A5B launch vehicle (with a third-stage hydrogen engine) could launch 37.5 tons of payload into a low circular orbit. At the same time, this rocket will be able to launch approximately 13 tons of cargo into a geo-transfer orbit, and up to 8 tons into a geostationary orbit. It is assumed that the Angara-A5V will be launched from the launch pad of the Vostochny cosmodrome.

The assembly of the first flight model of the oxygen-hydrogen upper stage (KVTK) for the Angara will begin in 2025. This was announced 03 May 2022 in an interview with TASS by the Director General of the Center. M.V. Khrunichev (part of Roscosmos) Alexey Varochko. "Given the production cycles, the production of the KVTK flight model is planned to begin after 2025," Varochko said.

The general director of the enterprise noted that the contract for KVTK has already been concluded, and design documentation is being prepared at the moment. From next year, the Center. M. V. Khrunicheva plans to start manufacturing a number of components for bench products in order to complete ground experimental testing by 2025. "The first launch, according to the plans that we currently have, is scheduled for 2027," Varochko stressed. The general director of the enterprise also expressed the hope that this promising program would retain full funding so that the launch could be completed in 2027.