Orel (spacecraft)
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Orel () or Oryol, formerly Federation (), and PPTS (), is a project by
Roscosmos The State Corporation for Space Activities "Roscosmos", commonly known simply as Roscosmos (), is a State corporation (Russia), state corporation of the Russian Federation responsible for space science, space flights, List of space agencies, c ...
to develop a new-generation, partially reusable
crewed spacecraft This is a list of all crewed spacecraft types that have flown into space, including sub-orbital flights above 80 km, space stations that have been visited by at least one crew member, and spacecraft currently planned to operate with crews ...
. Until 2016, the official name was () or PTK NP. The goal of the project is to develop a next-generation spacecraft to replace the
Soyuz spacecraft Soyuz () is a series of spacecraft which has been in service since the 1960s, having made more than 140 flights. It was designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau (now Energia). The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraf ...
developed by the former
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
to support
low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...
and lunar operations. It is similar in function to the US Orion or
Commercial Crew Development Development of the Commercial Crew Program (CCDev) began in the second round of the program, which was rescoped from a smaller technology development program for human spaceflight to a competitive development program that would produce the space ...
spacecraft. The PPTS project was started following a failed attempt by Russia and the
European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...
(ESA) to co-develop the Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS). Following ESA member states declining to finance Kliper in 2006 over concerns about workshare then again declining to finance development of CSTS in 2009 over technology transfer to Russia that could be used for military purposes, the Russian Federal Space Agency ordered a new crewed spacecraft from Russian companies. A development contract was awarded to RKK Energia on 19 December 2013. Orel is intended to be capable of carrying crews of four into Earth orbit and beyond, with different mass versions suitable for 5, 14, or 30 day missions. If docked with a space station, it could stay in space up to a year, which is double the duration of the Soyuz spacecraft. The spacecraft will send
cosmonauts An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spacecraft. Although generally reserve ...
to
lunar orbit In astronomy and spaceflight, a lunar orbit (also known as a selenocentric orbit) is an orbit by an object around Earth's Moon. In general these orbits are not circular. When farthest from the Moon (at apoapsis) a spacecraft is said to be at apo ...
, with a plan to place a space station there, called
Lunar Orbital Station The Lunar Orbital Station (; LOS) is a proposed Russian space station which would orbit around the Moon. The design was presented in 2007 at a conference at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Star City. It is one of the tw ...
.


History

Previously, ESA officials had inquired whether they could be part of the
Constellation Program The Constellation program (abbreviated CxP) was a crewed spaceflight program developed by NASA, the space agency of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. The major goals of the program were "completion of the International Space Station" and a " ...
of the United States, with
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
focused on its
Orion spacecraft Orion (Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle or Orion MPCV) is a partially reusable crewed spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM) space capsule designed by Lockheed Martin that is paired with a Eu ...
, but they had received a negative response. Consequently, Europe decided to join the Russians to co-develop a new-generation crewed
spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle that is designed spaceflight, to fly and operate in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including Telecommunications, communications, Earth observation satellite, Earth observation, Weather s ...
. ESA insisted on a joint design rather than the Russian-designed Kliper, and as a result the joint Russian/European CSTS project came into being. CSTS had completed an initial study phase, which lasted for 18 months from September 2006 to spring 2008, before the project was shut down before an ESA member state conference in November 2008. ESA decided to use some technology of the CSTS project from its
Automated Transfer Vehicle The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable automated cargo spacecraft, cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV desi ...
. The Russian space agency,
Roscosmos The State Corporation for Space Activities "Roscosmos", commonly known simply as Roscosmos (), is a State corporation (Russia), state corporation of the Russian Federation responsible for space science, space flights, List of space agencies, c ...
, had repeatedly received proposals from Moscow-based
Khrunichev The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center (''Государственный космический научно-производственный центр (ГКНПЦ) имени М. В. Хру́ничева'' in Russian) is a ...
enterprise to develop a new-generation crewed spacecraft based on the TKS spacecraft that would be launched on the new Angara launch Vehicle. Citing the requirement to start work on a new crewed spacecraft, Russia decided to go forward with the project by itself.TKS follow-on
Russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved on 1 July 2020.
By the first quarter of 2009,
Roscosmos The State Corporation for Space Activities "Roscosmos", commonly known simply as Roscosmos (), is a State corporation (Russia), state corporation of the Russian Federation responsible for space science, space flights, List of space agencies, c ...
had finalized its requirements for the next-generation crewed spacecraft and had received proposals from both RKK Energia and
Khrunichev The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center (''Государственный космический научно-производственный центр (ГКНПЦ) имени М. В. Хру́ничева'' in Russian) is a ...
enterprise. This was the actual beginning of the PPTS project. The agency was finally ready to name the prime developer of the vehicle. Formally, only two organizations which were practically capable of developing crewed space vehicles competed in the government tender to build the new spacecraft—RKK Energia in Korolev and Moscow-based Khrunichev enterprise. Although Roscosmos has remained tight-lipped about the project, a number of Russian officials made statements hinting about various stages of the project. On 21 January 2009, the head of Roscosmos,
Anatoly Perminov Anatoly Nikolayevich Perminov (; born 16 June 1945) is a Russians, Russian aerospace engineering, rocket scientist and Mechanical engineering, mechanical engineer. He served as the List of heads of Roscosmos, General Director of Roscosmos, Russian ...
, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta, a Russian newspaper, that Russia would likely proceed with independent development of the next-generation crewed spacecraft. According to Perminov, the agency and its main research and certification center—TsNIIMash—had already conducted an expanded meeting of the Scientific and Technical Council, NTS, examining follow-on transport systems, including the next-generation crewed ship. It would be followed by a government tender to select a developer for the new vehicle. Perminov further indicated that the new spacecraft would be expected to enter service within a time frame of the Orion spacecraft, but a more detailed development plan would be ready with the preliminary design of the vehicle in the middle of 2010. In the first quarter of 2009, Roscosmos released requirements which were used in the development of the Technical Assignment to the industry working on the PPTS project. The preliminary development of the project was expected to take place from March 2009 until June 2010 at an estimated cost of around 800,000,000 rubles ( $24 million). The work apparently covered only an Earth-orbiting version of the spacecraft, while laying the foundation for later lunar-orbiting spacecraft, or even a Mars-bound crew vehicle. The agency's general requirements asked the industry to develop a vehicle of "foreign" standards in its technical capabilities and cost, while at the same time using existing technologies as much as possible. In November 2019, it was announced that the first test flight was scheduled for 2023, and the first crewed flight for 2025. A reusable cargo version is planned, to replace
Progress Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of progressivism, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in technology, science, and social organization effic ...
. As of August 2023, the first uncrewed and crewed test flights are expected to occur in 2028.


Preliminary design

Roscosmos has envisioned several versions of the spacecraft, configurable for low Earth orbit, lunar, and uncrewed missions. Information on the proposed spacecraft released in 2009 indicated that the Earth-orbiting version of the ship would have a mass of 12 tonnes and carry a crew of six, along with no less than 500 kg of cargo. It would be able to fly 30-day-long autonomous missions, or a year-long mission, while docked to the ISS in the orbit, with the inclination 51.6 degrees, and to the future Russian space station launched from Vostochny into a 51.8-degree orbit.Zak, Anatoly (3 April 2009
"Russia to unveil spaceship plans"
''
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
''
The lunar version would weigh 16.5 tonnes, have four seats, and be capable of delivering and bringing back 100 kg of cargo. It would be able to fly 14-day missions to orbit around the Moon, or stay docked to the proposed Russian
Lunar Orbital Station The Lunar Orbital Station (; LOS) is a proposed Russian space station which would orbit around the Moon. The design was presented in 2007 at a conference at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Star City. It is one of the tw ...
for up to 200 days. The uncrewed cargo version of the vehicle would be required to carry no less than 2,000 kg to Earth orbit, and return at least 500 kg back to the planet's surface. As of March 2009, Roscosmos made the requirement for crew capsule landing accuracy to 10 kilometers, while directing the developers to continue work on various modes of high-precision landing. Emergency escape and landing capabilities were mandated for every phase of the mission and were to provide for the survivability of the crew until the arrival of the rescue and recovery teams. The vehicle, like
Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Soviet Union, Union of Soviet Socialist Republi ...
, would be wingless and be able to conduct fully automated and manual docking, and have sufficient propulsion capabilities during transport missions to dock and re-dock with orbital assets and then provide for the reentry and safe return of the vehicle to Earth. The reentry capsule design requirement specified that only environmentally safe propellants could be used during the atmospheric phase of the flight. Roscosmos reserved the option of making the crew module of the spacecraft reusable, reckoning that a cone-shaped capsule could possibly fly up to 10 missions during a 15-year lifespan. It has been suggested that the vehicle may use only rocket thrusters to slow itself down during its landing, unlike the Soyuz reentry module which relies on a
parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...
to slow its descent, and uses solid propellant motors only to soften its touchdown.Zak, Anatoly (29 April 2009
"Russia mulls rocket power 'first' "
''
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
''


Launch vehicle


Rus-M

A formal industry-wide tender for the development of the crewed launch vehicle to launch PPTS was initiated at the beginning of 2009. Although the agency delayed the announcement of the winner, many unofficial sources in Russia maintained that TsSKB Progress, based in Samara and KB Mashinostroenia, would lead the development of the new rocket. It was believed that the launch vehicle, named Rus-M, would feature a common core stage and a variable number of boosters, each equipped with powerful
RD-180 The RD-180 () is a rocket engine that was designed and built in Russia. It features a dual combustion chamber, dual-nozzle design and is fueled by a RP-1/ LOX mixture. The RD-180 is derived from the RD-170 line of rocket engines, which were use ...
engines, burning a mix of
liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing. Physical ...
and
kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...
. The engine was originally developed by Moscow-based
NPO Energomash NPO Energomash "V. P. Glushko" is a major Russian rocket engine manufacturer. The company primarily develops and produces Liquid rocket engine, liquid propellant rocket engines. Energomash originates from the OKB, Soviet design bureau OKB-456, w ...
for the US
Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launch vehicle family. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. Primarily used to ...
rocket and its performance to date has been impressive. The second stage was expected to sport a pair of
RD-0124 The RD-0124 (, GRAU index: 14D23) is a rocket engine burning liquid oxygen and kerosene in an oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle, developed by the Chemical Automatics Design Bureau in Voronezh. RD-0124 engines are used on the Block I stage used ...
engines, currently in use on the
Soyuz-2 Soyuz2 (; GRAU index: 14A14) is a Russian expendable medium-lift launch vehicle and the seventh major iteration of the Soyuz rocket family. Compared to its predecessors, Soyuz-2 features significant upgrades, including improved engines and ...
rocket. Thus, both stages would have been equipped with existing engines, greatly reducing the cost and the risk to the overall project. In October 2011, it was announced that the Rus-M program was being canceled.


Angara

In July 2012, it was reported that the Angara A5 will be used as the new launch vehicle for Orel. As of August 2023, the first uncrewed launch of Orel is expected in 2028. The spacecraft will be carried by an Angara A5 from
Vostochny Cosmodrome The Vostochny Cosmodrome () is a Russian space launch facility in the Amur Oblast, located above the 51st parallel north in the Russian Far East. It was built to help reduce Russia’s reliance on the Baikonur Cosmodrome which is located on lan ...
.


See also

*
Colonization of the Moon The colonization of the Moon is a process or concept employed by some proposals for robotic or human exploitation and settlement endeavours on the Moon. Often used as a synonym for its more specific element of settling the Moon (the establishi ...
*
Mengzhou (spacecraft) The Mengzhou (), formerly known as the Next-Generation Crewed Spacecraft (), is a type of reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The spacecraft prototype underwent its first ...


References


External links


A prospective look at PPTS
{{Crewed ISS flights Supply vehicles for the International Space Station Crewed spacecraft Crewed space program of Russia Roscosmos Cargo spacecraft Reusable spacecraft 2020s in spaceflight