Rus-M () was a proposed launcher design which was intended to become Russia's main launch vehicle for crewed spaceflight after 2018, and an integral part of the

Orel spacecraft Orel () or Oryol, formerly Federation (), and PPTS (), is a project by Roscosmos to develop a new-generation, partially reusable crewed spacecraft. Until 2016, the official name was () or PTK NP. The goal of the project is to develop a next-ge ...

being developed to replace the

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 ...

. Rus-M was being developed by TsSKB-Progress, beginning in 2009. The program was halted in October 2011, restarted in 2012 and finally cancelled in August 2015.

History

In 2009, Roscomos published the specifications for a Rus-M launch vehicle. Several variants of the Rus-M were later proposed, creating a family of similar launch vehicles. In spring of 2009, TsSKB-Progress won a government contract to develop a new launcher for Russia's human space program. The project was featured in MAKS 2009 Airshow, and preliminary design of the vehicle was expected to be submitted to 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 ...

by August 2010.

Requirements

Safety requirements put forward by

emphasized that the launcher design is to be extremely reliable; safe abort options for crewed vehicles must be available at any stage of flight, and vehicle departure from the launch pad must be guaranteed for the case of an emergency during an early stage of the launch sequence. The launcher was planned to provide a basis for a future heavy launcher capable to carry a payload of 5060 tons, as well as for a super-heavy design lifting 130150 tons.

Description

Four variants of Rus-M were planned for development. Each version would use a variable number of common cores as the first stage and boosters, each powered by a single

Energomash The Energomash Corporation (Cyrillic: "Энергомаш") was a Russian power engineering company. Energomash manufactures small cogeneration plants as well as a wide variety of components for the energy industry. In addition to this core activi ...

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 ...

rocket engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen. Two upper stages were planned. The first would have used four

RD-0146 The RD-0146 () is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine developed by KBKhA Kosberg in Voronezh, Russia. The RD-0146 is the first Russian rocket engine to burn liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen in the expander cycle, in which turbopumps are d ...

hydrolox engines developed by

Chemical Automatics Design Bureau Chemical Automatics Design Bureau (CADB), also KB Khimavtomatika (, KBKhA), is a Russian OKB, design bureau founded by the NKAP (People's Commissariat of the Aircraft Industry) in 1941 and led by Semyon Kosberg until his death in 1965. Its origi ...

. The second option would have been a kerosene fueled stage common with

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 ...

. The first version of the rocket was to use three first stage cores, inseparably bolted together, with an RD-0146 powered second stage. It would have been able to lift a cargo or satellite payload of 23.8 tons to a 200-km, 51.7-degree circular orbit, a crew vehicle of 18.8 tons to a 135 by 400-km orbit, 7.0 tons to

geostationary transfer orbit In space mission design, a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or geosynchronous transfer orbit is a highly elliptical type of geocentric orbit, usually with a perigee as low as low Earth orbit (LEO) and an apogee as high as geostationary orbit ...

and 4.0 tons to

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular orbit, circular geosynchronous or ...

. The second variant would add two additional cores, and allow the strapon boosters to detach earlier in flight, boosting payload capacity to 35 tons. Version 3 would use stretched tanks on the booster cores, increasing payload again to 50 tons. Version 4 would fly with only a single core, and a Soyuz 2-derived upper stage.

Development

TsSKB Progress was responsible for overall project leadership, system integration, second stage development and production. First stage development was to be led by Makeev KB Mash, while NPO Avtomatiki was to provide the rocket's flight control system. After Rus-M was ultimately canceled in 2011 after falling victim to the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

, and competition with

Angara The Angara (; ) or Angar ( мүрэн) is a major river in Siberia, which traces a course through Russia's Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai. It drains out of Lake Baikal and is the headwater tributary of the Yenisey. It is long, and has ...

, TsSKB Progress disclosed the existence of the Soyuz-5 rocket concept in 2013. Soyuz-5, later renamed "Irtysh", became the successor to Rus-M after Rus-M's cancelation and Irtysh surviving Roscosmos budget cuts in 2015.

References

External links