Russian Federal Space Agency

This article refers to the Russian Space program starting from 1992. For a history of earlier Russian spaceflight, see Soviet space program.
Russian Federal Space Agency
Федеральное космическое агентство России
Roscosmos logo ru.svg
Logo of Roscosmos
Established 1992
(formerly the Soviet space program, 1922-1991)
Headquarters Moscow
Primary spaceport Baikonur Cosmodrome
Plesetsk Cosmodrome
Administrator Anatoly Perminov
Budget 82 billion RUB ($2.4 billion) (2009)[1]
Website www.roscosmos.ru

The Russian Federal Space Agency (Russian: Федеральное космическое агентство России Federal'noye kosmicheskoye agentstvo Rossii), commonly called Roscosmos (Роскосмос Roskosmos) and abbreviated as FKA (ФКА) and RKA (РКА), is the government agency responsible for the Russian space science program and general aerospace research. It was previously the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Russian: Российское авиационно-космическое агентство Rossiyskoe aviatsionno-kosmicheskoe agentsvo, commonly known as "Rosaviakosmos").

Headquarters of Roscosmos are located in Moscow. Main Mission Control space flight operations center is located in a nearby city of Korolev. Cosmonauts Training Centre (GCTC) is in Star City. Launch facilities used are Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (with most launches taking place there, both manned and unmanned) and Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia used primarily for unmanned flights of military designations.

Since his appointment as General Director in March 2004, Anatoly Perminov has led Russia's efforts to consolidate its space program.

Contents

History

The Hall of Space Technology in the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics, Kaluga, Russia. The exhibition includes the models and replicas of the following Russian/Soviet inventions:
the first satellite, Sputnik 1 (a ball under the ceiling);
the first spacesuits (lower-left corner);
the first human spaceflight module, Vostok 1 (center);
the first Molniya-type satellite (upper right corner);
the first space rover, Lunokhod 1 (lower right corner);
the first space station, Salyut 1 (left);
the first modular space station, Mir (upper left).

The Soviet space program did not have central executive agencies. Instead, its organizatorial architecture was multi-centered; it was the design bureaus and the council of designers that had the most say, not the political leadership. The creation of a central agency after the separation of Russia from the Soviet Union was thus a new development. Russian Space Agency was formed on 25 February 1992 by a decree of President Yeltsin. Yuri Koptev, who had previously worked with designing Mars landers at NPO Lavochkin, became the agency's—later renamed to Roskosmos—first director.[2]

In the early years, the agency suffered from lack of authority as the powerful design bureaus fought to protect their own spheres of operation and to survive. For example, the decision to keep Mir in operation beyond 1999 was not taken by the agency; instead, it was made by the private shareholder board of the Energia design bureau. Also, the development of the new Angara rocket was a function of Krunichev's ability to attract resources rather than a conscious long-term decision by the RKA.[2]

The 1990s saw serious financial problems because of the decreased cash flow, which encouraged Roskosmos to improvise and seek other ways to keep space programs running. This resulted in Roskosmos' leading role in commercial satellite launches and space tourism. While scientific missions, such as interplanetary probes or astronomy missions during these years played a very small role, Roskosmos managed to operate the space station Mir well past its planned lifespan, contribute to the International Space Station, and continue to fly additional Soyuz and Progress missions.

In March 2004, director Yuri Koptev was replaced by Anatoly Perminov, who had previously served as the first commander of the Space Forces.[2]

Renewed activity in 2005–2006

The Russian economy boomed throughout 2005 from high prices for exports, such as oil and gas, the outlook for future funding in 2006 appeared more favorable. This resulted in the Russian Duma approving a budget of 305 billion rubles (about 11 billion USD) for the Space Agency from 2006 to 2015, with overall space expenditures in Russia total about 425 billion rubles for the same time period.[3] The budget for 2006 was as high as 25 billion rubles (about 900 million USD), which is a 33% increase from the 2005 budget. Under the current 10 year budget approved, the budget of the Space Agency shall increase 5–10% per year, providing the space agency with a constant influx of money. In addition to the budget, Roskosmos plans to have over 130 billion rubles flowing into its budget by other means, such as industry investments and commercial space launches.

Current status of the space program

The federal space budget for the year 2009 was left unchanged despite the global economic crisis, standing at about 82 billion rubles ($2.4 billion).[1] Current priorities of the Russian space program include the new Angara rocket family and development of new communications, navigation and remote Earth sensing spacecraft.[1] The GLONASS global navigation satellite system has for many years been one of the top priorities and has been given its own budget line in the federal space budget. In 2007, GLONASS received 9.9 billion rubles ($360 million), and under the terms of a directive signed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in 2008, an additional $2.6 billion will be allocated for its development.[4]

Due to International Space Station involvements, up to 50% of Russia's space budget is spent on the manned space program. Some observers have pointed out that this has a detrimental effect on other aspects of space exploration, and that the other space powers spend much lesser proportions of their overall budgets on maintaining human presence in orbit.[5]

The Russian space program benefits from a considerable amount of investments made during the Soviet era, including technology and launch sites. The launch sites are located mostly in the country of Kazakhstan and are maintained and utilized in cooperation with the government of Kazakhstan. The RKA has centralized control of Russia's civilian space program, including all manned and unmanned non-military space flights.

Despite the considerably improved budget, attention of legislative and execute authorities, positive media coverage and broad support among the population, the Russian space program continues to face several problems.[6] Wages in the space industry are low; the average age of employees is high (46 years in 2007),[6] and much of the equipment is obsolete.[7] On the positive side, many companies in the sector have been able to profit from contracts and partnerships with foreign companies; several new systems such as new rocket upper stages have been developed in recent years; investments have been made to production lines, and companies have started to pay more attention to educating a new generation of engineers and technicians.[2][7]

The federal space plan for 2006–2015

The key elements of the current space plan, introduced in 2005, are:[2]

Current programs

ISS involvement

The Zarya module was the first module of the ISS, launched in 1998.

The Russian Space Agency is one of the partners in the International Space Station (ISS) program; it contributed the core space modules Zarya and Zvezda, which were both launched by Proton rockets and later were joined by NASA's Unity Module. The Rassvet module was launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis[8] and will be primarily used for cargo storage and as a docking port for visiting spacecraft. The Nauka module will be the last compnent of the ISS and is expected to launch December 2011.[9][10] Roskosmos is furthermore responsible for expedition crew launches by Soyuz-TMA spacecrafts and resupplies the space station with Progress space transporters. After the initial ISS contract with NASA expired, RKA and NASA, with the approval of the US government, entered into a space contract running until 2011, according to which Roskosmos will sell NASA spots on Soyuz spacecrafts for approximately $21 million per person each way (thus $42 million to and back from the ISS per person) as well as provide Progress transport flights ($50 million per progress as outlined in the Exploration Systems Architecture Study study [1]). RKA has announced that according to this arrangement, manned Soyuz flights will be doubled to 4 per year and Progress flights also doubled to 8 per year beginning in 2008.

RKA also provides space tourism for fare-paying passengers to ISS through the Space Adventures company. As of 2009, six space tourists have contracted with Roskosmos and have flown into space, each for an estimated fee of at least $20 million (USD).

Science programs

RKA operates a number of other programs for earth science, communication, and scientific research. Future projects include the Soyuz successor, the shuttle Kliper, scientific robotic missions to one of the Mars moons as well as an increase in Earth orbit research satellites.

Rockets

Roskosmos is using a launch family of several rockets, the most famous of them is the R-7, commonly known as the Soyuz rocket, capable of launching about 7.5 tons into low Earth orbit (LEO). The Proton rocket (or UR-500K) has a lift capacity of over 20 tons to LEO. Smaller rockets include Cosmos-3M, the German-Russian cooperation Rockot and other launchers.

Currently rocket development encompasses both a new rocket system, Angara, as well as enhancements of the Soyuz rocket, Soyuz-2 and Soyuz-2-3. Two modifications of the Soyuz, the Soyuz-2.1a and Soyuz-2.1b has already been successfully tested, enhancing the launch capacity to 8.5 tons to LEO.

RKA manages by far the most commercial launches per year, in 2005 it performed nearly 50% of all commercial satellite launches into space.

Kliper

One of RKA's projects that has made a large impact on the media in 2005 is Kliper, a small lifting body reusable spacecraft. While Roskosmos has reached out to ESA and JAXA as well as others to share development costs of the project, it also has stated that it will go forward with the project even without support of other space agencies. This statement was backed by the above-described approval of its budget for 2006–2015, which includes the necessary funding of Kliper.

Information on Kliper's entry into service and development status vary. Some sources state 2010 as the target year of first orbital test flight, others, 2012. In January 2006, the final decision on Kliper was anticipated to be made from among three proposals from several Russian contractors with a decision to be announced in February. Later, the result of formal bidding on the project was expected to be revealed in July. However, RKA reportedly issued a statement in late July that bidding for the Kliper program had been cancelled due to the insufficiency of the bids tendered. It was believed that there would a two-year period within which the future direction of the program would be determined.

Launch control

The military counterpart of the RKA is the Military Space Forces (VKS). The VKS controls Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome launch facility. The RKA and VKS share control of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where the RKA reimburses the VKS for the wages of many of the flight controllers during civilian launches. The RKA and VKS also share control of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. It has been announced that Russia is to build another spaceport in Vostochny. The Vostochny Cosmodrome is scheduled to be finished by 2018.

Historic Russian space gallery

People

First human in space Yuri Gagarin

Spacecraft

Vostok was the first spacecraft to carry a human being in space

Soyuz is the longest serving manned spacecraft design in history (1967– ) , upgraded regularly

Progress is the longest serving unmanned cargo spacecraft (1978– )

First permanently manned space station, the Soviet/Russian Mir, which orbited the Earth from 1986 until 2001

Russia, along with the US, is the main partner of the International Space Station (ISS). Russia & US are responsible for all manned spaceflights (cargo also launched by ESA's ATV

The Soviet space program produced the Space Shuttle Buran based on the Energia launcher. Energia would be used as the base for a manned Mars mission. On November 15, 1988, as snowy clouds and winds were swirling around Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Buran orbiter, attached to its giant Energia rocket, thundered into the gloomy early morning sky. Three hours and two orbits later, the 100-tonne bird glided back to a flawless landing just a few miles from its launch pad and just 3m off the runway centreline.)

Launch vehicles

Soyuz rockets are responsible for launching all Soyuz and Progress spacecraft into space

Proton rockets are the heavylift workhorse of Russian space industry

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "No cut in Russian 2009 space spending, $2.4 bln on 3 programs". RIA Novosti. 2009-03-18. http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090318/120627935.html. Retrieved 2009-08-23. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Harvey, Brian (2007). "The design bureaus". The Rebirth of the Russian Space Program (1st ed.). Germany: Springer. ISBN 9780387713540. 
  3. ↑ Russian govt agrees 12.5 bln eur 10-yr space program - Forbes.com
  4. ↑ "Russia increases number of operational Glonass satellites to 17". RIA Novosti. 2009-06-04. http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090604/155166861.html. Retrieved 2009-08-23. 
  5. ↑ Afanasyev, Igor; Dmitri Vorontsov (2009-11-01). "Building on sand?The Russian ISS segment is to be completed by 2016". Russia & CIS Observer. http://www.ato.ru/content/building-sand. Retrieved 2010-01-03. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Russia’s Space Program in 2006: Some Progress but No Clear Direction". Moscow Defense Brief. 2006. http://mdb.cast.ru/mdb/2-2007/item1/item3/. Retrieved 2009-08-23. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Kislyakov, Andrei (2008-05-15). "Russian space program bedeviled by problems". http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080515/107469026.html. Retrieved 2009-08-23. 
  8. ↑ Chris Gebhardt (9 April 2009). "STS-132: PRCB baselines Atlantis' mission to deliver Russia’s MRM-1". NASAspaceflight.com. http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/04/sts-132-prcb-baselines-mission-to-deliver-russias-mrm-1/. Retrieved 12 November 2009. 
  9. ↑ "Consolidated Launch Manifest". nasa.gov. 2010. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_manifest.html. Retrieved April 26, 2010. 
  10. ↑ Roscosmos - December 31,2009

External links

See also

Russian space program
Active
In development
RusM · Luna-Glob · Venera-D · Phobos-Grunt
Previous
Cancelled
Zond (lunar Soyuz 7K-L1) · N1-L3 (Moon landing program) · TMK (Mars flyby program) · Spiral · Almaz (incorporated into Salyut program) / TKS · Energia / Buran
Primary spaceports
Baikonur Cosmodrome (in Kazakhstan) · Dombarovskiy · Kapustin Yar · Plesetsk Cosmodrome · Svobodny Cosmodrome · Vostochny Cosmodrome
Soviet and Russian government manned space programs
Active
Soyuz • ISS (joint)
Past
Cancelled
Zond (lunar Soyuz 7K-L1) • N1-L3 (Moon landing program) • TMK (Mars flyby program) • Spiral • Almaz (incorporated into Salyut program) / TKS spacecraft • Energia / Buran • Kliper
Soviet and Russian expendable launch vehicles
Active
Dnepr · Kosmos (3M) · R-29 (Shtil' · Volna) · R-7 (Soyuz (U · FG · 2)) · Start-1 · UR (Proton (K · M) · Rokot · Strela) · Zenit (2)
In development
Angara (1.1 · 1.2 · A3 · A5 · A7) · Rus-M · R-7 (Soyuz-1)
Former
Energia · Kosmos (1 · 2I · 3) · N1 · R-7 (Luna · Molniya (M) · Polyot · Soyuz (L · M · U2) · Soyuz/Vostok · Sputnik · Voskhod · Vostok (L · K · 2 · 2M)) · Tsyklon (2 · 3)