PERM, August 15 (Itar-Tass) — The Perm Territory will present at the MAKS-2011 air show a project of the New Zvezdny technopolis – a program for the creation of a complex for the production of new generation rockets and aircraft engines. The project is so ambitious that it would make science fiction writer Alexander Belyayev jealous. The central part of the exhibition will be a technopolis model that is to be located in the Perm Territory’s Novye Lyady settlement at the proving ground of the Proton-PM joint stock company. By 2017 it is planned to create there a modern industrial base, which in the future will house the production of the RD-191 engine for environmentally friendly family of launch vehicles of the Angara family.
The complex of innovative development of machine building technologies for aerospace use and renewable energy sources will combine the intellectual, human resource and industrial potentials of the Perm Territory. It will be not only the manufacturing base, but also a residential complex with its own infrastructure for enterprise employees and their families.
During the air show the Perm Territory will sign an agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) on the expansion of bilateral cooperation for the development in the region of the production base of units of the RD-191 rocket engine for Angara.
The signing of an agreement with OAO United Industrial Corporation Oboronprom will also take place. The region and corporation intend to work together to develop, manufacture and export high-technology industrial products, develop promising research and technologies in the sphere of manufacturing of aircraft and industrial engines, machinery and equipment, automation means and helicopter gearboxes.
At the 10th International Air Show MAKS that will be held in Zhukovsky on August 16-21 a unified exposition “Aerospace Cluster of the Perm Territory” will be presented. The Proton-PM, OJSC Perm Engine Company, OAO Reductor-PM, JSC Iskra-Energy, JSC Aviadvigatel, JSC Iskra-Avigaz will present their projects.
The Angara rocket family is a family of space-launch vehicles currently under development by the Moscow-based Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre. The rockets, which are to provide lifting capabilities between 2,000 and 40,500 kg into low earth orbit, are intended to become the mainstay of the Russian unmanned launcher fleet in the future and replace several existing systems. The main purpose of the Angara rocket family is to secure Russia’s independent access to space. Angara will reduce Russia’s dependency on the Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in the independent republic of Kazakhstan, and will allow Russia to phase out foreign – mostly Ukrainian – rocket technology. Environmental issues have also played an important part in the development.
Rockets belonging to the family are intended to replace several existing launch vehicles. The light Angara 1.1 and 1.2 versions will replace the Kosmos-3M, Tsyklon and Rockot launchers; Angara 3 will replace the Ukrainian Zenit and Angara 5 will replace the heavy-lift Proton. The Angara 5 version is expected to be most in demand, since this is the main version required by the Russian Ministry of Defence. Khrunichev has also been developing a super-heavy-lift version (Angara 7), which is capable of orbiting payload of between 45 and 75 tons, and for which there is no equivalent in Russia’s current rocket fleet. However, currently the development of Angara 7 is not receiving government funding. In addition, Khrunichev has offered to build a version capable of launching manned spacecraft: Angara 5P.
The RD-191 is a high performance single-combustion chamber rocket engine, developed in Russia. It is derived from the RD-170 originally used in the Energia launcher. The RD-191 is fuelled by a kerosene / LOX mixture and uses an extremely efficient, high-pressure staged combustion cycle. Burn ignition is provided by a chemical method, by feeding into the combustion chamber special starting fuel which is self-igniting on contact with liquid oxygen. The engine is capable of throttling down to 30 percent of nominal thrust; the design also allows for a short-duration enhanced thrust (up to 5 percent of nominal level) in emergency situations. A Cardan suspension provides for yaw and pitch controls by gimballed thrust deflection up to 8 degrees.
A modern design, the engine incorporates sensors monitoring burn conditions. The measurements are used for telemetry and an emergency protection system. The engine fulfils two additional functions: heating helium gas for pressurization of propellant tanks, and generating hydraulic power for hydraulic actuators to deflect the nozzle and aerodynamic rudders.
A version of the RD-191 with thrust reduced to 170 tonnes, called RD-151, was fire-tested on July 30, 2009. The first flight test of this engine was conducted on August 25, 2009 as part of the first launch of South Korean Naro-1 rocket.
The engine has passed all development phases. Currently, interdepartmental tests are under way and manufacturing of the engines for flight development tests has started. The flight tests will begin with a launch of the Angara-1.2 light-class rocket, and then of the Angara-5A heavy launcher. Despite problems with funding, work on the RD-191 engine is in line with the Angara rocket family’s master schedule.