"Roskosmos" is ready to give the Russian part of the ISS under a private launch site with nuclear tugs


    In 2017, the entire budget of the subprogram "Priority innovative projects of the rocket and space industry" 2.2 billion rubles. was painted on a single project - “Creating a transport and energy module based on a megawatt-class nuclear power plant”. This project “Roscosmos” is being implemented jointly with “Rosatom”.

    A week ago, the CEO of S7 Space Transport Systems expressed the idea of creating a private orbital space center based on the ISS . In his opinion, this is a logical development of the situation after NASA leaves the project and the American segment is privatized after 2024 . Having received the ISS as a concession, the Russian company expects to become the world's first space carrier, which has at its disposal:

    • Cheap and reliable media with launches from the equator under the Sea Launch program, as well as from Baikonur under the Land Launch program.
    • Infrastructure in low Earth orbit in the form of the ISS.
    • Vehicles for interorbital and interplanetary transportation with a nuclear propulsion system (NERP) megawatt class.

    Roscosmos readily accepted such an option for consideration - and now it is waiting for the official written appeal of a private company, Izvestia writes . Representatives of the state corporation stressed that the idea as a whole "corresponds to the state corporation's vision of the future exploration of outer space."

    S7 Space Transport Systems is going to use the ISS as a scientific and industrial platform, where you can set up unique production, spacecraft assembly, organize a “hub” for further expansion - the exploration of the Moon and Mars. According to the general director Sergey Sopov, it is more profitable and safer to assemble interplanetary ships and probes from small modules directly in orbit, and first to deliver the crews to the station and from there to ship to the ship that flies, say, to the Moon. That is, the orbital cosmodrome will operate as a transshipment base for flights into deep space.

    The development of a megawatt-class nuclear power propulsion unit is currently under way at the FSUE “Keldysh Research Center”, the lead contractor for the reactor facility (RU) is the Order of Lenin Research and Development Institute for Power Engineering named after Dollezhal (NIKIET).

    In 2015, NIKIET successfully completed technological tests of a nuclear reactor vessel installation for spacecraft. Were carried out technological tests for tightness, strength and density. In 2016, NIIKIET planned to proceed directly to the fabrication of the reactor. The specialists of the institute noted that “the unique structural material of the hull and technologies created during the project are able to ensure the operation of the reactor for more than 100 thousand hours”.

    In 2016, successfully completed tests of fuel elements (TVEL) for a nuclear space engine.

    An engine of this type will allow you to fly to Mars in 1.5 months .

    Work on the creation of nuclear engines for spacecraft was actively conducted in the USSR and the USA: the Americans closed the project in 1994, the Soviet Union - in 1988. Now, after the privatization of the ISS, the Russian project can get a second life. According to the latest plans of Roscosmos and Rosatom, a flight model of a spacecraft with a nuclear power plant in Russia is planned to be created by 2025. Probably, approximately in these terms its tests in space will begin. Provided that the deadlines are not shifted again, as it happened before, and the allocated funding is enough to complete the development work. For example, in 2017, the Ministry of Finance planned to allocate 1.6 billion rubles for this project, but Roskosmos insisted on allocating 2.2 billion. That is, it is clear that there is not enough money.

    S7 is ready to take the Russian part of the station in concession as early as 2022. Recently, S7 and Roskosmos signed a memorandum of cooperation, including when creating an orbital space center based on the ISS.

    Also popular now: