On the way of Sergey Pavlovich Korolev. Modern Russian manned project. Part 1. “Federation”

I decided to move a little away from historical excursions and speak out on another burning issue. Moreover, our lunar projects are slowly moving into the implementation phase, so the question is really relevant.

Yes, we will talk about our project of a manned flight to the moon. That is, about a project that many do not believe in, which is often ridiculed; nevertheless, it has been developing all these years and quite seriously. Any changes are visible only in time. I will not even argue that the project will be exactly implemented - it depends on too many factors. Nevertheless, there is development, and we will have to see a lot in hardware in the coming years. And I can’t even blame the skeptics, because there haven’t been any sensible descriptions yet. All information, although open, is dispersed among a very large number of presentations and interviews.

I would like to note that all ups and downs deserve a separate book, which I may write.

So the story began about ten years ago. The head of the Center for Manned Programs of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Doctor of Technical Sciences Georgy Karabadzhak, recalls this key point:

“At TsNIImash we had a large scientific and technical conference, we consulted for more than 8 hours with representatives of 13 organizations on the topic of where to fly — to the moon or to Mars. As a result, they collegially decided to stop on the lunar direction. "

The first visible result of this decision was the closure of the Clipper project. The project is interesting, but it has been optimized for transport operations in orbit of the Earth. RSC Energia also tried to make an interplanetary version based on it, but it soon became obvious that it was better to start developing a new ship from scratch. Moreover, the capsule version is somewhat closer to the experience of this organization than the winged one with landing on the airfield.

Now we know this ship (apparently not for long) under the name "Federation". And according to recent reports, his drawings have already been fixed and the production of the first flight instance has begun. But in ten years, we have not only developed this ship. There were much more different R&D.

There was such an old Soviet film, "I am going to search." In it, a novice shows an experienced engineer his drawing:
“Not bad ... Seventh option?”
- How did you guess?
- At the twenty-seventh you will understand.

Here is our lunar program - this may not be the twenty-seventh option, but somewhere in the twentieth. Much has already been discarded, and key elements have been identified. And if you do not look at the essence of the project and observe it in development, you can not understand this.

What does our lunar program look like today? Let's figure it out. First we’ll try to understand why we need the “Federation”, because we already have the Soyuz ship.

Lunar orbit

First you need to understand that all ongoing projects - both development and research - are associated with the release of stations into the orbit of the moon’s satellite. Serious flying missions are a thing of the past. It is from the lunar orbit that it is convenient to study its surface. It is in lunar orbit that it is convenient to assemble an orbital station. It is in the lunar orbit that it is energetically convenient to wait for the landing ship after takeoff from the moon. It was through the lunar orbit that the Apollo flew to the moon.



An example of a flight scheme. One can see the start to the Earth, access to the lunar orbit, undocking with the landing module, docking with it after take-off from the Moon and start to the Earth.

In other words, in order to successfully complete manned missions, it is desirable to be able to enter the orbit of the moon’s satellite and start from this orbit to the Earth.

The ballistic features of the flight from Earth to the Moon are such that approximately 800 m / s is required for the braking required to enter the Moon’s orbit from the flight path. The task is not completely symmetric, but approximately the same impulse will be required to start from orbit when returning to Earth.

In other words, the total momentum of the ship should be somewhere around 1600 m / s. You can also remember about corrections both on the Earth-Moon track, and in the orbit of the Moon. The polar orbit is also being considered first of all, it is even more difficult to enter it.

Unfortunately, the numbers say little about the mission pattern. There are several ways to gain this speed. So far, two schemes have been developed for the flight to the moon, which, although they solved one problem, were ideologically very different from each other. We will call these flight options a scheme of the Apollo and H1-L3 type.

Apollo scheme

In this scheme, the orbiter, the so-called command-and-service module (CSM), was responsible for braking when the moon entered the orbit of the moon and at launch from its given orbit. Moreover, he had to put into orbit not only himself, but also a heavy landing module weighing about 14.5 tons. This is clearly seen in the presented diagram:



Because of this, his characteristic speed (the maximum speed that he could gain) was very high, much more than necessary at 1600 m / s. The ship itself, in fact, consisted of fuel. With a total ship weight of 28 tons, 18 tons was spent on fuel: the supply is so large that it is unlikely that a manned ship will be available in the near future that can be compared with it in terms of energy.

Here is his cut. Large cylindrical fuel tanks are clearly visible.

Scheme "N1-L3"

Unlike Apollo, in our scheme, a separate block “D” was already responsible for the deceleration and entry into the orbit of the Moon.



On this diagram, our entire bundle is visible. Moreover: block "D" was also responsible for a possible after-run on the way to the moon, access to the lunar orbit and development of most of the impulse for landing the LC.



The orbital ship (it went under the abbreviation LOC) had to work out only an impulse to go to the flight path to Earth. However, the minimum characteristic speed of 800 m / s is not a joke, and the LOC was the champion among our ships in terms of fuel reserves. The total mass of the ship is 9.8 tons, of which 3.1 tons were fuel.

Modern ships

Now let's compare the Apollo and the LOC with the energy of modern ships designed to fly to the moon. Namely, “Orion” and “Federation”.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the choice of one of the above schemes is very important. Such a choice should have been made at the very initial stage of mission design, and all systems should have been designed specifically for such schemes. It should also be noted: due to the fact that the ships have not yet flown, and during their development a lot has changed, it is quite difficult to find the exact data. For example, during the development of Orion, the aggregate compartment with fuel radically changed. He even changed the country of manufacture: if initially it was to be manufactured in the USA, now Europe is making it.



As a result, many numbers "float", as, apparently, refer to different times. For example, the Orion mass of 25 tons is indicated everywhere. When I summed everything up, I got 24 tons. Or the total ship’s cholesterol is 1800 m / s, while I’ve got 1500. Most

likely, the fact is that many numbers are indicated in rounds. For example, it is unlikely that Orion’s tanks have exactly 9 tons of fuel, as indicated in the sources that I studied.

There are even more problems with the Federation: it is even further from the launch, and much has changed in it too. For example, the aggregate compartment, although it has not changed the manufacturer, but its layout, judging by the schemes of different years, has changed dramatically.



But overall there is enough data and energy can be estimated. In a first approximation.

I got such a scheme



Again, I repeat: this is only a general assessment to understand the level of numbers. In reality, everything is a little more complicated. For example, Orion, like Apollo, is planned to be used to deliver station blocks to the Moon’s orbit with subsequent assembly. Just the station’s working orbit is not low circular, but highly elliptical. Energy for access to it is less.

But even according to this scheme, it is clearly seen that if the United States chose the Apollo scheme for implementation, then for the Federation we have chosen the N1-L3 scheme. Our ship must be delivered to the orbit of the moon by a specialized unit. Of course, this is not a special secret. But since the data on the ship are scattered among a large number of presentations, it is quite difficult to understand this point. Although they sometimes sometimes directly indicate that the mass of the ship is 20 tons, it is also its mass in the orbit of the artificial moon satellite. And in the layout a separate brake unit is visible. However, many do not really understand this simple but key point. And now it’s already impossible to switch to another scheme ...

The question of which brake block is planned for the Federation to enter the lunar orbit is quite interesting. However, there are not so many options, and it is not difficult to guess. This should be block "D". Yes, the same one that N1-L3 had for a similar purpose. Moreover, if this happens, he will do what he was created for more than fifty years after development. All these years, he did not fly for the intended purpose. He deduced interplanetary vehicles to the planets, satellites on the GSO ...

However, sometimes other blocks are also drawn. But block "D" is very well suited both layout and energy.

"Union" in the orbit of the moon

It can also be seen from the diagram that the modern Soyuz is not capable of entering the orbit of the moon or leaving orbit if block D is thrown onto it. Soyuz has too little headroom. And this is understandable: for flights to the ISS, large speed reserves are not needed.

So, a special modification of the "Union" is needed. Moreover, a separate question is how much it will weigh. On the one hand, the 1968 LOK weighed about 10 tons - not such a big figure, twice as light as the Federation. But this figure was achieved through the victims, which are now unlikely to go. For example, there was no full-fledged docking station with a transition compartment. Or the same life support system issue.

LOC was designed for two people, with a maximum flight time of 13 days. Almost a minimum for flights to the moon. The Federation has four people and an autonomous flight time of up to a month. "Unions" are now flying for three days and two people - this is not enough now.

With a high degree of probability, even using modern materials, the mass of the ship in orbit of the moon will be more than 10 tons. As an option, you can look at this layout, which was drawn by Anatoly Zak in 2006. This version of the "Union" is delivered to the orbit of the moon, also using the block "D". But to start, the Frigate booster is used.



Knowing the mass of Soyuz and Frigate, we can estimate the total mass of the system at 14-15 tons. 5-6 tons less than the "Federation". But such a scheme will have much less capabilities and will also require significant improvements. For example, the current autonomy of Frigate is estimated at two days, and Soyuz, while maintaining the layout of the current Soyuz-MS, will not be able to successfully dock. Some of the mooring and orientation engines of the Soyuz are located on the tail skirt, and in this scheme are closed by the Frigate.

Estimating the time that will be required to develop a new aggregate compartment and modify the Soyuz, I’m personally not sure that it’s faster to create this option than to work out the “Federation”. Which has much greater potential.

Soyuz-L

That is, the lunar "Union" is not needed? Complex issue. Just by this name is meant another option that is not a competition for the "Federation". Indeed, above we considered precisely the option of a serious ship capable of entering the orbit of the moon’s satellite. But in flight to the moon, this moment is completely optional. You can fly around the moon without going into orbit. Moreover, it was precisely such a mission that we realized in the 60s. It didn’t come to manned flights, but Soviet turtles were the first living creatures to fly around the moon.



However, if then they made significant sacrifices in order to pack the Soyuz with the D block into one Proton, then now this is unlikely to be decided. Flying without a reserve parachute, as they did then, will now be a complete adventure. The current project provides for the assembly of the complex in Earth orbit using docking. Fortunately, over the past 50 years it has been well-developed with us. And it may look something like this:



This requires one Proton launch and one Soyuz launch. And docking in orbit.

Such a project can only fly around the Moon, but if successfully implemented, it will allow us to restore our experience in working with ships near the Moon - both in terms of communications, and to determine the trajectories and the required correction levels. We will again recall how to return objects at a second cosmic speed, what algorithms for controlling the SA will be required to return to our territory, and much more.

Such a mission looks much cheaper than a single launch of the "Federation" and will allow you to get good experience before its launch, and possibly reduce the time for its development. It’s just that at least the start of the flight tests of the “Federation” is in 2022, it is her flight to the moon that is scheduled for the end of the 20th. When suitable media appears.

However, while such "Soyuz-L" is not in the plans. But "Roskosmos" seriously set its sights on the creation of the "Federation", and, therefore, on launches to the moon.

That's just the ship - that's not all. The question arises: how to bring it to the moon?
About it will be the second part.