The production of the hull of the Federation spaceship has begun
In Russia, the production of the hull of the first instance of the new generation spacecraft Federation has begun.
At Samara's Arkonik SMZ enterprise, they began to fulfill an order from the Experimental Mechanical Engineering Plant, part of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC), for the manufacture of an aluminum hull for the first Federation ship.
At the first stage of the implementation of this order, the enclosures of the aggregate compartment and the returned apparatus will be manufactured.
The Arkonik SMZ enterprise has been cooperating with RSC Energia for a long time and has all the necessary industrial capacities to fulfill the order; it is the largest Russian enterprise for the production of aluminum semi-finished products.
About 3,000 people work at the Samara Metallurgical Plant, the quality management system at the plant is certified according to ISO 9001, and the environmental management system of the enterprise is certified according to ISO 14001.
According to the contract between RSC Energia and Roscosmos, production of the Federation ship for the first flight was to start in 2016 and last until 2023.
After several years of delays, Roscosmos finally began manufacturing a new hull of the Federation spacecraft.
The state corporation Roscosmos is now in full swing to control the manufacture of elements of a manned transport ship, complex measures are being taken to accompany and monitor the stages of its production.
The aggregate compartment and the return device of the Federation will be made of aluminum, although it was previously assumed that the new ship would be 80% composed of composite materials.
In 2015, Roscosmos demonstrated a composite carbon capsule of a prototype ship at the MAKS air show.
It turns out that the capsule for this presentation was produced in Germany at the facilities of Aerospace Composites GmbH, specially commissioned by RSC Energia.
However, in connection with the sanctions for the supply of finished composite products to Russia, the order of carbon capsules for spacecraft at the moment has become impossible.
A few years ago, RSC Energia decided to deploy a composite production workshop on its territory. At present, there is no data on the readiness of this workshop and equipment for the production of the necessary units.
It is possible that the development and launch of this workshop was preventively stopped when the composite hull of the Federation ship failed a toxicological test.
It turned out that during a long flight into the atmosphere of the ship, harmful and toxic substances can be released.
In addition, a number of experts previously expressed concerns about the use of a composite housing instead of aluminum in connection with the possible insufficient strength of the new material.
Currently, all foreign spacecraft are also made of aluminum - the American Orion, Starliner and Dragon.
The Federation project is a new generation reusable manned spacecraft. The device should replace the Soyuz series ships.
It is assumed that the Federation will be launched into orbit with the help of the Irtysh launch vehicle (Soyuz-5 project).
In addition to problems with the capsule material and lagging behind the production schedule, there were even questions about the name of the launched vehicles - the new spacecraft, which are now called the “Federation”, can be renamed in honor of the first Russian ships built by Peter I.
In "Roskosmos" as a new name they offer: "Eagle", "Flag" or "Stork". It is emphasized that this is only an idea, and a final decision on this issue has not been made.
The first test flight of the Federation spacecraft is planned for 2022, and in 2023 it is planned to be sent to the ISS in unmanned mode, in 2024 the spacecraft should go to the ISS with the crew on board.
