Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has been tasked with overseeing the completion of the Vostochny Space Launch Centre in Blagoveshchensk, eastern Russia, amid fears its construction is slipping behind schedule.
The first launch from the…
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has been tasked with overseeing the completion of the Vostochny Space Launch Centre in Blagoveshchensk, eastern Russia, amid fears its construction is slipping behind schedule.
The first launch from the cosmodrome, a Soyuz-2 rocket, is scheduled to take place early next year with final completion by 2018. But the government is concerned that it will miss this deadline with accusations of a project beset by financial irregularities and a shortage in construction staff.
Rogozin will now lead the Vostochny coordination commission and will manage the project onsite, rather than from Moscow where it was more difficult to monitor its development.
Speaking at a ministerial visit to the cosmodrome, Rogozin was quoted by local media as saying: “The President supports my proposal with regard to the improvement of the standards of the construction project’s coordination. He has taken the decision that the Deputy Prime Minister is going to be the head of the coordination commission and not Roscosmos.
“So it is clear that I will not only take personal control of everything, but I will also lead all the works with regards to the Vostochny cosmodrome construction.”
To make sure it is completed on schedule, President Putin has allocated an additional Rbs50bn (US$1.35bn) of funding towards the construction.
Contemporaneously, an investigation has been launched into alleged financial irregularities that took place in the early stages of the project.
Putin approves super-heavy launcher
Rogozin also revealed that President Putin has given his preliminary approval to the development of a new super-heavy rocket capable of lifting up to 150 tons.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that, once the development of the family of Angara rockets is complete, the country should shift its focus to creating a super-heavy rocket that sends spacecraft beyond Earth’s orbit.
RIA Novosti reported that the plan to build a new super-heavy carrier rocket was included in the draft Federal Space Program (FSP) for 2015-2025, but this was yet to be officially approved.
This plan would see the rocket developed in two stages: The initial construction of a rocket capable of lifting up to 80 tons, and then a launcher capable of lifting up to 120 tons into a low-Earth orbit.
The report claims that both RSC Energia and Khrunichev have applied to be involved in the project.
The modular Angara launch vehicle system comprises at least five rockets capable of lifting between two to 35 ton spacecraft. The first rocket, Angara-1.2PP, completed its maiden suborbital mission in July 2014.
The government plans to launch the rockets from both the Vostochny and Plesetsk cosmodromes. The latter is situated in north-west Russia.
