Russia is actively preparing for new launches of the Angara family of launch vehicles. Production of components has already begun for the modernized launch vehicle called the Angara-A5M. This was announced in an interview with "Pro космос" by Sergey Kuznetsov, General Designer of the V.M. Myasishchev Design Bureau "Salyut" (part of the M.V. Khrunichev Center of the Roscosmos State Corporation).
The next launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome under the current contract involves the use of the already modernized version of the Angara, the so-called Angara-A5M. Work is actively underway to create this machine. The release of design documentation has been completed, the manufacture of test machines is underway, and the manufacture of the first two flight articles has already begun. The specific launch date of these machines has not yet been determined and will depend on the tasks to be solved during these launches.
The first launch of the Angara-A5M is scheduled from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in 2027.
As for the predecessor of the Angara-A5M, the Angara-A5, which launched from this cosmodrome on April 11 and became the first heavy rocket for it, Kuznetsov gives its launch a high rating. He notes this launch both as "a new starting point, certainly strategically important for the country", and as "a significant increase in the payload capacity of the Angara, provided by the geographical latitude of the cosmodrome".
We have only just begun flight design tests, and for the first launch of a rocket from a completely new start, with new, not yet tested infrastructure, I rate the work performed on April 11 at a fairly high level. We have confirmed the technical and design solutions incorporated in the development of the space rocket complex. I also want to note that our efforts will not only focus on these two comments, absolutely all issues that arose both during the preparation of the rocket in the MIK and directly at the launch complex will be analyzed, and for each, a set of measures will be implemented to ensure high-quality, trouble-free operation of the complex in the future.
The first launch of the Angara-A5 was scheduled for noon Moscow time on April 9, with several backup dates. On the first day, the launch was canceled two minutes before the start, and a failure in the central block oxidizer tank pressurization system was named as the reason.
A day later, on April 10, they tried to launch again at Vostochny. But it was also canceled in the last minutes: the automation worked. According to Yuri Borisov, head of the state corporation, according to preliminary data, the reason was related to a failure in the engine start control system.
The fact that two launches were canceled in a row for technical reasons, according to the head of the space agency Yuri Borisov, was normal: the Amur space rocket complex, which includes the Angara-A5, was just beginning its tests, and it is better to identify and eliminate all the nuances at first. Irreversible processes requiring the removal of the launch vehicle from the launch complex did not occur, and on April 11, the rocket successfully left the Earth.
Kuznetsov noted in an interview that all the comments received during the first test launch will be taken into account, and "measures will be implemented that will exclude the possibility of their recurrence on subsequent launches with regular payloads".
We have only just begun flight design tests, and for the first launch of a rocket from a completely new start, with new, not yet tested infrastructure, I rate the work performed on April 11 at a fairly high level.
The management of Roscosmos previously stated that it plans to build about eight heavy Angara-A5 rockets plus a certain number of light Angara-1.2 rockets per year in the coming years. It is known that 21 sets of RD-191 engine units and assemblies are already ready for the assembly of Angara rockets.
Read materials on the topic:
Angara will receive new head fairings from Rostec and will try to fly to Mars
