The world's first partly-re-usable acceleration module, the new Fregat upper stage, just completed its flight. Russian recovery teams
never found the two innovative inflatable reentry heat shields also launched, though experts believe that both devices did their job of returning cargo to Earth.
But with Fregat's success come several questions: Will it move the Russian space program to a higher orbit? Will it help at least one of the oldest Russian aerospace enterprises to survive? These and other questions were answered exclusively for SPACE.com by Valery Timofeev, First Deputy General Designer of NPO Lavochkin, the designers of Fregat.
SPACE.com: How would you evaluate the first test flight of Fregat?
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| The five orbits of the Fregat/IRDT mission and inset map showing search area around the city of Orenburg near the Kazakh-Russian border and along Ural River. Click to enlarge.
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| Artist view of Fregat upper stage and IRDT payload. Credit: Starsem. Click to enlarge.
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| The exploded view of the Fregat upper stage. Credit: Starsem. Click to enlarge.
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TIMOFEEV: The Fregat test flight was an enormous success of NPO Lavochkin. NPO has been working on this spacecraft since 1992. For different reasons we did not have too much luck during the last few years. The Fregat success was well deserved. We pay a lot of attention to R&D. In our work on Fregat we were sticking to the tradition of Semyon Lavochkin, a founder of our enterprise and a famous fighter-airplane designer during World War 2. Lavochkin never started designing an aircraft until he had an engine for it. We did the same thing with Fregat. We installed in Fregat the same engine we used for [the] Phobos and the Mars '96 spacecraft. This technology was thoroughly tested, both on Earth and in space, and proved to be very reliable. To summarize: we believe that February 9 is the day of NPO resurrection. The Fregat program will be able to bring money to the enterprise and to retain young specialists at NPO.
SPACE.com: What did Fregat carry on board?
TIMOFEEV: The payload of the first flight consisted of three components. The first component was just a weight which assured that this payload would have the required mass. Another element was a demonstrator, which was supposed to be used in Mars '96. Its diameter varies from 2.4 to 3.8 meters (7.4 to 12.5 feet). A third component was an inflatable Fregat rescue system, which is about 14 meters (46 feet) in diameter.
SPACE.com: What are the most distinguished features of Fregat?
TIMOFEEV: First of all, it is smaller than other acceleration modules. It allows [the] use [of] a fairing of a smaller size…to put more payload under it. Second, it is lighter than similar spacecraft. Fregat's dry weight is less than a metric ton, but it takes in its fuel tanks more than 5 tons (4,536 kilograms) of fuel. Fregat has a very compact design and its skin is only 1.8 millimeters (0.07 inches) thick. This is why we managed to get such good flight and payload characteristics…[for]…Fregat.
Judge for yourself: A
Soyuz launch vehicle equipped with Ikar acceleration module can put in geostationary orbit only 3.3 metric tons (3,300 kilograms), while Fregat can deliver to the same orbit 4.2 tons (4,200 kilograms). Using a car analogy one can say: Fregat is like a Ford Crown Victoria while its predecessors are like a Ford Escort -- judging by the power of their engines, not by the sizes of these vehicles, of course.
Fregat is also extremely versatile. You can mate it with almost any launch vehicle which is currently in operation in Russia: Zenit,
Proton and upcoming Angara. However, the most important feature of Fregat is that its engine can be turned on and off many times in orbit. The L module of the Soyuz LV can do only one cycle, [the] D module of [the] Proton LV can do two. These are their limits. Fregat’s engine could be turned on and off up to 20 times. We did only four cycles during the first flight. To meet ESA (European Space Agency) requirements, which wants us to put Cluster satellites in orbit by using Fregat, we need only two cycles. So, we did two extra cycles for the purpose of test. They all went flawlessly. These tests were not required by a contract, but we could not miss such a good opportunity to do them.
| NPO Lavochkin |
| NPO Lavochkin is the only enterprise in Russia which develops automated spacecraft to study the Moon, Venus and Mars. It also develops accelerated modules for Molniya M launch vehicles, Oko and Prognos missile attack warning satellites. In 1997, it developed the heavy optical-electronic reconnaissance satellite Araks, also called 11F664 and Kosmos 2344. |
SPACE.com: Why do you need so many cycles?
TIMOFEEV: Imagine, we put 20 satellites on Fregat and deliver them to 20 different orbits. It is not by chance that Fregat was called a "space tug." Besides, so many cycles assure a high degree of maneuverability of spacecraft which could easily taxi among different planets of the
solar system.
SPACE.com: Will you continue testing cycling capacity of Fregat during next flights?
TIMOFEEV: Fregat’s engine will do only two cycles during second flight of the spacecraft. The second cycle will deliver Fregat to 600-kilometer (373-mile) orbit. [The] third and fourth flights of Fregats with Cluster [satellites] on board will be the same as the second launch.
SPACE.com: What did happen to Fregat at re-entry and landing? Why is the spacecraft still missing?
TIMOFEEV: Nothing happened to Fregat. As I said earlier, all the goals of the flight, including launch preparation, liftoff, orbital altitude, orbital maneuvering, reentry and landing have been reached 100 percent. We even exceeded test load by two times: our customer required only two cycles but we did four of them. Besides, the problem of the returning of different kinds of payloads from space still needs to be solved. And I believe that we solved this problem.
A cargo mock-up did a planned separation from the spacecraft and made a soft landing. By the way, I just got a report from a rescue helicopter that the crew saw something that could be part of the spacecraft. Fregat landed just within 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the expected point of touchdown. However, a thunderstorm in the landing area makes the search very difficult. For some reason we did not get a signal from Fregat's radio beacon. I don’t know why it happened. Maybe it was a problem not with a transmitter but with a receiver. I have to see and examine the equipment to make any definite conclusion.
I would like to stress one more time: everything, probably with the only exception of the radio beacon glitch, went as planned. But even if Fregat did not make a soft landing, I would not worry about it too much. Keep in mind that, traditionally, acceleration blocks are not…re-usable hardware. We just used this opportunity to test the equipment that was installed in Mars '96 and was supposed to be used on Mars. It was designed to work with [the] Mars '96 penetrator. It was a first flight test of this system.
SPACE.com: What will be the next generation of Fregat-type spacecraft?
TIMOFEEV: We are currently working on a Fregat that will be twice as powerful as the one that has just been tested. The new Fregat, or Fregat 2, could be launched by Proton. It will have the same avionics as Fregat. There is also a concept of a "lift" version of Fregat. We combine fuel tanks of the L module with Fregat technologies. What we will get is a very good acceleration module that could be mated with a decommissioned type of a vehicle like SS 18, to launch small satellites.
SPACE.com: When will Fregat 2 fly?
TIMOFEEV: If we had talked 30 years ago, I would have been able to tell you when Fregat 2 will fly. But today I will answer your question by another question: How much will you give me to launch Fregat 2? The idea of such a module was originated in 1992, by NPO employee Vladimir Asyushkin. He shared his thoughts with then-NPO general designer, Vyacheslav Kovtunenko. The work on Fregat went very slowly. We had to rely only on our scarce resources. It was only after
Starsem, [the] French company, began experiencing problems with launching Cluster satellites…[on]…Ariane, and agreed to cover 25 percent of the expenses related to ground tests, [that] we were able to say when Fregat…[would]…fly. We did everything according to the schedule. We promised to launch Fregat last January. We would have done it but because of [the] Progress M 1-1 launch, we had to move the Fregat launch date to February. In March, another qualifying flight of Fregat will take place.
SPACE.com: Are you looking in the future?
TIMOFEEV: Of course we are. This is why we are testing not only commercially-applicable technologies, but also those which will be able to deliver spacecraft to different planets of the solar system.
SPACE.com: Would you be able to participate in
ISS program?
TIMOFEEV: Sure, we could use our rescue system tested in Fregat to bring loads from ISS to Earth.
SPACE.com: What is the current state of NPO?
TIMOFEEV: In 1990, 11,000 employees worked at NPO. The last 10 years were very hard for NPO. Sometimes people did not get paid for nine months. Currently there are about 5,500 employees in the company. NPO is located near Moscow and many young people found jobs in the Russian capital. The average age of our employees is about 50 years. Young people are not interested in working for NPO. Fregat is our hope. If it is in demand both in Russia and abroad, we will have a steady revenue and we will be able to retain young specialists. To summarize: Khrunichev is conquering the world market with Proton launch vehicles and D modules;
RKK Energia with Progress and Soyuz spacecraft, and we hope that in the future we will find foreign clients who will be interested in our Fregat.
SPACE.com: Do you currently rely mostly on federal or foreign orders?
TIMOFEEV: Hopefully, Russia will recuperate some day and pay decent money to its intellectuals. However, before it happens there is only one way to survive: to work on foreign orders. The so-called "new Russians" are interested only in immediate return on their investments, but it takes more than a few years to get a return on a new spacecraft.
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