No longer able to export rocket engines to the United States, Roscomos is looking to India as a new market. RBC reports that the state corporation is exploring the possibility of supplying 10 RD-191 rocket engines manufactured by NPO Energomash to India over a five-year period beginning in 2024.

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MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — At the opening of the Army-2022 International Military-Technical Forum, Yuri Borisov, General Director of the State Corporation Roscosmos, named the main areas of activity of the space industry.

“Dear colleagues, friends!

I am glad to welcome you to the main military-technical forum of Russia!

Ahead of us are several days of a rich and extensive program demonstrating the achievements of Russian enterprises, design centers and bureaus, as well as the huge potential of our engineers and workers.

This year the forum is taking place in very difficult foreign policy conditions, so we decided to focus on three extremely important aspects of our work.

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MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — The Keldysh Center (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) presented correction systems for heavy geostationary spacecraft based on the KM-75 Hall engines and ID-200KR ion engines at the Army-2022 International Military-Technical Forum. The center also unveiled an electric propulsion system based on the KM-10 Hall engine for space stations and tugs at the forum.

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MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — Roscosmos Director General Yuri Borisov, during a visit to the Cosmonaut Training Center, discussed with the cosmonaut corps the future of Russia’s manned program, including the creation of the Russian Orbital Station.

“Some of you will open the way to the Russian Orbital Station,” said Borisov, addressing the cosmonauts.

MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — The Ministry of Defense of Russia and the JSC Makeyev Design Bureau (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) signed a contract for the supply of the latest Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles at the Army-2022 International Military-Technical Forum. On the part of the Russian defense department, the contract was signed by the Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia Alexei Krivoruchko, and on the part of the Makeyev […]

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MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — On Monday, August 15, 2022, the Roscosmos State Corporation, during the Army-2022 International Military-Technical Forum, for the first time showed the public a mock-up of the new Russian orbital station.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

During the past week, SpaceX launched 98 Starlink satellites, a Chinese commercial launch provider made it three in a row, Russia launched a rideshare mission with an Iranian satellite aboard, and India’s new small satellite launcher fell just short of orbit.

There have been 103 orbital launches worldwide, with 99 successes and four failures.

Let’s take a closer look at the last week in launch.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Ambitious launch schedules typically go awry when a rocket suffers a catastrophic failure that takes months to investigate and implement modifications to ensure the same accident doesn’t happen again. In the majority of cases, the failures involve a machine launching a machine. All that can be replaced, albeit at substantial cost.

Russia’s ambitious launch plans for 2022 fell apart due to a far more momentous and deadly action: the nation’s invasion of Ukraine. The decision ruptured cooperation with the West on virtually every space project on which it was safe to do so. The main exception was the International Space Station (ISS), a program involving astronauts and cosmonauts that would be difficult to operate safely if Russia suddenly withdrew (as it indeed threatened to do).

Due to the invasion, Western partners canceled seven launches of foreign payloads in less than a month. The cancellations put Russia even further behind the United States and China in launch totals this year.

The new head of Roscosmos says that Russia will leave the International Space Station program after 2024. The Associated Press reports: Yuri Borisov, appointed this month to lead the state space agency, Roscosmos, said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that Russia will fulfill its obligations to its partners before it leaves. “The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made,” Borisov said, adding: “I think that […]

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

The first half of 2022 saw more commercial travelers — 16 — launch into space than the 10 professional astronauts who work for government-run space agencies. However, those numbers come with an asterisk or two.

Four of the 14 astronauts who launched into orbit flew on Axiom Space’s privately funded and operated crew flight to the International Space Station (ISS). Blue Origin launched 12 individuals into space on two flights of the company’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle.

The other 10 astronauts who launched to ISS and the Tiangong space station worked fulltime for NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), China Manned Space Agency, or Russia’s Roscosmos State Space Corporation. SpaceX flew American and European astronauts to ISS on the company-owned Crew Dragon spacecraft under a NASA contract. The Russians and Chinese flew aboard government-owned and operated spacecraft.