Rus-M was a proposed launcher design which was intended to become Russia's main launch vehicle for manned spaceflight after 2018, and an integral part of the Prospective Piloted Transport System

Prospective Piloted Transport System

PPTS , unofficially called Rus, is a project being undertaken by the Russian Federal Space Agency to develop a new-generation manned spacecraft...

 which included a new manned spacecraft being developed to replace the Soyuz.

Rus-M was being developed by TsSKB-Progress, beginning in 2009. The program was halted in October 2011.

History

In spring of 2009 TsSKB-Progress won a government contract to develop a new launcher for Russia's manned space program. The project was featured in MAKS 2009 Airshow

MAKS Airshow

MAKS is an International Air Show held near Moscow, Russia on Zhukovskiy LII air field. The first show, Mosaeroshow-92, was held in 1992. Since 1993, it was renamed to its current name and is held on odd years .MAKS is an important event in Russian business...

, and preliminary design of the vehicle was expected to be submitted to the Russian space agency Roskosmos by August 2010.

Requirements

Safety requirements put forward by Roscosmos emphasized that the launcher design is to be extremely reliable; crew rescue option must be available at any stage of flight, and launcher departure from the launch pad must be guaranteed for the case of an emergency during an early stage of the launch sequence. The launcher was planned to provide a basis for a future heavy launcher capable to carry a payload of 5060 tons, as well as for a super-heavy design lifting 130150 tons.

Description

, Rus-M was to use three Energomash

NPO Energomash

NPO Energomash “V. P. Glushko” is a Russian manufacturer originated from design bureau, which focuses primarily on the development and production of liquid propellant rocket engines. NPO Energomash is based in Moscow, with satellite facilities in Samara, Perm, and St. Petersburg, and employs close...

 RD-180 kerosene and liquid oxygen engines for its first stage and four RD-0146

RD-0146

The RD-0146 is a Russian cryogenic rocket engine. It is said to be the Russian version of the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RL10 engine. The RD-0146 engine was developed by KBKhA design bureau in Voronezh, Russia, in cooperation with the American Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne company...

 hydrogen/oxygen engines developed by Chemical Automatics Design Bureau

Chemical Automatics Design Bureau

Chemical Automatics Design Bureau , also KB Khimavtomatika is a Russian Design Bureau founded by the NKAP in 1941 and led by Semyon Kosberg until his death in 1965. Its origin dates back to a 1940 Moscow carburetor factory, evacuated to Berdsk in 1941, and then relocated to Voronezh in 1945,...

 for its upper stage. It will be able to lift an unmanned payload of 23.8 tons to the 200-km, 51.7-degree circular orbit; a manned payload of 18.8 tons to the 135 by 400-km orbit; 7.0 tons to geostationary transfer orbit

Geostationary transfer orbit

A geosynchronous transfer orbit or geostationary transfer orbit is a Hohmann transfer orbit used to reach geosynchronous or geostationary orbit....

 and 4.0 tons to geostationary orbit

Geostationary orbit

A geostationary orbit is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator , with a period equal to the Earth's rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero. An object in a geostationary orbit appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers...

.

Development

TsSKB Progress is responsible for overall project leadership, system integration, second stage development and production. First stage development will be led by Makeev KB Mash, while NPO Avtomatiki will provide the rocket's flight control system.

External links

• Launch vehicle for PPTS spacecraft