Angara (rocket)

Angara

Angara 1.2 and Angara A5
Function	Launch vehicle
Manufacturer	Khrunichev, KBKhA
Country of origin	Russia
Size
Height	42.7 m (140 ft)-64 m (210 ft)
Width	Angara 1.2 2.9 m (9 ft 6 in) Angara A5 8.86 m (29.1 ft)
Mass	171,500 kg (378,100 lb)-790,000 kg (1,740,000 lb)
Stages	2-3
Capacity
Payload to LEO (Plesetsk)	3,800 kg (8,400 lb)-24,500 kg (54,000 lb)
Payload to GTO (Plesetsk)	5,400 kg (11,900 lb)-7,500 kg (16,500 lb)
Associated rockets
Comparable	Naro-1 used a modified URM-1 first stage
Launch history
Status	Active
Launch sites	Plesetsk Site 35
Total launches	2 (A1.2PP: 1, A5: 1)
Successes	2 (A1.2PP: 1, A5: 1)
First flight	A1.2PP: July 9, 2014 A5: December 23, 2014
Boosters (A5) - URM-1
No. boosters	4 (see text)
Engines	1 RD-191
Thrust	1,920 kN (430,000 lbf) (Sea level)
Total thrust	7,680 kN (1,730,000 lbf) (Sea level)
Specific impulse	310.7 s (3.047 km/s) (Sea level)
Burn time	214 seconds
Fuel	RP-1/LOX
First stage - URM-1
Engines	1 RD-191
Thrust	1,920 kN (430,000 lbf) (Sea level)
Specific impulse	310.7 s (3.047 km/s) (Sea level)
Burn time	Angara 1.2: 214 seconds Angara A5: 325 seconds
Fuel	RP-1/LOX
Second stage - URM-2
Engines	1 RD-0124A
Thrust	294.3 kN (66,200 lbf)
Specific impulse	359 s (3.52 km/s)
Burn time	Angara A5: 424 seconds
Fuel	RP-1/LOX
Third stage (A5) - Briz-M (optional)
Engines	1 S5.98M
Thrust	19.6 kN (4,400 lbf)
Specific impulse	326 s (3.20 km/s)
Burn time	3,000 seconds
Fuel	N2O4/UDMH
Third stage (A5) - KVTK (optional, under development)
Engines	1 RD-0146D
Thrust	68.6 kN (15,400 lbf)
Specific impulse	463 s (4.54 km/s)
Burn time	1,350 seconds
Fuel	LH2/LOX

The Angara rocket family is a family of space-launch vehicles being developed by the Moscow-based Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. The rockets are to put between 3,800 and 24,500 kg into low Earth orbit and are intended, along with Soyuz-2 variants, to replace several existing launch vehicles.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many formerly Soviet launch vehicles were built in or required components from companies now located in Ukraine, such as Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, which produced Zenit-2, and Yuzhmash, which produced Dnepr and Tsyklon. Additionally, the Soviet Union's main spaceport, Baikonur Cosmodrome, was located in Kazakhstan, and Russia encountered difficulties negotiating for its use. This led to the decision in 1992 to develop a new entirely Russian launch vehicle, named Angara, to replace the rockets now built outside of the country, and ensure Russian access to space without Baikonur. It was decided that this vehicle should ideally use the partially completed Zenit-2 launch pad at the Russian Plesetsk spaceport, and be able to launch military satellites into geosynchronous orbit, which Proton could not due to lack of a launch pad at Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Several companies submitted bids for the new rocket, and in 1994 Khrunichev, the developer of Proton, was selected as the winner. The commercial success of Proton over the next two decades would be an advantage to Khrunichev, as the Angara project immediately ran into funding difficulties from the cash-strapped Russian government.

Khrunichev's initial design called for the use of a modified RD-170 for first stage propulsion and a liquid hydrogen powered second stage. By 1997, the hydrogen-powered second stage had been abandoned in favor of kerosene, and the RD-170 was replaced with a modular design which would be powered by the new RD-191, a one-chamber engine derived from the four-chamber RD-170. In late 1997 Khrunichev was given approval from the Russian government to proceed with their new design, which would both be able to replace the ICBM-based Dnepr, Tsyklon, and Rokot with its smaller variants, as well as be able to launch satellites into geostationary orbit from Plesetsk with the Proton-class Angara A5. This new modular rocket would require construction of a new launch pad.