Space News by Matthew Bodner — June 26, 2018
In his first interview as head of Russia’s Roscosmos space corporation, Dmitry Rogozin confirmed reports of the venerable Proton rocket’s coming demise, elaborated on plans to restructure and relocate the Khrunichev rocket factory, and suggested Russia is looking to make its segment of the International Space Station more autonomous.
“We must now move onto a new generation of rockets,†Rogozin was quoted as saying in an interview published by the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency Friday. These efforts are intimately tied with the ongoing struggle to raise the Khrunichev rocket enterprise, Russia’s flagship rocket production facility, out of a reported 100 billion rubles of debt ($1.6 billion).
Khrunichev builds both the Proton rocket and the new Angara family of launch vehicles. Aside from the organization’s serious financial issues, Khrunichev has been at the center of Russia’s repeated launch failure controversies. Multiple Proton failures have been linked to quality control failures on the production floor.
“When Khrunichev simultaneously produces both old and new heavy-duty rockets,†Rogozin said, “it will inevitably lead to the financial collapse of the enterprise. Eternal state support is impossible and inefficient, so we need to concentrate on what is most important, and that is the Angara launch vehicle in light, medium, heavy and — in the future — super-heavy variants.â€
More:
http://spacenews.com/new-roscosmos-chief-prioritizes-ending-protons-reign/
