New head of the Khrunichev Center

[syndroma]

Nov 25. President's decree fires Medvedev, who headed the Khrunichev Center for almost 5 years. Nesterov, chief of a department in Roskosmos, was assigned to that job.<br /><br />Khrunichev Center = Proton, Rockot, Angara, FGB.

 

[shoogerbrugge]

How far is this story connected with this story <br /><br />When I read that, there were nasty ideas going through my head of bringing back the space industry under further central state control through sketchy policies. Although Khrunichev has always been a state company.

 

[syndroma]

I don't think there'll be one single megacorporation. But obviously Roskosmos wants to control all significant companies. Medvedev was the last one who tried to play over the heads of Roskosmos, directly to President.<br /><br />I think the formal reason for discharge was the "loss" of Monitor satellite. The funny thing is that the first image from Monitor was received at Saturday and was scheduled to be published tomorrow.

 

[shoogerbrugge]

aha, well then I better only start to get worried once Roskosmos will try to bring Energia back into state control. Since that is one of the few private space companies.<br /><br /><br />I remember the Monitor E spacecraft, what had happened to it. Wrong orbit or did it fail to get out of safemode.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <br /><br />

 

[syndroma]

> <i>well then I better only start to get worried once Roskosmos will try to bring Energia back into state control.</i><br /><br />Well, Roskosmos already did it. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br />Roskosmos assigned Sevastyanov as the head of Energia this spring, against the will of employees. It made a lot of noise back then.<br /><br /> /> <i>I remember the Monitor E spacecraft, what had happened to it. Wrong orbit or did it fail to get out of safemode.</i><br /><br />Software errors. It lost orientation in October, and Roskosmos issued press release where they called it "lost" and blamed Khrunichev & Medvedev personally for that. But now Monitor-E seems to be fully operational. Roskosmos owns 70% of its images, Khrunichev - 30%.

 

[shoogerbrugge]

owwww right........<br /><br /><br />Love it how these things work over in Russia <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /><br /><br /><br />Now for something completly different. Do you know why Roskosmos has been suddenly leading the new Proton M campaign, or at least according to article <br /><br />Now Im really starting to get worried. Because its a normal Khrunichev/ILS launch. Usually something Roskomos has no dealing with. <br /><br /><br />

 

[syndroma]

It just means that Roskosmos employees take place of military personnel which usually coordinate the launch.<br />BUT: people are the same, employer differs.<br /><br />Everything else is Roskosmos PR.

 

[syndroma]

> <i>Love it how these things work over in Russia <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /></i><br /><br />I find nothing sad here. It's just how things are going.<br />Sevastyanov looks quite reasonable. Can't say anything about Nesterov yet, we'll see.

 

[shoogerbrugge]

Off course I suppose that you have a better view of whats going on, compared to this "armchair" spectator. But sometimes its a bit depressing to see how "selective" certain companies are targeted and others remain untouched.<br /><br />Im not saying that all state control is wrong, but its just that I fear that space and space-related business become another Kremlin tool for foreign policies, just like the oil business. And politics often doesn't result in cooperation with foreign partners.

 

[syndroma]

I'm a spectator too, I just have more sources of information.<br /><br /> /> <i>But sometimes its a bit depressing to see how "selective" certain companies are targeted and others remain untouched.</i><br /><br />It's not the case. ALL major space companies got new top management this year. Energia, Energomash, Lavochkin, now Khrunichev. New head of Roskosmos started this process. And I find it quite positive, because some top manages were there since 1980s and were unable to adapt to new economy.<br /><br /> /> <i>I fear that space and space-related business become another Kremlin tool for foreign policies, just like the oil business.</i><br /><br />I hope not. Once Putin was asked about flight to Mars on a press conference. He answered that there's no need to make it a national goal, it should be evolutionary process, the industry and society should evolve to make it happen.<br /><br />If Kremlin realy want to make some cool politics out of space, they can flood the industry with the money. $50bn in the Stabilization Fund can make real flight to Mars in 2015. But it won't happen.

 

[russophile]

Hi, I'm new to this forum. Been a close observer of the Russian space scene for some time.<br /><br />Does anyone have an idea about the future of the Proton business? It seems launches are being delayed and production is down.

 

[russophile]

Hi,<br /><br />Any more information about changes at Khrunichev?

 

[shoogerbrugge]

There were some range problems with Kazakhstan on the use of the Proton earlier this year. But the problems have been solved as far as I know. It had to due with the potential pollution because of the hypergolic fuels. This is also the main reason why Kazakstan is partly funding the BiaTrek launchpad (yet to be build) for the Angara, which flies on more enviromental friendly fuels.<br /><br />But the future for the Proton doesn't look that bleak. Angara is slipping and slipping, it will take AT LEAST another 5 years before the heavies are flying from Plestek or Biakonur. Further more ILS is still getting orders for the ProtonM/BreezeM combination. Maybe not as fast as a couple of years ago, but the drop in launch rate is not dramatic. The ProtonK/BlockDM launches are dependent on the launch rate of Ekspress and Glonass payloads, thus on the budget of RSA, so its not that likely that this source of income will dissapear.<br /><br />The main political problems are supposed to be over now with the new head at Khrunichev. The only problem I can think of is the Rockot, the launch failure of the Cryosat was regretable, and the ESA decision to favour European launchers doesn't spell a good future for the Rockot. In the past ESA was its main customer, but soon Vega will be operational and in the same class as Rockot