Formation of a compact technopark: what tasks will be solved by the National Space Center

Not later than 2022 the National Space Center (NSC) will be opened in Moscow. This was stated by the director general of the Roscosmos state corporation, Dmitry Rogozin, told reporters. According to him, construction work, which will begin in 2019, should take no more than four years.

“This is not some kind of fantasy or projecting. This is the prospect of 3.5-4 years. 2022 - the date of completion of the work. Engineers will move to modern jobs, to digital production. This is what young people dream of and what the Khrunichev Center staff deserves, ”said Rogozin.

The main objective of the NCC, as explained by the head of Roscosmos, is to form a technopark where the leading enterprises of the state corporation and the rocket and space industry of the Moscow region will be located “compactly”.

• Shop rocket plant them. Khrunichev
• © Sergey Mamontov / RIA News

The emergence of the cluster will reduce the cost of renting space, paying taxes on land and property, as well as reduce the costs of staff travel and logistics needs. According to estimates of Roscosmos, the corporation will be able to save 836 million rubles annually.

The building in the form of "Angara"

The order for the creation of a space center was given to Roscosmos by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his message to the Federal Assembly. The NCC will be located mainly on the territory of the Khrunichev State Space Research and Production Center (GKNPT).

Now the enterprise occupies 140 hectares in the west of Moscow in the Fili-Davydkovo area, but most of this land (about 90 hectares) is not used for production purposes.

As Rogozin said, earlier Roscosmos considered the possibility of transferring vacant territory to developers. However, during the discussion of the future Khrunichev Center, in coordination with Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, it was decided to establish the NCC.

The total area of ​​the space center will be more than 140 hectares. A multifunctional office building, a situational center for managing space activities, production halls, an educational complex, a branch of a branch bank (Roskosmosbank), which will be created on the basis of Fondservisbank, will be located on this territory in the flood plain of the Moscow River.

An area of ​​3.82 ha will be allocated for residential development. In this area are the homes of employees of the Khrunichev Center. By agreement with the mayor's office, residential buildings will be included in the renovation program.

The office complex, which will occupy 9.9 hectares, will be moved by the Roscosmos branches located in the capital, as well as all the design offices and engineering units that are part of the Khrunichev Center.

In addition, the premises of the office complex will be rented by resident companies of the technopark. NCC will have Russian companies that are not part of Roscosmos, but related to the rocket and space industry (developers of composite materials, alloys, component base, control systems, etc.).

Currently approved draft design of the building. Rogozin supports the option of building an office center in the form of the Angara super heavy-duty launch vehicle, which is the brainchild of the Khrunichev Center.

A separate building on the territory of the NCC is planned to be built to house branch departments of the leading technical universities of Moscow: the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, the Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) and the Lomonosov Moscow State University. According to Rogozin, the relevant agreements have already been reached with the administration of these educational institutions.

• One of the thumbnail images of the main building of the National Space Center
• © Roscosmos

The head of Roscosmos is confident that the creation of an educational complex at the NCC will increase the level of training of young professionals, to whom new career prospects will open. Rogozin promised that students will have the opportunity to undergo an internship at the technopark enterprises, including the Khrunichev Center.

The city authorities intend to substantially modernize the Fili-Davydkovo infrastructure in order to avoid a transport collapse. In the coming years, four automobile and one pedestrian bridge will be built across the Moscow River. Employees of the NCC will be able to quickly get to the nearest metro stations (“Shelepiha” and “Mnevniki”).

In the foreseeable future, the Moscow government intends to improve the organization of passenger communication between the space center and Korolev near Moscow, where the leading Roscosmos enterprises are also located. The journey should take a total of 50-55 minutes.

Rogozin estimated the cost of the project to create the NCC at "tens of billions of rubles." The financial investor will be the Moscow government, which will carry out all the necessary construction work. As Rogozin noted, the Khrunichev Center "enters by land". The Roscosmos funds will be used to modernize the NCC's production facilities. In the authorized capital of the cluster, the corporation will receive a blocking stake.

Environmentally friendly production

The NCC project provides for the deployment of 20 thousand employees of Roscosmos (40% of the total number in the Moscow region), including 8 thousand employees of the Khrunichev Center. Rogozin said that today there are no more than 60 people per 1 ha of production capacity, whereas with the advent of the NCC, this figure will be 175 people.

The head of Roscosmos stressed that one of the main tasks of the project is “financial rehabilitation” and technical re-equipment of the Khrunichev Center. This company has gained worldwide fame thanks to the development of the Mir space station, the ISS modules, as well as the Proton launch vehicle.

• Shop rocket plant them. Khrunichev
• © Sergey Mamontov / RIA News

The problem of the Khrunichev Center remains debts, the size of which at the end of 2018 exceeded 100 billion rubles. Rogozin believes that the financial position of the company will improve by optimizing the expenses of the corporation, as well as the digitalization of the design and production process.

“We maintain the production site in Moscow and develop the following work. First, we continue to work on the production of the Proton-M launch vehicle (until 2025.- RT ). We will also produce the Angara rocket, up to two units per year ... Work is underway on the oxygen-hydrogen block for heavy-class missiles, ”Rogozin told about the production plans of the Khrunichev Center.

At the same time, the general director of Roskosmos noted that "this is about environmentally friendly production." He assured that "all experimental production will reach the purity of class P 9 and P 8".

In an interview with RT, Vasily Petrov, a researcher at the Space Sciences Department of the Nuclear Physics Institute at Moscow State University, said that the construction of the NCC should greatly simplify the interaction between the specialists in the rocket and space industry. Thus, the period of development of high-tech products for the needs of the industry will be shortened.

“The attempt to gather everyone in one place can be explained by the desire to establish horizontal links between different specialists. It's one thing to call up with engineers from other companies, another thing is to go to the next building and talk in person. The main thing is that during the implementation of the project design offices located in the regions should not be transferred. If the NCC becomes a platform for the Moscow divisions of Roscosmos, then the positive effect will be really noticeable, ”Petrov concluded.