In 2023, a flight model of the Krylo-SV reusable cruise missile will be launched.

This was reported by the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Science of the Moscow Region.

It is noted that the rocket will be equipped with a cryogenic engine, which is being developed by the laboratory of the Advanced Research Foundation.

The lead developer of the rocket is TsNIIMash.

“The rocket engine can get the name“ Whirlwind ”, work on the Krylo-SV rocket project began several years ago, and in February of this year, the development of a flight demonstrator started.

Flight tests of the demonstrator, that is, its first full-fledged launch, are scheduled for early 2023.

After the tests, a decision will be made to create a full-fledged rocket, ”the ministry said in a press release.

It is noted that Krylo-SV is a reusable light cruise missile.

It will measure about six meters long and 0.8 meters in diameter.

The demonstrator (flight model) of the rocket will be "one third" in size from the original.

“The rocket will travel at speeds up to Mach six.

The launches are planned to be carried out from the Kapustin Yar test site towards the Caspian Sea.

It is assumed that after the separation of the second stage, which will continue the flight with the satellite on board, the first reusable stage for reuse will return to the cosmodrome on the wings and using an aircraft engine, ”the press release explains.

Searching of decisions

Work on the creation of reusable launch vehicles has been going on for many decades.

The emergence of reliable spacecraft that can be used for a large number of launches will reduce the cost of conducting space missions, which in turn will accelerate the exploration of outer space.

In 1971, the United States began development of the Space Shuttle reusable transport spacecraft on behalf of NASA.

It was originally planned that each of the six built shuttles will make about 100 flights to orbit.

However, in practice, only 135 launches were made in total.

  • The Buran Orbiter has landed at the Baikonur Cosmodrome (left) and the NASA Columbia Reusable Transport Spacecraft

  • © RIA Novosti / Reuters

The exploitation of shuttles was accompanied by tragic accidents.

In 1986, due to a technical malfunction at the time of take-off, the Challenger spacecraft exploded with seven American astronauts on board.

In 2003, the Columbia shuttle with six Americans and one Israeli on board disintegrated on entering the atmosphere.

In 2011, the shuttle program was discontinued.

In 1976, a project was launched in the USSR to develop the Energia-Buran reusable transport rocket, the first and only launch of which was carried out in 1988.

In the early 1990s, the program was closed.

Simultaneously with the creation of the Soviet "Buran" in the United States, work was underway to develop a reusable single-stage rocket as part of the McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper project.

Several test flights were made, the last of which ended in fire in 1996.

As a result, the ship was so badly damaged that its restoration was deemed impractical.

Soon, due to the impossibility of solving technical problems with the fuel system, the project was canceled.

In 2015, the topic of reusable rockets was again in the spotlight after Elon Musk's SpaceX successfully returned and landed on the first stage of the Falcon 9 launch pad. The first launch was first performed in March 2017.

Since then, through 2020 inclusive, SpaceX has managed to conduct several more successful launches.

According to the head of the company Elon Musk, after the technology is put on stream, one space launch will cost $ 43 million.For comparison, the cost of launching one Atlas V rocket from the United Launch Alliance is on average $ 225 million.

In turn, the price of one shuttle launch was about $ 450 million.

Russian technologies

In 2018, the director of TsNIIMash and one of the ideologists and chief designers of Angara missiles, Alexander Medvedev, noted that SpaceX's developments are conceptually based on technologies that were developed in the USSR.

“All these rocket-dynamic, parachute schemes, in fact, were born in our country, and then the Americans successfully implemented it all.

What Musk has implemented was considered and proposed by our Russian scientists, engineers and designers many decades ago, ”RIA Novosti quotes Medvedev.

  • SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket

  • Reuters

  • © Joe Skipper

In May 2019, the head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin announced the start of development of a Russian rocket with reversible stages.

“This is a rocket that will consist of 2.5 times fewer parts, it will be cheaper, an oriented reusable rocket with a return stage.

And we plan to open this work as soon as possible ", - quotes Rogozin as" Interfax ".

In turn, in April 2020, Rogozin noted that the reusable missiles being developed in Russia, including the Krylo-SV, will differ in their characteristics from the American ones.

“Taking into account our geographic specifics, the step should land like an airplane, and not with a“ vertical candle ”like the Falcon.

If we work it out and see that the aircraft return option is simpler and more effective than the Falcon-style return, then we can apply this on a middle-class rocket, ”Rogozin said.

A full member of the Tsiolkovsky Russian Academy of Cosmonautics, Alexander Zheleznyakov, in an interview with RT, noted that the idea of ​​using reusable space carriers is one of the "main trends in the global space industry."

“Private companies in the United States are moving in this direction, and there are quite serious developments in China.

The Russian Federation also creates its own developments, especially since there are certain economic justifications for the need to use the components of the rocket and the entire rocket several times.

In Russia, work is underway in this direction, for example, they are developing Krylo-SV missiles and Soyuz-5 natural gas missiles, which they want to make partially reusable, "the expert noted.

The technical potential of the Russian space industry makes it possible to create and subsequently use reusable space carriers, said military expert Yuri Knutov.

“The only raw direction is rocket launch.

But this problem will be solved soon.

Now Russian designers are looking for a solution to the problem of reusable takeoff not with the help of vertical landing, but according to the aircraft scheme.

Today Russia is trying to create highly competitive missiles and vehicles, the cost of which would be lower than that of the United States.

Due to this, it will be able to increase its share in the space services market, ”the expert concluded.