NPO Molniya confirmed to RT that the company is actively developing a new reusable complex with an orbital aircraft.

Earlier this became known from an interview with the general director of the enterprise Olga Sokolova.

“Over the past year, we have made significant progress in developing a new civil aerospace complex.

Up to this point, there were some separate developments, but there was no clear task.

Now the task has been set and the development of a civilian reusable complex with an orbital aircraft is in full swing, ”said the General Director of Molnia in an interview that was published on the NGO's website.

Olga Sokolova also said that the layout of the promising complex was presented in one of the closed pavilions at the Army-2020 forum.

“This development made the most positive impression on the guests, even taking into account the fact that it was presented in a closed pavilion, and the general public could not see it.

Nevertheless, the resonance was very serious, primarily due to the fact that Molniya returned to its core business of creating reusable spacecraft, ”said the head of the enterprise.

According to her, NPO Molniya continues to work on the reusable space complex and is actively attracting new specialists to work on it.

“As for further work on the reusable complex, it continues, the design bureau continues to improve it, people are actively taking on this topic,” Sokolova said.

Formulation of the problem

Recall that in May 2020, Dmitry Rogozin, the general director of the state corporation Roscosmos, said that a new manned spacecraft, made according to an airplane scheme, could be created in Russia.

“Now the development of the manned program is connected with the creation of spaceplanes.

The United States is conducting tests, such work is being carried out.

We have an idea for a new manned spacecraft in the interests of an orbital station of the same plan, ”Rogozin said on the Komsomolskaya Pravda radio broadcast.

Rogozin recalled the Soviet Energy-Buran program, which, according to him, was ahead of its time.

“I think, if we talk about a ship that should be created to work in low orbits ... it will probably be necessary to move towards the creation of a manned reusable ship ... What was created by our great grandfathers was ahead of its time, but now this time is coming, ”the head of Roscosmos noted at the time.

Later, in August 2020, Dmitry Rogozin announced that he had ordered the development of a reusable orbiter based on the Buran model to replace the Soyuz MS.

“Even if we make a replacement for the Soyuz MS for servicing orbital stations, because the operation of the Eagle (a ship that is created for manned flights to the moon.

- RT

) will be expensive for these purposes, we need to make a reusable spacecraft of a completely different configuration - something like "Buran" with the ability to land on runways.

I set this task to our engineers.

The Energia Corporation and other teams will now offer such options for space technology, ”RIA Novosti quoted the head of Roscosmos as saying.

Unique project

It is worth noting that the Soviet spaceplane "Buran" was developed precisely at NPO Molniya.

The project to create a reusable spacecraft began in the USSR in 1976 - a few years after the Space Shuttle program was launched in the United States in 1972.

"Buran" was a tailless aircraft type machine with a variable sweep delta wing.

The maximum launch weight of "Buran" was 105 tons, with a length of 36.4 m. The crew of the spacecraft could consist of groups of 2 to 10 cosmonauts.

The maximum flight duration was 30 days.

  • Scheme of the "Buran" reusable orbital spacecraft.

    Reproduction.

  • RIA News

The Buran made its first and only flight on November 15, 1988.

It was launched into orbit using the Energia super-powerful launch vehicle, which was also developed under this program.

The flight of "Buran", during which the Soviet spaceplane circled the Earth twice, lasted a total of 205 minutes.

The flight took place without a crew - "Buran" became the first spacecraft to land in automatic mode.

The Buran's resource was calculated for one hundred flights.

In total, within the framework of the program, it was supposed to build five ships, however, against the background of the deepening economic difficulties of the late USSR, funding for the project began to decline sharply.

On May 25, 1993, the program was closed by the decision of the Council of Chief Designers at NPO Energia.

In 1995, the then prime minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, instructed the Russian Space Agency to prepare a draft decree on the closure of work on this system and the conservation of ground objects.

Military expert Alexei Leonkov, in a conversation with RT, noted that Buran itself was more of a political project, it was a response to the American Space Shuttle.

“Despite this, then the USSR got a unique product that could automatically take off and maneuver in orbit, as well as land.

The United States was able to repeat this only in 2010, when it launched its X-37B prototype, ”the expert said.

New opportunities

At one time, the USSR carried out large-scale research and development work on the issue of reusable aircraft-type spacecraft, Alexei Leonkov recalled.

“Even then, the Spiral system was developed, thanks to which the spacecraft was sent into space not with the help of a launch vehicle, but thanks to a booster plane,” Leonkov recalled.

The Spiral system was the predecessor of the Buran - its creation was led by the outstanding designer Gleb Lozino-Lozinsky.

It was a special hypersonic accelerator aircraft, to which a single-seat orbital aircraft 8 m long and 10 tons in weight was attached from above. After completing tasks in orbit, it could return to Earth and land like an ordinary aircraft.

  • Space shuttle "Buran"

  • RIA News

  • © Alexander Mokletsov

Despite progress in development, Spiral did not receive support from the leadership of the Soviet Union.

Lozino-Lozinsky later became the head of the Molniya NPO, specially created for the development of Buran.

Nevertheless, several smaller models of the orbital aircraft developed within the Spiral, called BOR, were built.

In 1982, one such model was launched into low-earth orbit.

She made one orbit around the Earth and successfully splashed down in the Indian Ocean.

“Since then, a lot of developments have been made in this area, so Russia has a huge potential in the implementation of such programs,” said Alexei Leonkov.

According to the expert, the issue of reusable space carriers has become urgent again due to the need to reduce the cost of launching cargo into near-earth orbit.

Alexey Leonkov added that such systems can reduce it tenfold.

In addition, with the advent of new technologies and resources, the concept of a reusable orbital aircraft similar to the Soviet Buran has become more feasible.

“Considering that now there are new materials, technologies, opportunities in automation, Moscow can use them to make breakthrough projects that, in terms of their tactical and technical characteristics, will not be inferior to the previous ones, and even surpass them in many respects,” the expert noted.

Yuri Knutov, director of the Air Defense Museum in Balashikha, military expert, agrees with this assessment.

According to him, the appearance in Russia of such systems as the controlled hypersonic units "Avangard" indicates that many technical problems of the Soviet years were successfully solved.

“This suggests that Russia has materials that can withstand colossal overloads and the highest temperatures, as well as a communication system that can transmit information and receive it, overcoming plasma clouds.

If we collect all the technologies and developments of the Soviet era and combine them with those that have been made now, then Russia may be the first in this area, ”the expert concluded.