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Rosatom
State Corporation has completed testing of an ice reconnaissance complex based on unmanned aerial vehicles.
Please tell us what this means for science and the Russian icebreaker fleet?
“Previously, the biggest obstacle to using UAVs was the difficulty of landing a drone on board a moving icebreaker or ship in a difficult Arctic environment.
However, now, after the completion of Rosatom’s tests, we can say that this task, which has been facing the developers for a long time, has finally been solved.
I would like to note that today we receive almost all the information about the state of the ice cover in the Arctic from satellites, because they provide fast and extensive coverage of very large areas, which aviation is not capable of.
It will take a UAV several hours to cover the distance that a satellite flies in ten minutes.
Sea ice is very dynamic, and during the flight of such a drone, ice conditions can change significantly.
Actually, for the same reason, at one time, satellite navigation replaced aviation reconnaissance.
However, UAVs can be very useful for solving a number of local problems that are currently being solved with the help of aviation and helicopters.
Now all nuclear icebreakers and scientific vessels have a landing pad for a helicopter.
But a helicopter is very expensive to operate: it requires a crew, equipment, fuel, etc. In general, on an icebreaker this is a separate technical part, and drones can successfully replace it.
The use of a UAV makes it possible to obtain information about ice conditions in real time, when data is transmitted from the drone directly to the navigator’s bridge.
© Industry publication of the state corporation Rosatom
UAVs can be integrated with on-board measuring systems (BIS), which collect data on the hydrometeorological situation and the state of the ice cover directly next to the ship.
The icebreaker fleet is now beginning to be equipped with such complexes.
In general, everything related to sailing in the Arctic requires a very large amount of knowledge.
The symbiosis of science and production has existed almost since the beginning of regular Arctic navigation.
At this stage, the UAV is another brick in this “wall”.
— What about the Arktika-M satellite constellation? The first satellite of the group was launched in 2021, and the second in December 2023. Are there any plans for further launches of satellites of this type
?
— For weather forecasting, so-called geostationary satellites are mainly used.
They are in an orbit in which the speed of the satellite coincides with the speed of rotation of the Earth.
This orbit is at an altitude of 36 thousand km in the equatorial plane.
Moreover, the Earth is a sphere; therefore, a satellite located on the equator cannot provide an overview of the entire earth’s surface.
It does not cover the polar regions.
Only the equatorial part, moderate latitudes.
A little - high latitudes, but does not cover the polar regions at all.
The Arktika-M satellites are not navigation satellites, but hydrometeorological ones.
They are built on the same principle that was once used for the Soviet Molniya communications satellites.
They are placed in a highly elliptical orbit.
Such an orbit is not in the equatorial plane - it is inclined relative to the equatorial plane and is close to the polar orbits.
But it is not circular, but highly elongated, elliptical.
And at the apogee - the highest point - it approximately coincides with the height of geostationary satellites.
And it is precisely in this part of the orbit that the satellite moves very slowly relative to the earth’s surface, which makes it possible to receive information almost constantly: images are transmitted to Earth every 15-30 minutes.
This is very important for improving weather forecasts.
Satellite "Arktika-M"
© Roscosmos
As for navigation, it is now very important to increase the domestic satellite constellation for remote sensing of the Earth (ERS) at least to the same number as it was during the USSR.
This work is underway; it is included in the development plan of the Northern Sea Route until 2035.
Thus, the Condor-FKA radar earth sensing satellite has already successfully passed tests.
— What role does radar equipment play in monitoring ice conditions?
— There are side-scan radars and synthetic aperture radars.
They have different operating principles.
Optical satellites provide detailed images, but their operation depends on cloud cover.
In the polar night conditions in the Arctic, we cannot use optical data.
And the radar range eliminates this problem.
It allows you to receive information regardless of cloudiness.
But decoding radar images is much more difficult than optical ones.
When monitoring ice conditions, our specialists use the entire range of information that is available: both the optical range and the radar range, data from icebreakers and ships, from polar stations, expeditions.
This is the most effective.
In principle, the same equipment is used on UAVs.
But if there is a drone on board, the ship’s captain can plan to collect information independently.
When a drone is on board, it allows information to be received here and now, thereby complementing the information received from the maritime operations headquarters and the scientific operations group.
You need to understand that for Arctic navigation, not only current information is important, but also a forecast for several hours and days ahead.
Ships in the seaport of Dudinka.
The Arctic port of federal significance on the Northern Sea Route Dudinka is the largest in Siberia and the northernmost international seaport in Russia.
© RIA Novosti / Svetlana Shevchenko
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What is the main difficulty in designing drones for the Arctic?
— All marine equipment is subject to fairly stringent technical requirements, and Arctic UAVs must meet them.
That is, in this case, not only flight characteristics are important, but also resistance to sea conditions.
First of all, the weather.
Drones, especially those based on a ship, are relatively lightweight aircraft.
Naturally, strong winds can interfere with their work.
Another factor is the risk of icing of the wings, blades and rotors.
Therefore, the restrictions will be the same as in conventional aviation, and even more stringent.
This is the first one.
The second is electromagnetic storms, which very often occur in the Arctic, which can cause communications to be lost.
True, this is a less significant factor than icing and wind.
But what plays a really important role is the chemical aggressiveness of sea water.
That is, the mere presence both on the deck and in the air near the sea surface greatly affects the structural elements of drones, since exposure to salt can lead to corrosion.
Here it is very important for engineers to do quality work and take this into account when developing the device.
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Besides the navigation of icebreakers and other ships, what other application can Arctic UAVs find?
— Drones are also in demand by ports and oil and gas platforms; the latter can use drones to monitor the situation near their equipment.
For example, in the area of the rotation camp and the port of Sabetta, there is a sea access canal in the Ob Bay of the Kara Sea; it plays an important role in the transportation of natural gas.
The channel in the shallow part of the bay, about 15 m deep, is narrow, but at the same time quite long.
It is important to constantly monitor the situation on this artery; Arctic UAVs are perfect for these purposes.
Diesel-electric icebreaker "Ilya Muromets"
RIA News
© Pavel Lvov
In Soviet times, aviation was actively used in the Arctic Circle until it was supplanted by satellites.
At that time, in the harsh and deserted expanses of the Arctic, a very complex and well-coordinated infrastructure operated, including a network of airports and runways, the delivery of aviation fuel and regular checks of its quality, etc. In the time that has passed since the collapse of the USSR, this infrastructure has fallen into disrepair, I'm not sure that it can and should be restored.
Therefore, the emergence of Arctic drones as an alternative to aviation will be of great importance.
— There is also a class of underwater unmanned vehicles that can independently dive to depth and collect data. Are they used in the Arctic?
— They can be used for scientific purposes.
There have been works to study the structure of the underwater part of the ice cover.
Underwater drones themselves are certainly needed, for example, to inspect underwater pipelines and the condition of underwater equipment on platforms and terminals.
They do not perform ice monitoring functions.
— What else might be needed to develop the Arctic? What technologies?
— First of all, it is important to develop the domestic orbital constellation and equip satellites with new instruments.
Yes, you can use data from foreign satellites; even during the Cold War, there was a global system of satellite monitoring of the situation on Earth.
Now this system has largely been preserved, but you cannot rely on it alone.
We need our own, independent constellation of remote sensing satellites.
Secondly, it is necessary to develop a network of ground-based systems that receive information from satellites.
Roscosmos, Roshydromet, and the Ministry of Emergency Situations have their own complexes, but they are mainly located on land and can only receive data within the coverage area of their equipment.
Therefore, to expand the monitoring coverage, a special complex is needed as close as possible to the pole, where the orbits of remote sensing satellites converge.
The village of Barentsburg on the island of Spitsbergen
© RIA Novosti / Vladimir Chistyakov
AARI has such a complex of three stations on Spitsbergen, in the village of Barentsburg.
This is the territory of Norway, which, according to international agreements, can be used by various countries, including Russia.
The complex is managed from St. Petersburg, remotely, and on-site maintenance is provided by one specialist.
Moreover, nearby, also on Spitsbergen, there is a huge antenna complex of Western countries, which receives data simultaneously from all polar satellites.
It would be great for us to build a similar center in the Russian Arctic; our specialists have the competence and experience for this.
The point is that such a complex can collect data from many satellites at once, decrypt and process this information and send it to consumers - to ports, offshore platforms and ships.
This would be of great help in the development of the Arctic.