New booster for Soyuz and other Russian launch vehicles

Published: 2/22/2000

The Lavochkin Design Bureau has tested a new booster as part of a Soyuz-U launch vehicle for the Russian-French Starsem joint venture, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The new Fregat boosting block (BB) has been designed to combine with a number of Russian launch vehicles. Starsem, formed in 1996 by the Russian Aerospace Agency, Samara-based TsSKB and, from the French side, Arianespace and Aerosapatiale Matra, was set up to launch the Soyuz vehicle on the international market. The Fregat will replace the Ikar booster block on the Soyuz vehicle and will allow the placing of payloads of up to 4.2 tonnes into geostationary orbits, a substantial improvement on the Soyuz-Ikar"s 3.3 tonnes. The test on the 7th February launched a 100kg demonstration package funded by DASA and the European Space Agency. The Fregat was designed to be recovered and was reportedly fitted with a cushion landing system designed for interplanetary landings. However, at the time of writing the BB, which landed close to Orenburg, had not been recovered. In March, the Soyuz-Fregat combination will be tested again with a payload the equivalent of two satellites. In June and July, there will be two Soyuz-Fregat launches of four French Cluster II scientific satellites as part of a $70m contract from the European Space Agency (ESA). In 2003, the Soyuz-Fregat will be employed on ESA's Mars-Express project. Besides powering the Soyuz vehicle, it has been reported that the BB may replace the ill-fated D2 booster that has been identified as contributing to the recent crashes of the Proton launch vehicle.

Article ID: 1459