New Russian Spacecraft Unveiled in Nagoya

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti, by Andrei Kislyakov) -- Russia unveiled its new-generation inter-planetary Kliper spacecraft on March 25 at EXPO-2005 in Nagoya.

"The initial plan was to unveil the Kliper at the Le Bourget air show in June," said Vladimir Strashko, the general commissioner of Russia's display in Nagoya. "However, we decided to show a life-size model of the Kliper for the first time at EXPO-2005."

This decision is understandable because Russia wants to display its landmark achievement as soon as possible, especially as the country will be the second space power to have a new-generation reusable orbital system at its disposal.

Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Federal Space Agency, said the Kliper would be able to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) and fly to the Moon. "This spacecraft, which was developed by the Energiya space-rocket corporation, will be extremely comfortable," he said. "We have been constantly concerned about cramped modern spacecraft. When I sat in a craft at the Cosmonaut Training Center, I understood how difficult the conditions were for the three crew members."

The capsule features six comfortable armchairs that are reminiscent of an airliner. The new spacecraft can land on airfields with first-category tarmac the way an ordinary plane does, which is what makes it completely different from the U.S. Space Shuttle. Moreover, the Kliper will be far cheaper.

Perminov said his agency was studying the possibility of orbiting the Kliper using a Zenith launch vehicle. "Unlike the Buran space shuttle, which was attached to the Energiya rocket sidewise, the Kliper will be placed on top of the Zenith rocket," he said, adding that this option would also be much cheaper.

The Kliper will have a mass of 14.5 tons, fly 700kg payloads to the ISS and return 500kg payloads to Earth. Moreover, Kliper crews will be subjected to no more than 2.5-point G-loads during landing.

"The new Russian spacecraft will resemble a stylized iron without a handle, flying with its lower section down," said Boris Sotnikov, the deputy director of Energiya's R&D center. He says it has been designed to fly to the Moon and Mars.

The Kliper features a reusable descent module and a disposable service module. All the important equipment is inside the former. The airtight descent module's volume exceeds that of Soyuz spacecraft by 400%.

The descent module has a non-airtight load-bearing body. Docking and attitude-control engines are located in its nose section. The body features an airtight crew capsule, fuel tanks, retro-rockets, aerodynamic control-system servo-drives, compressed-gas tanks and a special system that ensures stable landing at rated G-loads.

The descent module, which has a 10-year service life, can perform 20 to 25 flights. The service module houses elements of the spacecraft's orbital propulsion unit: sustainer engines, docking and attitude-control engines, fuel tanks and heating-system components. Solar batteries, a heat-level regulator, as well as flight-control and attitude-control sensors, are located outside the service module.

Turnaround time is estimated at five to six months. A new service module and replaceable descent-module elements must be completed prior to each flight. The spacecraft is 80% reusable and its descent module is 95% reusable.