Angara A5 is back in play…after a six year hiatus

by | Dec 14, 2020 | Launches, Russia, Seradata News

Russia’s new Angara A5 launch vehicle design returned to operation after a near six year wait. Lift off occurred at 0550 GMT on 14 December 2020 from Plesetsk. After an initial parking orbit and injection into a transfer orbit, the spacecraft dummy IPM 2 (GVM 2) had a simulated release as part of a plan mimicking an all-the-way mission to GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit), followed by an engine burn by the Breeze M to put the stage into a graveyard orbit.

The maiden flight of the Angara A5 design with its Breeze M upper stage was in December 2014. While there were some minor inaccuracies, that flight from the Plesetsk launch site in Northern Russia was more or less successful. And yet it took a further six years for this flight – again with a mass simulator – to take place. The reason? There were several bureaucratic delays in completing the next rockets on the line, meanwhile the Vostochny Cosmodrome where most Angara A5 launches were due to take place was not ready. As it is, even though Vostochny is nearing completion, this flight also took place from Plesetsk.

Comment by David Todd: Is Angara out of date before it really gets into its stride? The previous plan to cut a stage from the older Proton rocket was a bit of genius as this cut its launch price to circa US$60 million which would have made it just about competitive with the SpaceX Falcon 9. Unfortunately, this plan got cancelled in favour of carrying on with Angara A5 which is just not competitive at its launch price of US$100 million. Roscosmos is attempting to make Angara more internationally competitive by finding ways to cut its price. However, even with the possible use of reusable rocket stages, we doubt whether this will ever be achieved.

Angara A5’s second launch. Courtesy: Roscosmos

 

About Seradata

Seradata produces the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).

For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/

Related Articles

Categories

Archives

Tags

nasaspacexecoreviewsissesaArianespacechinavideoFalcon 9v1.2FT Block 525virgin galacticfalcon 9ULARoscosmosevaspacewalkDGABlue Originaviation weekInternational Space StationRocket LabaresIGTsoyuzBeidouawardsStarlinkAirbus DSboeingspaceSatellite broadcastingrussiamoonOneWebISROCargo Return VehiclemarsblogresearchspaceshiptwoorionjaxamarsimpactEutelsatdelayhyperbolademocratrocketlunarhypertextthales alenia spaceSESobamagoogle lunar prizelaunchVegatourismconstellationbarack obamafiguresnorthspaceflightIntelsatnode 2fundedElon MuskLockheed MartinRaymond Lygo2009Express MD-2Atlas Vromedassault aviationss2sstl2008wk2aviationLucyradiouksuborbitalVirgin Orbittestmissiledocking portexplorationSLSAriane 5 ECAinternetLong March 2D/2China Manned Space Engineeringsts-122Ariane 5Northrop GrummanElectronmissile defensenewspapercotsgalileospace tourismflight2010Long March 4CspaceportExpress AMU 1buildspace stationaltairsoyuz 2-1ashuttleProton Minternational astronautical congressscaled compositesAriane 6Intelsat 23space shuttleLauncherOneEuropean Space AgencyCosmoshanleybudgetrulesnew yorkLong March 2CInmarsatnew shepardVietnamatvshenzhoucongressMojaveboldenOrbital ATKcnesUS Air ForceGuiana Space Centerlunar landeriacApollolawsSpace Systems/LorallaunchesUK Space AgencyLong March 4BKuaizhou 1AkscElectron KSILSdarpaprotonTalulah RileyVega CFalcon 9v1.2 Block 5North KoreaeuSkylonAstriumlanderbaseusaastronautdragonpicturefiveeventTelesatSpace InsuranceSSLEchostarAprilSNC50thfalconWednesdaySea LaunchLong MarchinterviewViasat

Stay Informed with Seradata

Stay informed on the latest news, insights, and more from Seradata by signing up for our newsletter.