On October 1st, the results of the first stage of one of the leading projects of the World-class Ural Interregional Research and Education Centre for Advanced Industrial Technologies and Materials on the development of a launch system with a reusable single-module launch vehicle will be presented at Joint Stock Company Research & Development Institute of Mechanical Engineering (Nizhnyaya Salda). South Ural State University is a co-contractor of this project.
SUSU specialists engage in the research, development, and manufacture of a model plug nozzle propulsion system; control and monitoring systems based on artificial intelligence for launch systems with a fully re-usable launch vehicle and a multipurpose space platform; and the development of composite fuel tank walls.
The researchers plan for the single-module launch vehicle to be fully retrievable, what will ensure its reusability. The specific cost of launching payloads is stated as four times lower than that of competitors. The launch preparation time is also reduced from 4–6 months to just 24 hours. The partners of the project include Joint Stock Company Research & Development Institute of Mechanical Engineering (Nizhnyaya Salda), Joint Stock Company Academician V.P. Makeyev State Rocket Centre (Miass), Scientific and Production Association of Automatics named after academician N.A. Semikhatov (Ekaterinburg).
Demonstration launches of the plug nozzle propulsion system consisting of 16 liquid-propellant rockets will be demonstrated at Joint Stock Company Research & Development Institute of Mechanical Engineering.
In addition, the control system will be tested. The demonstration propulsion system will lift off of the Earth’s surface and return to Earth at set coordinates. The demonstration control system developed by SUSU will make it possible to test the future landing of the rocket at the established site.
The guests will be shown fragments of the developed fuel tank made of composite materials. The fuel tank has 5-6 layers which provide thermal protection for the fuel tank.
The Ural Interregional Research and Education Centre for Advanced Industrial Technologies and Materials was founded within the Russian national project Nauka to conduct world-class applied research and development. The Centre creates competitive technologies and products, commercializes them, and trains personnel. The UIREC includes leading universities, research organisations, and industrial partners of the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Kurgan regions.