| General Information |
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Prime:
Operator:
Marketing Arm:
Maiden
Flight:
Number Flown (Failures):
Reliability
Rate:
Status:
Reported
Launch Price:
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TsSKB-Progress
Starsem
Starsem
February 9, 2000
4
(0)
100%
Operational
US$35 million (2000)
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Architecture:
Gross Lift-off Mass:
Height:
Main
Diameter:
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Expendable:
Two-stage hydrocarbon core vehicle
with
four hydrocarbon boosters
+ storable upper stage
303,000 kg
42.5 m
2.95 m (core vehicle)
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Launcher
Architecture
Payload
Accommodations
Industrial Team
Launch Log
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| Background |
Studies of
a Soyuz-derived vehicle featuring a Fregat upper stage began
in the early 1990s. The Fregat was being developed for use on
various vehicles by NPO
Lavochkin based on the propulsion module of its Fobos interplanetary
probes. A formal project was endorsed in early 1993 by RKA, the Russian space agency, and the Russian
ministry of Defense under the Rus designation since it
focused on the modernization and the russification of the Soyuz launcher.
The Rus concept was later renamed Soyuz 2.
The
Soyuz 2 was planned to be introduced in 1996/97 but, due
to funding shortage, its development and that of the Fregat stage
were delayed well beyond the initial schedule.
The
inception of Starsem,
in July 1996, provided funding to resume development work. Since
the Fregat stage was planned to be available as soon as 1998
while at least two or three more years would be needed to complete
the development of the basic Soyuz 2, an interim version
was decided: a slightly modified Soyuz U launcher with
modernized avionics and a Fregat upper stage. This new Soyuz-Fregat
vehicle was planned to replace the older Molniya M for missions
beyond low-Earth orbit. Transition to a fully upgraded Soyuz 2
vehicle will follow through the introduction of the Soyuz/ST
in 2001. An agreement was signed between Starsem and NPO Lavochkin
to ensure an exclusive use of the Fregat on Soyuz vehicles.
Starsem was selected by the European Space Agency
in April 1997 for two Soyuz-Fregat launches to loft two pairs
of Cluster 2 plasma science satellites by mid-2000. The
contract was signed in August 1998 and required the vehicle to
perform two successful flights before the actual mission.
A qualification flight was successfully
conducted on February 9,
2000, carrying an innovative inflatable reentry shield demonstration
system. The second flight, on March 20,
2000, was a rehearsal of a standard Cluster 2 launch
with a dummy mass. The launch of the two pairs of Cluster 2 satellites
was successfully conducted ion July 16
and August 9,
2000. Only one launch remains manifested for the launcher,
which is due to be replaced by the more modern Soyuz/ST, that
of ESA's Mars Express probe in June 2003. |
More
on the history of the Soyuz family (soon to come)
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| Payload Performances |
From Baykonur Cosmodrome (LC-6):
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Geostationary
Transfer Orbits
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(200 x 35,786 km, 7°) |
1,100 kg
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(46°N, 63.5°E)
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(200 x 35,786 km, 28.5°) |
1,350 kg
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Elliptical
Orbit
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(200 x 10,000 km, 51.8°) |
3,100 kg
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Sun-Synchronous
Orbit
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(800 km, 98°) |
2,700 kg
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Low
Earth Orbits
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(700 km, 65°) |
5,000 kg
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(1,500 km, 51.8°) |
4,500 kg
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(1,000 km, 51.8°) |
4,900 kg
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(500 km, 51.8°) |
5,300 kg
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- Sources:
- Soyuz-Fregat Qualification Flight. Press kit. Paris, February 2000.
- Starsem. Presentation
brochure. Paris, October 1999.
- The Soyuz-Fregat Launch Vehicle. Fact sheet. Paris, June 1999.
- Soyuz 2/Fregat Rocket - Space Complex. A. Smirnov, V. Asiushkin, V. Serebrennikov, S. Ishin,
NPO Lavochkin. IAF, Beijing, October 7-11, 1996.
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