Russia moving ahead on Soyuz replacement

[Dr Mordrid]

The Russian PTK NP spacecraft is supposed to fly unmanned in 2017/2018. RussianSpaceWeb reports the first flights on Zenit or (less likely) Proton since a man-rated Angara (A-7?) launcher won't be ready by then. Funding for construction supposedly starts in 2014.

PTK NP will be a conical capsule with a side wall angle between that of Orion and Dragon 2, but its design right now includes the landing modes of Dragon 2; propulsive only, parachute + propulsive touchdown, emergency parachute only, and water landing.

There is a debate as to the nominal landing mode. Propulsive landing would be an advantage at the new Eastern cosmodrome at Vostochny (51° 49′ N 128° 15′ E) because its planned landing zone is so narrow. The spec has ranged between a CEP (circular error probability) of 2 to 3.5 km for land touchdowns, which would be difficult for current Russian parachute systems - Soyuz runs 20+ km. Propulsive would fix that. Water landings in the Pacific gives more of a margin, hence the debate.

Govt. media -

MOSCOW, December 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russian space rocket corporation Energia has completed the technical design of a new manned spacecraft whose flight tests are due to begin in 2017, Energia President Vitaly Lopota said on Wednesday.

“We have completed the technical design project taking into account the fact that the new spaceship is to fly to the Moon, among other places,” he said.

[Dr Mordrid]

Update:

The new Russian crew spacecrafts engineering test article will be shown this summer at the Gromov Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky, probably during MAKS 2013 in late August, and the schedule is for it to be test flown in 2017.

[Dr Mordrid]

The Russian PTK NP crew spacecraft naming contest has its final 10 candidates list,

Federation
Gagarin (first man in space)
Rodina (motherland)
Zvezda (star)
Leader
Galaxy
Mir (peace)
Zodiac
Astra
Vector

Gagarin simply has to be the emotional favorite, but my #2 and #3 would be Astra and Mir.

From the MAKS 2015 air show in Moscow

They're planning on 2 docking systems; their current APAS probe system and an International Docking Adapter compatible APAS, IDA being what the US Commercial Crew vehicles (SpaceX Dragon 2 & Boeing Starliner) will use.

There's also talk of a joint Orion-PTK NP mission marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz ASTP mission.

Rough translation of 1st image

"New Generation Piloted Transport Spacecraft

Development of the new spacecraft is going on in Russia from 2009.
In 2012 the main configuration has become the one designated for flights to the Moon. First unmanned launch is scheduled to 2021, manned - 2024.

Specs:
Mass: 20 t
Crew size: 4
Return cargo: 100 kg
cabin volume: 17 m^3

Autonomous flight duration: 21 days
Docked flight duration: 180 days
Landing G-load: 3g
Landing accuracy: 5 km

Landing system.

The spacecraft will be fitted with parachute-powered landing system. It's supposed to use a classic triple-chute for most of descent, but at the altitude of 10-15 m solid fuel landing thrusters will kick in, which will land the craft to the level ground with insignificant acceleration. The absence of damage during landing will allow reusing the lander up to 10 times for short flights and 3 times in long duration missions.

To the Moon and farther.

New thermo-insulating materials have been developed for the PTK-NP, which are capable of withstanding high temperature of reentry with escape velocity. Thanks to that new ship can return to the Earth from the Lunar orbit, Lagrange points, and possibly even farther regions of Solar system.

Lunar base, lunar-orbit station, or Earth-Moon Lagrange point station are among possible next steps of cosmonautics."



Pressure and external hulls

[UtwigMU]

Doc if you have time in your retirement and any talent for languages, you should learn Russian just for the cool military and science stuff that's available. There are loads of Russian documentaries on every Soviet or Russian space or weapon system conceivable on youtube where they interview constructors and test pilots and show old army use only videos.

For example I watched documentary on lattest Borei class sub (also watched other ones) They shoot in the factory, they show dudes wearing life support suits welding titanium rocket parts in inert gas chamber, interview the captain, show the deck, show the procedure of firing a test Bulava missile.

[Dr Mordrid]

I took Russian in school, but I'm way out of practice. As in 45+ years worth of seriously