Russia’s space program has long relied on proven Soviet-era rocket designs like the Proton and Soyuz. However, with the fall of the USSR in the early 1990s, Russia recognized the need to develop a new family of rockets that could be built and launched entirely within the country’s post-Soviet borders. The answer was the Angara rocket, a modular launch vehicle that has been in development for over three decades. As of 2024, the Angara has conducted a handful of test flights but has yet to achieve regular operational status. The program has been beset by technical issues, funding shortfalls, and delays, raising questions about the future of Russia’s space launch capabilities.
Origins of the Angara Program
In 1992, the Russian government approved the development of the Angara rocket family. The goal was to create a next-generation launch vehicle that could replace the aging Proton rocket and end Russia’s reliance on launch infrastructure located in now-independent former Soviet republics like Kazakhstan. The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center in Moscow was selected as the prime contractor for the Angara program.
The Angara family was envisioned as a modular system of rockets that could be tailored to lift light, medium, and heavy payloads to a variety of orbits. The smallest variant, the Angara 1.2, would be capable of placing up to 3,800 kg into low Earth orbit (LEO). The heavy-lift Angara A5, with a LEO capacity of 24,500 kg, was intended to be the workhorse of the fleet and a direct replacement for the Proton.
Despite the strategic importance of the project, the Angara languished on the drawing board for most of the 1990s due to a lack of funding in the wake of the Soviet collapse. Active development didn’t begin in earnest until the mid-2000s. Even then, the program was plagued by technical and organizational problems that repeatedly pushed back the timeline.
Angara’s Troubled Development
The Angara’s path to the launch pad has been long and arduous. When the program was first approved in 1992, the goal was to have the rocket operational by 2005. However, that target quickly proved to be wildly optimistic.
It wasn’t until July 2014, over two decades after the Angara’s inception, that the first test flight took place. A single-core Angara 1.2PP rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia carrying a dummy payload on a suborbital trajectory. The mission was deemed a success, but it would be another five months before the heavy Angara A5 made its debut.
On December 23, 2014, the first Angara A5 blasted off from Plesetsk. Consisting of four liquid-fueled URM-1 boosters strapped to a central URM-1 sustainer core, with a modified Briz-M upper stage, the rocket successfully delivered a dummy payload into geostationary orbit. Russian officials hailed the nine-hour mission as a major milestone for the country’s space program.
However, the Angara’s early successes belied deeper problems with the rocket and the infrastructure needed to support it. Subsequent test flights were repeatedly delayed as engineers grappled with technical issues. Meanwhile, construction of a new Angara launch complex at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East fell behind schedule amid corruption scandals and cost overruns.
As a result, the Angara missed its original 2020 target for entering operational service. As of early 2024, only three Angara A5 missions have been conducted, all of them test flights from Plesetsk. The second Angara A5 launch in December 2020 was successful, but the third attempt in December 2021 failed when the rocket’s Persei upper stage malfunctioned, stranding the payload in a useless orbit.
The Path Forward
Despite the setbacks, Russia remains committed to the Angara program. The Khrunichev Center has opened a new factory in Omsk to mass-produce the rocket, while work continues on the Vostochny launch complex. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has stated their intent to launch the Angara A5 from the new launch complex in early 2024.
Looking ahead, Russia has big plans for the Angara family. The Angara A5 is slated to take over many of the duties currently handled by the Proton-M, including launching military and commercial satellites as well as components for the Russian segment of the International Space Station. A crew-rated variant, the Angara A5P, is being developed to carry cosmonauts aboard the new Orel spacecraft starting in the late 2020s.
However, the Angara faces stiff competition from abroad, particularly from SpaceX and its reusable Falcon 9 rocket. Whereas the Angara A5 costs upwards of $100 million per launch, SpaceX is offering Falcon 9 missions for as little as $67 million. This significant price differential has made it difficult for Russia to attract commercial customers for the Angara.
There are also questions about whether Russia’s cash-strapped space program can afford to support the Angara in the long run. With the Proton-M expected to fly until at least the late 2020s, and the Soyuz rocket family continuing to reliably launch crews and cargo, some analysts have argued that the Angara is an unnecessary duplication of capabilities.
Summary
After more than 30 years of development, the Angara rocket is tantalizingly close to becoming a reality. The successful test flights in 2014 and 2020 demonstrated the basic soundness of the vehicle’s design. However, the failed mission in 2021 underscored the fact that the Angara is still very much a work in progress.
Much will depend on how quickly and effectively Russia can address the rocket’s remaining technical issues and complete the infrastructure needed to support regular launches. The Vostochny pad could be a game-changer, giving the Angara a dedicated launch site and freeing the program from reliance on the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.
Ultimately, though, the fate of the Angara will be determined by factors beyond just engineering. Russia’s ability to fund the program over the long haul, and to find a viable niche for the rocket in the increasingly competitive global launch market, will be key to its success or failure.
