Cosmonautics of Ukraine

Soviet period

Since the start of work on the creation in the USSR of carrier rockets for military and civil purposes, resources and enterprises of the Ukrainian SSR have participated in the Soviet space program . Thus, the enterprises and organizations Kommunar, Arsenal, Monolith, Evpatoria Space Center took part in the preparation of the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite launched into orbit on October 4, 1957 .

Since the early 1960s, enterprises in the territory of the Ukrainian SSR took part in the development and production of control systems, onboard automation and other systems and instruments for space objects and complexes.

On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Vostok carrier rocket, equipped with the instruments of the enterprises Kommunar and Arsenal, launched the first-ever cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into the near-earth space orbit.

In 1961, OKB-586 began participating in the space program by taking part in the development of the Meteor and Strela spacecraft.

In 1962, the Cosmos carrier rocket launched the first Dnepropetrovsk satellite DS-2 satellite into orbit, in 1967 the Cosmos Arrow satellite was launched into the orbit.

Subsequently, in the OKB-586, along with combat intercontinental ballistic missiles, they continued to develop space rockets.

Since 1976, the NPO Molniya (headed by G. E. Lozino-Lozinsky ) began the development of the orbital ships Bor and Buran .

1992—2014

1990s

After the declaration of independence of Ukraine , 130 enterprises of the rocket and space industry of the USSR remained in Ukraine (design offices, research institutes, production associations, test centers, etc.) ^[5] .

After the proclamation of the nuclear-free status of Ukraine, the production of combat ballistic missiles was discontinued, and the intercontinental combat missiles in Ukraine were removed from combat duty and dismantled. The enterprises of the space-rocket complex were reoriented to the output of non-military products.

In connection with the aggravation of the situation in the country's economy, the question arose of the expediency of preserving such an expensive engineering industry as the space industry.

February 29, 1992, by the Decree of the President under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the National Space Agency of Ukraine (NSAU) was established.

In 1994, the project of a two-stage space complex from the aircraft carrier An-225 and the orbital spacecraft-rocket -plane ( Multi-Purpose Aerospace System ) was presented at the World Salon of Inventions, Scientific Research and Industrial Innovations Brussels-Eureka-94.

In 1995, Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and Yuzhmash Production Association , together with partners from the United States, Russia and Norway, launched the Sea Launch project, which included the commercial launch of missiles from a floating space launch platform located in the Pacific Ocean near Christmas Island . The project used the Ukrainian-Russian launch vehicle Zenit-2 .

On August 31, 1995, the Cyclone-3 launch vehicle was launched from the Russian Plesetsk cosmodrome , which was supposed to launch the Ukrainian communications satellite Sich-1 and the Chilean communications satellite Fasat Alfa into orbit. The rocket went into space, but as a result of an emergency disconnection, the operation of the device turned out to be impossible.

On November 3, 1995, in Moscow, an "Agreement on the creation of a common scientific and technological space of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States" was signed, providing for the preservation and development of scientific and technological cooperation among the CIS countries .

In 1996, the Space Research Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the National Center for Aerospace Education of Youth were established.

On November 19, 1997, the first cosmonaut of Ukraine L. K. Kadenyuk made the first flight into space as part of an international crew on the American space ship Columbia .

Also, in 1997, a preliminary contract was signed with the Italian company Fiat Avia, on the basis of which Ukraine began to participate in the project to create a European launch vehicle " Vega ". In addition, Ukraine participated in the Interbol magnetosphere international program ^[6]

In 1999, more than 20 enterprises and organizations were transferred to the NSAU, among them the Yuzhnoye GKB and the Yu. A.M. Makarova " . In the same year, the Russian-Ukrainian joint venture International Space Services was founded.

2000s

On October 24, 2002, the National Space Program of Ukraine was approved, in accordance with which the creation of a satellite constellation was planned for 2003-2007. ^[7] .

In 2002, cooperation in the space sphere between Ukraine and Brazil intensified. On October 21, 2003, the countries signed an agreement on long-term cooperation on the use of the Cyclone-4 launch vehicle at the Brazilian launch center of Alcantara (which was ratified in February 2004) ^[8] . Construction of the launch pad began in September 2010, in June 2011, to ensure participation in the construction of the Ukrainian side, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine provided a state guarantee for attracting a loan in the amount of $ 260 million ^[9]

In February 2004, Yuzhnoye City Design Bureau and Yuzhmash Production Association signed a contract with Italian Avio SpA for the development, qualification and supply of the fourth stage cruise engine for the Vega launch vehicle ^[10] . In the same year, the Sich-1M satellite was built and work began on the Land Launch program.

On December 24, 2004, the Sich-1M satellite was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, which operated until April 15, 2006.

In the mid-2000s, Yuzhnoye Design Bureau announced the possibility of developing the Mayak launch vehicle family (in June 2005, models of three missile versions, Mayak-12, Mayak-22, and Mayak-23, were shown at the air show at Le Bourget). Also, in June 2005, an agreement on strategic cooperation between the Government of Ukraine and the EADS company in the field of aircraft manufacturing, the space industry, communications and security was signed at the Le Bourget Air Show ^[11] .

In 2006, it was announced that it was possible to create an unmanned aerospace vehicle " Sura " ^[12] (on September 26, 2008, the model of the device was presented at the Aviasvіt XXI air show in Kiev).

In May 2007, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved an action plan for the creation of a national satellite communications system , the operator of which was to be the state enterprise Ukrkosmos ^[13] . Also, in 2007, Yuzhnoye Design Bureau, Khartron , and Yuzhmash produced the first Egyptian EarthSight satellite for Egypt, EgyptSat-1 ^[14] .

In 2008, the Ukrainian enterprises of Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and Yuzhmash Production Association signed an agreement with the American company Orbital Sciences Corporation to create the first stage of the Antares launch vehicle for delivering cargo to low orbits within the framework of the “ Commercial Orbital Transportation Services ” program (first launch The Antares rocket was launched from the American Wallops Cosmodrome in April 2013; on January 10, 2014, another launch of the Antares launch vehicle was carried out with the Cygnus cargo module, which delivered 1.26 tons of cargo to the International Space Station ) ^{[15 ]} .

In 2009, three universities of Ukraine ( Dnipropetrovsk National University , Kiev Polytechnic Institute and the National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute” ) became participants of the CRIST project (“Reforming educational programs in the field of space technologies” ^[16] .

In December 2009, NSA signed a contract with the Canadian company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., which was to manufacture the first Ukrainian communications satellite and build ground support facilities in Ukraine for its use (two flight control and control centers). The launch of the satellite Liby-1 was scheduled for 2011 ^[17] , was postponed several times and never took place.

2010s

On October 1, 2010, the first agreement on cooperation in the space sphere between Ukraine and Japan was signed - a Memorandum of Intent on the implementation of a joint project regarding the design and operation of remote sensing micro-satellites with a view to developing technologies and conducting research on the environment, soil, agricultural resources, and promising methods for monitoring and evaluating the economic efficiency of their use. At the first stage, cooperation was supposed mainly on the acquisition, processing and use of satellite data ^[18] .

In October 2010, the question of preparing the flight of a Ukrainian cosmonaut to the Russian segment of the ISS was considered , but the allocation of funds for the cosmonaut’s flight was not later provided ^[19] .

In March 2011, the Ukrainian government approved the development strategy for the space industry until 2032, which included the creation of the Sich-2 remote sensing system, the Lybid National Space Communications System, a time-based and navigation support system, and a system for monitoring and conducting space analysis. The total funding of the program was approved in the amount of 38.5 billion hryvnia ^[20] .

On August 17, 2011, he was placed into Sich-2 orbit (he worked until December 2012).

By the beginning of March 2012 , the SCAU’s management included more than 30 enterprises and organizations (including the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and the Southern Machine-Building Plant in Dnepropetrovsk, Kommunar, Khartron and the Radio Engineering Measurements Research Institute in Kharkov, the state-owned enterprise of Instrument Engineering Arsenal , Kiev Radio Plant and Kievpribor Production Association, Pavlograd Chemical Plant NPO in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, National Center for Control and Testing of Space Facilities near Evpatoria, etc.) ^[21]

In 2012, the question of the possibility of resuming the MAKS program was submitted for consideration.

On February 1, 2013, during the launch of the Zenit-3SL launch vehicle with the Intelsat 27 communications satellite under the Sea Launch program, an accident occurred as a result of a failure of the on-board power source developed at Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and manufactured at Yuzhmash the rocket fell into the Pacific Ocean a few kilometers from the launch site ^[22]

In May 2013, a contract was signed by Ukrainian enterprises to manufacture five fourth-stage sustainer engines for Vega launch vehicles (three engines were to be delivered to the customer in 2014 and two more in 2015) ^[10] .

In September 2013, the government of Ukraine adopted a targeted scientific and technical space program for 2013–2017 (the total amount of funding for the program was approved in the amount of 2.58 billion hryvnias, of which 1.12 billion was supposed to be allocated from the state budget, and the rest - to find from extrabudgetary sources) ^[23]

The political crisis that began in November 2013 led to a worsening of the situation in the country. The new government of Ukraine, approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on February 27, 2014, announced a break in technical cooperation with Russia (including in the aerospace industry).

The economic part of the association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union (entered into force on September 1, 2014) was signed on June 27, 2014, and “cooperation in space” is mentioned in the text of section V “Economic and sectoral cooperation” of the agreement.

On August 22, 2014, it was announced that Sea Launch would suspend operations until mid-2015 ^[24] .

On October 29, 2014, the Antares launch vehicle with the Cygnus space truck, which was supposed to deliver more than two tons of cargo to the ISS, exploded at the time of launch at the Wallops cosmodrome on the US Atlantic coast. The first stage of the exploded Antares launch vehicle was developed by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau ^[25] . Following this, the United States decided to suspend cooperation with the Yuzhmash project on the Antares project ^[26]

On January 27, 2015, the ex-president of Ukraine L. Kuchma made a statement that if Yuzhmash was closed, Ukraine could lose the status of a space power ^[27] .

In April 2015 it became known about the withdrawal of Brazil from the joint project with Ukraine to create the Cyclone-4 rocket and space complex, after 12 years of cooperation, due to its unprofitability (the decision was made in January 2015, by which time Brazil had invested in projectover 1 billion Brazilian Reais ) ^[28] .

In May 2015, the staff of the state enterprise “Yuzhmash” asked the Ukrainian authorities to eliminate rocket science in the country, or to take urgent measures to ensure the enterprise with state orders ^[29] .

On May 21, 2015, the space program of Ukraine for the period until 2022 was approved, in accordance with which in 2015–2022. it is planned to launch six spacecraft ( Lybid , Lybid-2, Sich-2 -1, Sich-2M, Sich-3 and Ionosat) ^[30] .

On August 7, 2015, the leadership of the GKAU announced its intention to create the Yuzhny space center , through the phased unification of two existing enterprises (Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant and Yuzhnoye Design Bureau), “to overcome the crisis situation” ^[31] .

On November 30, 2017, the European Space Agency allocated 53 million euros to finance the Vega Evolution program, which provides for the replacement of Ukrainian RD-843 liquid rocket engines (supplied for Vega launch vehicles) with more environmentally friendly German engines. ^[32]

Own spaceport is missing. ^[33]

• National Aerospace University named after N. E. Zhukovsky (Kharkiv) - an institute that admits engineers in aviation and astronautics;
• Lviv Center for Space Research Institute of the National Academy of Sciences and National Space Academy of Ukraine
• NTSUIKS (Crimea) - National Center for Control and Testing of Space Facilities (After the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation belongs to the Russian Federation)

modifications of the series of missiles R-36 (the ancestors of the "Dnieper" and "Cyclone")

• R-36M "Satan" (15A14);
• R-36M UTTH "Satan" (15A18) (according to NATO classification: SS-18 Mod 4);
• R-36M2 "Voevod" (15A18M) (according to the NATO classification: SS-18 Mod 5 "Satan", SS-18 Mod 6 "Satan");
• R-36M3 "Icarus" (draft).

space rockets

• RN Dnepr (15A18) - space rocket, cheap destruction of nuclear missiles R-36M with an expired shelf life. Instead of "nuclear warheads" they put "space satellites", and launch a rocket into the komos;
• Cyclone LV - rockets are built from scratch using the technology of building nuclear missiles of the P-36 series, and they continue to be improved.
• RN Cyclone-2 Created on the basis of nuclear 8K69 first launch: August 6, 1969 last - in June 2006 ^[34]
• PH Cyclone-3 (construction discontinued). Created on the basis of nuclear 8K69 first launch: June 24, 1977 ^[35]
• Cyclone-4 PH ( booster class: LIGHT , construction discontinued ^[36] ) and : Cyclone-4M ( booster class: MEDIUM ); a cosmodrome is being built in Canada for US money - building a cosmodrome until 2018, launching a rocket until 2020 ^[37]
  .

other rockets

• PH Zenit-2
• PH Zenit-3SL
• PH Zenit-2SLB
• PH Zenit-3SLB
• PH Zenit-3SLBF
• List of launches of launch vehicles of the Zenit family
• RN "Mayak" - a new series of rockets based on the "Cyclones" and "Zenit"

Due to historical circumstances, Ukraine in the space sphere is constantly forced to cooperate with the world community. Sometimes it slows down its development, but mainly this allows to reveal its potential more fully.

Ukraine is a party to the most important international negotiations in the space industry, including the Treaty on Principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and use of space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies ( 1967 ). Since its inception, the SCAU has signed 38 interstate and interdepartmental agreements with 16 countries. Ukraine has signed a number of interstate agreements in this area (with the European Space Agency , USA, Russia, China, Brazil) and participated in many international research programs (including research on space biology at the Mir station and many other programs).

Current projects include the Land Launch program - with the US and Russia.

Manned Cosmonautics

On October 27, 2010, at a meeting of the Economic Cooperation Committee of the Ukrainian-Russian Interstate Commission, the issue of preparing a flight of a Ukrainian cosmonaut to the Russian segment of the ISS was considered . The cost of the program was estimated at $ 140 million, however, in the target scientific and technical space program of Ukraine for 2008–2012 adopted by the government of Ukraine, the allocation of funds for the cosmonaut’s flight was not provided ^[19] .

In April 2011, the issue of the possibility of a second Ukrainian cosmonaut in 2014 ^[38] began to be addressed as a member of the semi-annual expedition aboard the ISS at the expense of the Russian quota ^[39] .

Ukraine - Russia

The largest partner of Ukraine in the space sector until 2014 ^[40] was Russia . This is due to historical circumstances. The space industry was created in the Soviet period, taking into account cooperation between enterprises in the Union republics of the USSR . This circumstance has caused interdependence between Ukraine and the Russian Federation in the aerospace industry.

After the start of the Ukrainian-Russian crisis in February 2014, cooperation between the countries was stopped. ^[41]

In February 2015, it became known that Russia refuses to use Rokot carrier rockets ^[42] and Zenit launch vehicles of Ukrainian production ^[43] .

In the summer of 2016, Russia decided to abandon the participation of Ukraine at the launch of the Dnepr missiles, which is scheduled to be renamed “Baikal” and launch on its own. ^[44]

Ukraine - ESA

Ukraine cooperates with the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) under the first European space program, as well as participation in the Aurora , Galileo , GMES and FLPP programs (promising launch vehicles).

Ukraine participated in the Bistro-2 Support Program of the European Commission, which deals with ensuring the protection of intellectual property rights , as part of the commercialization of Ukrainian space technologies. The SSAU participates in the Bistro-3 project, which aims to identify mechanisms for marketing space technologies in the civilian sphere.

According to the Galileo program, the agreement between the EU and Ukraine defines many areas of cooperation:

• radio frequency spectrum;
• research and training;
• industrial activity;
• trade and market development;
• standardization,
• certification and regulatory measures;
• safety, liability and cost recovery.

The agreement also provides for the establishment of joint ventures for the purpose of implementing the program, using and developing Galileo services. The subject matter of the transaction, moreover, includes the protection of intellectual, commercial and industrial property rights in all areas related to the provision and maintenance of the Galileo program to improve cooperation in the field of production.

The EU and Ukraine also agree on cooperation in the study and implementation of the ground system architecture and have temporarily agreed to extend the EGNOS system to the territory of Ukraine, using the ground infrastructure , which consists of Ukrainian monitoring stations.

The co-chairman of the joint Ukraine-EU space research working group, Hardwig Bischoff, recognizes the great potential of Ukraine in the field of space research and technology and believes that the country will find a worthy place in European space policy and European space cooperation. According to him, first of all, we are talking about the Global Monitoring System for Environment and Security - GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security). H. Bischoff believes that the Galileo navigation system, created in Europe, should cover the territory of Ukraine. According to him, now negotiations are underway to connect Ukraine to the creation of such a European system of global navigation, which, unlike the American GPS system, has civilian use. Also, there are great opportunities for cooperation in the field of space sciences, in the spacecraft launch sector, the representative of the European Commission believes. He also acknowledges the existence of problems in the way of space cooperation. One of them is that it is not so easy for the Ukrainian side to be involved in European research programs, as well as in European consortia. “We on the European side should provide more support and give more ideas - how to integrate Ukrainian scientists to large projects,” says H. Bischoff. At the same time, he noted that since Ukraine’s membership in the ESA will take many years, the parties can cooperate directly under the Agreement on Scientific and Technical Cooperation between Ukraine and the EU. .

Ukraine - United States

The USA was one of the initiators and the main source of funding for the Maritime Launch project.

Ukraine - China

In 1995, the Ukrainian- Chinese subcommittee was set up on cooperation in the field of space exploration for peaceful purposes. Further, seven meetings of this body took place.

Among the documents signed by Kiev and Beijing during the state visit to the People's Republic of China of President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, was the Program of Ukrainian-Chinese cooperation in the field of research and use of outer space for peaceful purposes for 2011-2015. The General Director of the State Space Agency of Ukraine, Yuriy Alekseev, noted that this is already the third five-year program, it contains 52 points, of which about 35 are designed for 2011–2012, others are for the future.

On the possibility of Ukraine’s participation in the lunar program of the PRC, Yuri Alekseev noted that the “Program says: study the issue and consider using the achievements of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in the Lunar Space Program for China” ^[45] .

Other States

Collaboration between Ukrainian and Indian enterprises in the space industry began during the Soviet era.

On July 20-23, 2003, during a visit to Ukraine, a delegation of the Indian Space Research Organization signed a Protocol of Intent on cooperation between the Space Command and the ICDO in the space sector in 4 areas: the creation of rocket engines, the joint production of parts and instruments for spacecraft, joint research and rocket fuel production of various types ^[46] .

• State Space Agency of Ukraine (SCAU)
• Day of the Rocket and Space Industry of Ukraine
• Ukrainian industry
• DPRK missile program