RSC Energia is one of Russia’s main space companies. It plays a key role in the development of space technologies, as it bids to keep Russia at the forefront of innovation in the global space arena. RSC Energia’s president is Vitaly Lopota.

Lopota was born in 1950, in Grozny where he began his working career as a fitter at an oil refinery. After completing army service, he studied in Leningrad Polytechnical Institute (known as Leningrad Polytechnical University since 1990) where, after completing postgraduate studies in 1981, he rose through the ranks, starting off as a junior research associate, to eventually become a professor, a department chairman and the head of an applied research laboratory, which later became known as the Laser Technology Center. In 1991, Lopota became the director and chief designer of the Central Research and Development Institute for Robotics and Engineering Cybernetics (known as TsNII RTK since 1981, established in 1968 under the auspices of Leningrad Polytechnical Institute as OKB TK). Since July 2007 Lopota has been heading up RSC Energia.

Lopota talks about RSC Energia’s plans in developing new systems and technologies and how he views recent developments in the launch services sector, as the major shareholder in Sea Launch.

 

VIA SATELLITE: What are the main capital expenditure plans for RSC Energia over the next two years? What new technology capabilities are you looking to invest in?

Lopota: RSC Energia’s main capital expenditure plans for the next few years are, first, to upgrade its production equipment in order to bring it to advanced technical levels that are consistent with global space companies. And also, we want to expand our production capabilities of our existing line of spacecraft and to introduce next generation systems both internally and through international partnerships with other companies.

We are also focusing on improving the production capabilities of the Soyuz- and Progress-type spacecraft. We will be investing reducing the manufacturing cycle time and achieving higher technical characteristics, as well as in launching a new generation of spacecraft for manned flight.

The main technical challenges facing us in this area will be developing new manufacturing technologies for the next generation spacecraft (i.e. for the spacecraft body, thermal coating, landing device, soft landing propulsion installation, control system devices, and solar batteries with advanced performance characteristics). Of special note is the fact that these new technologies will have to support a 10-fold increase in the usage of the spacecraft’s return vehicle command module.

VIA SATELLITE: There have been recent issues with putting Russian satellites into space. What are your assessments of these events and how they have impacted the market?

Lopota: In highly complex, technology-intensive endeavors it is very difficult to achieve absolute 100 percent reliability. The customers of these types of technologies are sophisticated and they understand that it is difficult to achieve 100 percent reliability. During the design phase, they usually specify the probability for this level of technology to perform the tasks at the level of 0.9 – 0.95 percent. Thus, they are accepting a failure possibility in 10 (or, respectively, five) cases out of a hundred, at the point when the problem solving becomes very difficult.

To a greater extent, the increased probability of such failures, leading to an emergency situation, is typical during the development phase or initial phase of operation. The failures may also appear when there are deviations in the organization of production and operation of these facilities.

In this respect, we should note the strong performance of RSC Energia’s upper stages of Block DM type. These Blocks’ have a long history, which is worthy of respect, as well as an unquestionable flight certification, confirmed by more than three hundred successful flights. Practical statistics of the Blocks’ operation shows that their reliability exceeds the level of comparable upper stages in the world.

The above-mentioned situations with the satellites insertion refer to the launches using the Breeze-M upper stage. The special Commissions were initiated on those issues, as is the accepted practice in the international rocket-and-space engineering industry. The Commission has carried out the analysis of the available information and issued the conclusion on the technical and organizational causes of the problem, as well as proposing the corrective actions for their prevention in future launches. As it might be expected, these events have impacted the market of launch services and the insurance side of the market.

 

VIA SATELLITE: The launch market has gotten very competitive in recent years and in particular with the emergence of SpaceX offering low-cost launches and signing a number of commercial contracts. How does this change things?

Lopota: In the near term, RSC Energia doesn’t expect to have many competitors on manned flights and launches to supply the International Space Station (ISS). Regarding commercial launches to high-energy orbits, companies such as SpaceX or Orbital Sciences are not obvious competitors yet. The existing Falcon rocket requires additional development to increase their capability to deliver the payloads to orbits of this type.

Recently, competition among the participants of the global launch services market – among which are the leading aerospace companies of Russia, United States, Europe, China, Ukraine, and India – has increased. Additionally, Iran, India, China, Brazil, South Korea and other countries are developing their own launch vehicles. Thus, competition in this segment is expected to increase. Sea Launch is a competitive launch service provider, having conducted 35 launches since 1999. Although the company’s most recent launch ended in failure (the launch vehicle failed to insert the upper stage Block DM-SL along with the Intelsat-27 spacecraft into orbit). However, the entire infrastructure of the complex has remained intact. The spacecraft was insured during the launch phase. Therefore, after the relevant activities are executed, which will be the result of the established Technical Commission’s work, launches of the Sea Launch Zenit-3SL will resume. Additionally, it should be noted that the actual statistics of Sea Launch launches are comparable to the reliability typical for modern similar complexes during their operational phase.

 

VIA SATELLITE: What do you see as the key trends in the launch services market? How are customers’ needs changing in this area?

Lopota: I’d single out the following three main trends:

 The continued introduction of newly developed commercial launch vehicles (e.g. SpaceX, as well as more commercial launches in India and China);

 Plans for a super heavy class launch vehicles established for manned flights to the Moon and deep space;

 The development of a new generation of launch vehicles, which include: a reusable (or partially reusable) rocket to launch ultra-small spacecraft integrating the use of aircraft technologies.

The requirements of the commercial launch customers remain the same: high reliability, performance, reasonable prices and flexibility from the launch operator. We do our utmost to meet these needs, taking into account the unique requirements of each potential customer.

 

VIA SATELLITE: Sea Launch has had its issues in the past and had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection? How do you assess the prospects for Sea Launch in what is a pretty crowded market now?

Lopota: I am optimistic on the future prospects for Sea Launch. The company provides an open, transparent approach for its customers in terms of operational capabilities and reliable processes and procedures. The failure that occurred in February has been thoroughly examined by the Technical Commission, as well as the independent Sea Launch Failure Oversight Review Board. Its conclusions and implemented activities will be presented to the customers of upcoming launches and interested insurance companies participating in the launch insurance placements for Sea Launch beginning in June.

 

VIA SATELLITE: Could you tell us about some of the key projects RSC Energia will be involved in over the next few years in the areas of science and exploration?

Lopota: Among the projects we are working on, the following should be especially noted:

 A scientific-energy module for the ISS;

 A transport and energy module with megawatt class power facility, which is comparable to nuclear and solar energy;

 An orbital scientific station, in the neighborhood of the L2 libration point of the Earth-Moon gravitational system;

 An advanced manned transportation system with a new generation manned transport spacecraft for the flights of four astronauts to the Moon and Earth orbits;

 A technological spacecraft maintained at the ISS, designed for autonomous flight and periodic docking with the station for its maintenance.

 

VIA SATELLITE: How do you view the future for Ka-band and High-Throughput Satellites (HTS) in Russia? Do you see this as the next big thing in the satellite market?

Lopota: The frequency resource of satellite communications in the traditional bands has been practically exhausted. Continued development will begin in Ka-band. According to the forecasts, by 2020 Ka-band systems will ensure an increase in the throughput capacity for the global satellite fleet, and will provide up to 90 percent of the traffic. The new systems will give a qualitative leap in the provision of services such as personal high-speed Internet access, TV broadcasting of HD services, data traffic and cellular backhaul. This growth is especially important for Russia, as we have a large number of small and remote communities. Satellite two-way high-speed access to the Internet could become a reality to the masses on a personal level.

An important psychological barrier has been overcome as user equipment here is now lower than the price of mass market devices such as: smartphones, laptops, tablet PCs, TV sets etc. In the future the price will obviously continue to fall. Despite the high level of connectivity in the United States, only a relatively small number of subscribers are connected to satellite broadband services on a daily basis. The needs of the Russian market are even higher. Progress here will depend on satellite technologies, which is why RSC Energia in cooperation with EADS-Astrium is developing a joint venture to create Ka-band satellites for Russian consumers.

 

VIA SATELLITE: Do you think that the Russian market needs more capacity? How do you see satellite fitting with other communications technologies such as wireless in Russia?

Lopota: The Russian market is in need of much more satellite capacity just to provide the traditional services, but the need is even greater when you consider new technologies and, in particular, broadband access services, both for the mass consumer, rural schools and other small users, and for organizing additional main trunk services. The demand for these services has grown with the advent of 3G and 4G networks. Even though in large cities the fiber-optic lines are in use, the modern technologies of wireless access are in high demand in distant cities, where, as a rule, there are no fiber-optic lines. This is particularly urgent in the large northern cities of Siberia and the Far East. They require the capacity comparable with the capability of the entire modern Russian satellite fleet. Only advanced satellite technology can solve the task of such in-demand personal technology in the huge territory of Russia.

 

VIA SATELLITE: A lot of talk in the industry this year has been on hosted payloads. Do you see anything happening in Russia? What are the hosted payload opportunities for RSC Energia?

Lopota: Hosted payloads, or as we call them “opportunistic” payloads in Russian terminology, are a cost-effective way to resolve some of the requirements of the commercial market. However, there is an interesting contradiction at play here. These payloads can minimize overall risk and offer new technical solutions but, in order to minimize risk, these new hosted payload solutions require testing, which in itself carries risk.

RSC Energia is technically ready to implement the delivery of hosted payloads both directly to geostationary orbit using the upper stage of Block DM type, and to low Earth orbit simultaneously with the placement of the payload on the external surface or in the cargo holds of the Progress spacecraft.

However, with regard to commercial satellites, there remain considerable problems in this area. These problems are based on the fact that the customers of these satellites seek to maximize the use of lifetime and payload opportunities of the platforms, as well as to avoid possible risks such as the schedule risk in the failure to manufacture the hosted payload and integrate to the satellite on time, the increase in propellant consumption, etc. Therefore, this activity has not become a frequent practice yet.

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