In the USA, the Ukrainian stages for the Antares rocket were successfully tested. Video

Фото: Depositphotos

1 June at the Space Flight Center on Wallops Island (USA) passed ground tests of the Antares launch vehicle, the first stage of which was developed by the Ukrainian design bureau Yuzhnoye. This is the first large-scale success of the rocket in a year and a half - after its explosion 28 in October 2014, a few seconds after launch, writes the Internet portal AIN.

The rocket intended to deliver cargo weighing up to 6 800 kg to the space station was developed by the American company Orbital Sciences Corporation. And the first step for Antares was created by Ukrainians.

The main structure was developed at the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (KB) and manufactured at the Southern Machine-Building Plant in the city of Dnieper. Ukrainian enterprises “Khartron-ARKOS” (Kharkov), Hartron-YUKOM (Zaporizhia), “Chezar”, “Rapid” (Chernigov) and others also helped create the stage. In addition to manufacturing the stage, the Ukrainians also took an active part in conducting tests in the United States.

The last one and a half years, specialists were engaged in the modernization of the rocket. The fact is that the missile crash in 2014 was due to problems with the AJ-26 engine (Aerojet Rocketdyne, USA). Ukrainian engineers had to change the rocket level so that it could operate a completely different engine, not intended for the already finished design.

“We were required to partially disassemble the finished products, modify them and assemble them so that they could work with the new engine. Such work is extremely difficult, and it can be compared with heart transplantation in terms of laboriousness, ”said Maxim Degtyarev, chief designer at the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau.

Successfully conducted tests have shown that the task has been achieved - the next step will be to test the launch of the launch vehicle.

“For Ukraine, this is definitely a significant event. The stage itself - fuel tanks, oxidizer tanks, sensors, pipelines and other auxiliary equipment - should work as one with the propulsion system. If the test was successful, it means that all components of the launch vehicle stage interact in the way expected from them, ”explains Andrei Runners, the founder of the space technology accelerator simpera.space.

The first launch of the modified rocket is scheduled for mid-July 2016.

Read also on ForumDaily:

SpaceX for the first time successfully planted a giant Falcon 9 rocket

Russia recognized the impossibility of catching up with the US in the space sector

To replace the aircraft. Hyperpetlu Mask was successfully tested in Nevada. A PHOTO

Go to the page ForumDaily on Facebook to keep abreast of the latest news and comment material.