Samara (dpa) – Reaching for the stars at the traditional rocket production
factory in Samara starts in the company canteen. Factory site may look
outdated, but the work is still world-class, Western technicians agree. The
vodka goes by the name “Sputnik” – after the first artificial satellite
launched by the then-Soviet Union in 1957 to usher in the modern space
age.
The Soyuz rocket which sent the first man into space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin,
also stems from that era. It is the oldest yet also the most reliable booster
rocket in the world.
What Volkswagen’s legendary “Beetle” once was on the road, the Soyuz is still
today in the world of space travel – so far, the rocket has notched upa record
1,650 launches.
Its robust and simple technology also makes the rocket attractive for the West,
which has now discovered the Soyuz as an inexpensive yet tested booster
vehicle.
The European-Russian rocket company Starsem launched an entire set of 24
Globalstar satellites into space in 1999, achieving revenues of some 145
million dollars. And the European Space Agency ESA has put its trust in the
Soyuz for a launching.
Other potential customers such as the international Eumetsat organisation and
Dornier Satellitensysteme have started to include the Soyuz in their
calculations.
“The Soyuz technology may be outdated, but it has proven itself hundreds of
times – with a downright elegant simplicity,” says Dornier manager Axel Kopsch
during a visit to Samara.
The rocket has been built in the city on the Volga River since 1958 – in a
factory which has its origins as a bicycle plant of a German named Otto
Mueller. Starting in 1941 it served to build cars and airplanes, eventually
turning out 17,000 military planes, before becoming the Soviet Union’s ultimate
rocket factory in the 1950s.
A glimpse inside the gigantic factory halls is still a spectacular one to this
day.
“The rockets are still made by hand here,” says a French technician, who on a
tour of the plant said he felt like he was returning to the 1960s.
About 50 huge rocket components are stored here on what nostalgically resemble
metal sleds. But the somewhat dusty atmosphere from the Soviet era and the
cracking wall plaster are misleading: the work here is world-class.
Western experts praise the precise workmanship and the creative ideas which the
rocket builders come up with in order to find a simple technical solution to
complicated problems.
Two of the rockets now stored in the factory halls are destined for use to
carry people and materials to the planned international space station. Others
are reserved for launching European cluster satellites into space.
To this day, a portrait of stern-looking communist revolutionary leader Nikolai
Lenin appears to watch over what is going on in the factory. In its heyday, the
Samara plant produced up to 60 Soyuz rockets a year.
“Today the average is 20 to 30,” says factory director Alexander Kirilin. Many
go straight into storage after they are completed. “We don’t wait for
contracts, we always have 10 rockets under construction.”
The fact that production has been cut by half is the result of the longer
durability of today’s satellites.
“We would like more orders,” Kirilin admits, noting that 60 per cent come from
the military and the remainder from civilian clients.
By contrast to the western European “Ariane” rocket, which is built in the
vertical standing position, Soyuz rockets are built in the horizontal position.
This method goes back to the German origins of rocket building.
After World War II, German rocket scientists from the famous Peenemuende
facility formed the foundation for the Soyuz rocket, their first work being to
reconstruct and improve on the Germans wartime “V-2” rocket.
“We need 18 months to build a Soyuz rocket. But if need be, it can also be done
in six months,” says Starsem employee Vladimir Kotine. The company, in which
the the new European aerospace group EADS, via the French company Aerospatiale
Matra is to gain a 35 per cent stake, is in charge of marketing the
Soyuz.
A further participant is Arianespace, operator of the Ariane rocket, for whom
the Soyuz poses a favourable additional product.
“For a satellite launch using a basic model of the Ariane 4 the calculation is
up to 140 million dollars,” says Starsem chief financial officer Laurent
Safar. “For a Soyuz, 45 million dollars.”
Safar dreams of the possibility of launching the Soyuz from the Ariane facility
at Kourou in French Guyana. The proximity to the equator would, in one go,
enable the Russian rocket to double its payload weight.
