What flights are we talking about?
- Spaceships of the "Progress MS" series
Cargo ships of the Progress series
This is a series of transport unmanned cargo spacecraft (TGK) launched into orbit using the Soyuz carrier rocket. Developed in the USSR to supply orbital stations.
На модернизированный корабль установлена additional protection against space debris and micrometeorites in the cargo hold. To increase fault tolerance, duplicate electric motors were introduced into the docking mechanism and the joint sealing.
The main airbornesystems providing communication with the ground control complex, as well as responsible for the approach and docking of a cargo ship: a traffic control and navigation system, an onboard radio engineering system, a docking and internal transition system, a television system.
Onboard radio engineering system "Kvant-V" withantenna-feeder devices were replaced with a new unified command-telemetry system EKTS. Instead of the Kurs-A rendezvous and docking equipment, the Kurs-NA system was installed on the new Progress-MS.
Progress MS-10
- Spacecraft of the Soyuz MS series
"Soyuz MS" is Soviet and Russianmulti-seat transport manned spacecraft of the Soyuz family. Ships of this modification make it possible to deliver a crew of up to three people to low Earth orbit on a rocket with the same name “Soyuz”. The developer and manufacturer of Soyuz spacecraft is RSC Energia.
On the modernized "Soyuz MS"GLONASS system sensors. At the parachuting stage and after the descent vehicle has landed, its coordinates obtained from GLONASS / GPS data are transmitted via the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system to the MCC.
The first flight took place in 2016. At the end of 2018, 10 flights to the ISS and one emergency launch were carried out. On October 11, 2018, the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome to the ISS. At the 119th second of flight, when the side blocks of the first stage were separated from the central block of the second stage, an emergency shutdown of the engines occurred. The crew made an emergency landing in Kazakhstan. None of the members of the ship was injured, all the systems of the Union MS-10, including the emergency rescue system, worked normally.
In January 2019, development began on the first Soyuz MS-LV spacecraft intended for a flight to the Moon.
Soyuz MS-01
How did the launches of these series become the reasons for the proceedings?
Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee for the Centraladministrative district of Moscow opened a criminal case under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (fraud on an especially large scale) based on the results of an audit conducted by Roscosmos back in 2018.
During the audit, it was found that from 2010 toIn 2018, Roskosmos concluded agreements with JSC TsNIIMash, the head research institute of the state corporation, for updating and improving software and hardware, as well as training the personnel of the Baikonur cosmodrome, the flight control center, and the research vessel Cosmonaut Viktor Patsaev.
However, it turned out that to implement theseFor its part, the management of TsNIIMash attracted the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, with which it also entered into relevant agreements, and RKK - with ZAO Center for Technical Re-equipment of the Space Flight Control Service (ZAO TsTP), whose authorized capital was 12 thousand. rubles. On September 26, 2019, CJSC was excluded from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities for providing inappropriate reporting.
According to agreements concluded between Roscosmosand TsNIIMash, the updated computer programs were supposed to track the launches and movements of the Progress MS cargo spacecraft and the manned Soyuz MS spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome and the R / V Kosmonavt Viktor Patsaev located in Kaliningrad. The cosmodrome and NIS specialists were to receive and analyze telemetric data from the ships and transmit them to the MCC located in Korolev, near Moscow.
As established during the preliminaryInvestigations, employees of TsNIIMash, having completed work under the contracts, transferred their data to RSC Energia, and it then transferred to Roskosmos the results of work allegedly done by ZAO TsTP.
According to the investigation, as a result of all theseactions Roscosmos paid twice for work on training personnel and improving software and hardware for flights. The damage is preliminary estimated at 200 million rubles.
Suspects or accusedthere is no criminal case yet, but it is not excluded that in the near future they may appear from among the deputies of the former general director of Energia, Vladimir Solntsev, who led the corporation until 2018.
What is JSC TsNIIMash?
Joint Stock Company "CentralResearch Institute of Mechanical Engineering "(AO TsNIIMash) is the head research institute of the state corporation Roscosmos. The Institute includes the Mission Control Center, which provides software and hardware support for the flight of the Russian segment of the International Space Station, transport manned and cargo spacecraft Soyuz and Progress, scientific and socio-economic spacecraft, and the Luch ICSR.
Mission Control Center (MCC)
The institute is working to create andimprovement of sectoral systems of quality, reliability and safety, standardization of rocket and space technology, as well as the Federal certification system for space technology.
The Institute is the main think tankstate corporation Roskosmos in the field of system-wide research of the problems of development of rocket and space technology in Russia with a wide range of tasks: from designing a concept and long-term prospects for the development of rocket and space technology to specific technological developments and their conversion in the interests of other industries. Specialists of the Center for Heat Transfer and Aerogasdynamics and the Center for Strength carry out applied research and research work to ensure ground-based experimental development of rocket and space technology.
When did the alleged theft become known?
In 2018, when the Babushkinsky District Courtarrested the former general director of the Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC) Energia, the current adviser to the head of the UAC Vladimir Solntsev and the head of JSC NPP «Istok» named after Shokin" by Alexander Borisov.
Solntsev, Vladimir Lvovich. Image: RKK «Energy» them. S.P. Queen/energia.ru
At that time, it was about a contract for 1.5 billionrubles, concluded by RKK for the supply of electronics for the ISS module. According to the verdict of the inspectors, the tender was conducted with violations, as the winner was the Cyclone company, while its five competitors offered lower prices.
At that time, direct damage was estimated at 143 million rubles, and indirect damage exceeded 1 billion.
In addition, it was stated in the documents, deliveriesfor the ISS were disrupted due to the fault of the contractors. The conclusions of the investigation about the guilt of the defendants were confirmed by the auditors of Roscosmos, the testimony of witnesses, as well as operational-search materials obtained by the officers of the Moscow Region police.
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