Russia’s Federal Space Agency (FSA) is in negotiations to buy Moscow-based Energia’s Parom orbital transfer vehicle. The Parom, which means “ferry” in Russian, would stay in orbit for 15 years and be capable of 60 interorbital cycles, taking cargo launched into low-Earth orbit and transferring it to the International Space Station (ISS).
Developed from the Progress cargo vehicle, the Parom would capture a cargo canister with a mass of up to 12,000kg (26,400lb) and take it to the ISS, where the vehicle would remain docked when not in use. Energia claims the Parom will lower the cost of transport because the vehicle reuses the propulsion, navigation, rendezvous and docking systems that are expended on every Progress mission.
“If [FSA] does not place an order, we will develop this commercially,” says Energia president Nikolai Sevastiyanov. The Parom had been proposed as a method of transferring Energia’s proposed Kliper crew transport vehicle to the ISS. Sevastiyanov expects Energia to collaborate with the European Space Agency on the instrumentation and propulsion module of the Soyuz-based crew vehicle under the new FSA-ESA human transport system project.
The Soyuz vehicle has three sections, with habitat, descent and instrumentation, and propulsion modules. The FSA-ESA project will create a modernised Soyuz with digital electronics, improved internal systems for reusability and potentially a heat shield for lunar return capability.
Source: Flight International
