ISS Reshetnev's 14F166A and 14F166 satellites

[B. Hendrickx]

https://www.mirniy.ru/info/ads/22222-uvedomlenie-o-provedenii-obschestvennyh-obsuzhdeniy.html

This is a link to documentation that appeared last March on the official website of Mirnyy, the town nearest to the Plesetsk cosmodrome. It deals with the environmental impact of what is called the “14K248 rocket and space complex”. This turns out to be an index for the combination of the Angara-A5 rocket, the Briz-M upper stage and geostationary satellites of ISS Reshetnev identified as 14F166A and 14F166.

Earlier information on 14F166

The index 14F166 had earlier appeared only in a handful of sources:
https://www.tenderguru.ru/tender/42288410?ysclid=lqnxsipezn601144961
Procurement documentation for equipment needed to perform high-frequency tests of the satellite (2019)
https://istina.msu.ru/projects/256057122/
A study of electric charging effects on the satellite’s unpressurized bus conducted by the Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics of Moscow State University (MGU) (2019)
http://www.ict.nsc.ru/ru/science/project-show?id=364
Structural tests of a high-pressure xenon tank (KBVD) for the satellites conducted by an organization known as FITs IVT (2022)

The contracts with MGU and FITs IVT both contain the number 228 and this appears to be ISS Reshetnev’s internal project number for the 14F166 satellites. A few other sources also mention an ISS Reshetnev project named “Theme 228” without providing any further details.   

New information on 14F166

What can be learned from the recently published documentation is that the satellites are based on ISS Reshetnev’s Express-2000 platform and have a design lifetime of 10 years (less than the usual 15-year lifetime given for these satellites). 14F166A and 14F166 share the same bus, but have different payloads (the nature of which is not revealed). The propulsion system consists of the following elements:
-four SPD-100V Hall-effect thrusters burning xenon (for orbit corrections)
-eight gas thrusters burning xenon (for orientation and stabilization)
-eight hydrazine thrusters (four main, four back-up) (for orientation)

Both satellites will be loaded with 350 kg of xenon. For some reason, 14F166A will carry 60 kg less hydrazine than 14F166 (100 kg vs. 160 kg).

Information is also given on the Angara’s launch trajectory (see the attached map). After separation from Angara-A5’s third stage (which is suborbital and splashes down in the Pacific), the Briz-M will initially place the satellites into a 63.3° orbit parking orbit with a perigee of 180.9 km and an apogee of 196.9 km. About ten minutes later, it will begin a series of burns to insert the satellites into a so-called supersynchronous geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) with an inclination of 1.3°. The perigee and apogee of the GTO will be different for 14F166A and 14F166:
14F166A: 18,858x52,728 km
14F166: 25,206x46,380 km

The Briz-M will then separate from the satellites and place itself into a graveyard orbit with the following parameters:
following the launch of 14F166A: 17,047.1x52,264.7 km, 1.655°
following the launch of 14F166: 23,077.5x45,899.0 km, 1.58°

The satellites will subsequently move to GEO by using their SPD-100V thrusters. After finishing their missions, they will put themselves into graveyard orbits about 200 km above the geostationary belt. The “supersynchronous” GTO was first used by Russia for the launch of the Express-AM5 and AM6 satellites (also Express-2000 platforms) in 2013 and 2014. The large-capacity KBVD xenon high-pressure tank was developed by ISS Reshetnev exactly to allow satellites to move from GTO to GEO. According to information from ISS Reshetnev, Express-2000 satellites using this launch profile can have a mass of more than 3.25 tons (including a payload of up to 1.1 ton).

Link with CNIIHM

The documents trace the development of the 14F166(A) satellites back to a government contract signed on December 1, 2017 with the number 110/1-2017/1653-G. The parties involved in that contract are not mentioned, but it is known from procurement documentation that these are CNIIHM (the Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics) and ISS Reshetnev. The contract number makes it possible to determine that it was awarded by CNIIHM to ISS Reshetnev and not vice versa (contracts awarded by CNIIHM typically end with a four-digit number followed by the letter G and this one fits in a sequence of other contracts known to have been awarded by CNIIHM). This is also confirmed by the fact that ISS is described as being involved in a “part of the project” (СЧ ОКР in Russian short).

I have earlier discussed the joint CNIIHM-ISS Reshetnev project in the CNIIHM thread:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48108.20 
(Reply 21)
As explained in that post, there is some evidence that this involves work on a small geostationary satellite that would perform rendezvous and proximity operations in geostationary orbit using astronavigation  techniques and machine vision systems. Being based on the heavy Express-2000 platform, 14F166A and 14F166 are clearly not small satellites. Possibly, CNIIHM is not directly involved in developing the 14F166(A) satellites themselves, but is building small satellites that will fly to space together with 14F166(A). In that case, they would remain attached to the 14F166(A) satellites until they reach their final destination in GEO.

CNIIHM has a similar arrangement with NPO Lavochkin in the Nivelir project. NPO Lavochkin’s 14F150 satellites (or at least the first two, Kosmos-2519 and 2542) have carried smaller subsatellites that were almost certainly built by CNIIHM. Despite its seemingly smaller role in the project, CNIIHM still acts as the prime contractor, with NPO Lavochkin serving as a subcontractor (CNIIHM got the Nivelir contract from the Ministry of Defense on September 30, 2011 and then in turn awarded a contract to NPO Lavochkin on December 1, 2011).

Similarly, the contract signed between CNIIHM and ISS Reshetnev on December 1, 2017 must have been preceded by a contract between the Ministry of Defense and CNIIHM.  As can be determined from court documentation, CNIIHM received such a contract on October 1, 2017 (nr. 5Ts/2017).
https://kad.arbitr.ru/Card/6d341fb0-1c1b-49b7-b6d9-755b3827e887
However, the contract is linked not to 14F166, but to the launch of three of ISS Reshetnev’s Gonets-M satellites in December 2020. Riding piggyback with those three satellites was a small military satellite named Kosmos-2548 (also called ERA-1), most likely a product of CNIIHM. This was described as an experimental nanosatellite to test miniature orientation and astronavigation systems. According to the same document, CNIIHM signed a contract for that mission with ISS Reshetnev on October 1, 2018 (nr. 1849-G).

One possible interpretation of all this is that the October 1, 2017 contract between the MoD and CNIIHM covered launches of CNIIHM payloads together with several ISS Reshetnev satellites. In that case, the December 2017 and October 2018 contracts between CNIIHM and ISS Reshetnev (1653-G and 1849-G) would be follow-up contracts for the launch of subsatellites with 14F166(A) and Gonets-M.

What such subsatellites would do in GEO is anyone's guess, but they could potentially conduct inspection, servicing or other missions that would be hard to monitor from the ground. Whether they are supposed to interact with the 14F166(A) satellites or just go along for the ride is hard to say. The fact that CNIIHM appears to act as the prime contractor does point to a connection.

The exact purpose of 14F166(A) itself also remains open to speculation. The documents give the names of two ISS Reshetnev employees that have a leading role in the project. One is a deputy of the company’s general director who has published articles on various types of communications satellites and the other has not published anything at all. All the satellites using the Express-2000 bus have been used for communications and there are no indications that it has been or can be adapted for other roles.

Launch dates

At the time the documents were published (March 2023), the 14F166A satellites were scheduled to begin “the first phase of flight tests beginning in 2023” and the 14F166 satellites would begin the “second phase of test flights beginning in 2025”. The documentation also talks about a “constellation of satellites”, a further indication that several of these spacecraft will be placed into orbit. If it hasn’t suffered any more significant delays, it is reasonable to assume that the first 14F166A satellite will fly in 2024. Elements of what appear to be an Angara-A5 rocket could be seen lying in an assembly building at Plesetsk in a video posted by TASS in late November (on a visit of schoolgirls to Plesetsk on the occasion of the Kosmos-2572 launch). Possibly, that it is the one that will launch 14F166A. The video is here:
https://tass.ru/kosmos/19380179
A screenshot is attached.

[B. Hendrickx]

During a visit to Plesetsk in October 2021, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was shown around in a new building that will be used to prepare Angara-A5 payloads and their upper stages. In a TV report on Shoigu’s visit, a floor plan of this building could be seen which included the names of the satellites that will be undergoing launch preparations there. Five of those were ISS Reshetnev satellites, namely Repei, Gerakl-KV, Sfera, Ispolin and Express.

The first four are military satellites that have been known for quite some time, but Express is a name that has been used only for civilian communications satellites. As far as is known, all future geostationary Express satellites will be launched from Baikonur and Vostochnyy. The Express-RV satellites, which will be placed into highly elliptical orbits, will fly from Plesetsk, but they will use the Soyuz-2.1b and be prepared for launch in another area of the cosmodrome.

This probably means that Express refers to the 14F166(A) satellites, which are built on the basis of the Express-2000 bus. Once these satellites are launched, they should get Kosmos numbers, but there must also be a project name for use in official documentation. If this is Express, it would be quite confusing. Still, there doesn’t seem to have been a reason to use a cover name in the floor plan, which does mention the official names of the other four satellites. Also, the floor plan was put on display for Shoigu and was most likely not intended for public consumption. It probably appeared in the TV report by accident. 

[B. Hendrickx]

Once these satellites are launched, they should get Kosmos numbers, but there must also be a project name for use in official documentation. If this is Express, it would be quite confusing.

A comment by an ISS Reshetnev insider on the NK forum suggests Express is not the project name.