NASA successfully launches Antares rocket with Ukrainian-made core stage

[Hindustani78]

http://uatoday.tv/techandscience/na...et-with-ukrainian-made-core-stage-788031.html

The launch of redesigned Antares comes two years after the model exploded trying to reach ISS


Orbital ATK Inc., a private US company, has successfully launched an Antares rocket carrying supplies for the international space station.

The Antares rocket is topped with a Cygnus spacecraft carrying 2,300 kilograms of cargo for science experiments and supplies for the crew, according to NASA.

The unmanned mission comes nearly two years after Antares exploded seconds after the launch, destroying the company's Virginia facility.

While the precise reason was never determined, the failure was linked to Orbital's use of old Soviet technologies.

Since then the rocket has undergone a major redesign. Rocket's booster stage was manufactured by Ukraine's Yuznhoe Design Bureau, while its main engines were built in Russia.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/407626.html

The Vega launch vehicle (LV) with the Ukrainian engine was successfully launched on Tuesday from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The Sentinel-2B Earth observation satellite for Copernicus was put into orbit.

According to a report on the website of Pivdenmash (Yuzhmash, Dnipro), the launch from the spaceport in French Guiana was the ninths launch under the Vega program and first in 2017.

According to the report, the Sentinel-2B satellite is the fourth satellite launched for Copernicus.

Copernicus (earlier GMES) is a global environment monitoring system aimed at achieving a global, continuous, autonomous, high quality, wide range Earth observation capacity.

The Vega was designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) for carrying satellites with a weight up to 1,200 kilos to a 1,200-kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit and satellites with a weight of 1,500 kilograms to a 700-kilometer polar orbit. The RD-868P cruise engine for the fourth stage of the rocket was developed by the Yuzhnoye (Pivdenne) Design Bureau and built by the Yuzhmash (Pivdenmash) Plant (both situated in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine).

The Ukrainian government and the ESA signed an agreement on cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space in 2008. The ESA unites 17 European countries.

The medium-term plans announced by the Ukrainian State Space Agency in 2015 include Ukraine's gradual entry into the ESA and integration of the Ukrainian rocket and space industry with the European one.

 

[Hindustani78]

https://www.unian.info/world/1824706-canada-to-build-spaceport-for-launching-ukrainian-rockets.html

Canadian Maritime Launch Services has confirmed plans to build a rocket spaceport in Nova Scotia that will be used to launch commercial satellites into space, including Ukrainian ones, according to CBC News.

Nova Scotia is familiar with launching ships, but never quite like this, CBC News reported. The province could soon be the site of a $148-million rocket spaceport that will be used to launch commercial satellites into space as early as 2020.

On Tuesday, Maritime Launch Services confirmed plans to build the facility near Canso and begin construction within one year. The Halifax-based company, which is a joint venture of three U.S.-based firms, hopes to launch eight rockets annually by 2022.

The facility would launch rockets with 3,350-kg payloads on a due south trajectory at a cost of $60 million.

The site would include a launch pad and a processing building, as well as a control center positioned about three kilometers away. The total cost to establish the spaceport, launch the first rocket and promote the facility will be $304 million, said John Isella, CEO of Maritime Launch Services.

It would be the only commercial spaceport in Canada.

"The area near Canso and Hazel Hill was selected from 14 different sites across North America for the Ukrainian Cyclone 4M medium-class rocket," the report reads.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/410436.html

The creation of the Cyclone-4M space rocket complex in Canada by 2020 will be carried out within the commercial project of the space sector companies of Canada, the United States and Ukraine, the project will be funded by the Western investor, Pivdenne Design Bureau (Dnipro), the Ukrainian developer of space equipment, has said.

According to a report on the company's website, a number of Canadian, American and Ukrainian companies will take part in the creation of the Cyclone-4M space rocket complex in Canada by 2020, recently announced by Canada's Maritime Launch Services Ltd. (MLS).

Pivdenne design bureau will be responsible for the development, testing and operation of the carrier rocket and facilities and systems of the ground complex, Pivdenmash will be the supplier of Cyclone-4M launch complexes to MLS, the report says.

According to Pivdenne design bureau, the project will be financed by the Western partner: Maritime Launch Services Ltd. showed interest and on its own initiative plans to implement the project solely at the expense of its own funds and financial investments attracted from commercial sources, the report said.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/442295.html

The Ukrainian state-owned Pivdenmash (Yuzhmash) machine-building plant, Ukraine's leading rocket manufacturer located in the city of Dnipro, has denied allegations published by The New York Times that it may have covertly contributed to North Korea's missile program, describing the report as an attempt to discredit Pivdenmash and Ukraine.

"The speculation by the reports' authors and the 'expert' quoted by them concerning Ukraine's possible role in the DPRK's progress in developing its missile technology has nothing in common with reality: Pivdenmash has never had and does not have any relation to North Korea's space or defense rocket programs. As a state enterprise, Pivdenmash fully complies with the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), in which Ukraine has participated since 1998," Pivdenmash said in an official statement shared with Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.

"Pivdenmash has not manufactured and is not manufacturing military missiles or missile systems in the years of [Ukraine's] independence. The only serial engine that has been exported in the past several years - the RD-843 shipped to Italy for the European launch vehicle Vega - is designed to operate in outer space, and its features, including its thrust, makes it unsuitable for use in military ballistic missiles," it said.

"The information presented in the report is not consistent with reality: in particular, not only is Pivdenmash not a primary producer of missiles for Russia, but it also does not supply Russia with any missiles or its components or elements, including rocket engines," it said.

Pivdenmash said that, while it regretted the report, "provocative in its nature and based on an incompetent expert opinion," it said that "the position of a number of Ukrainian media outlets is also disappointing, in that they allowed the circulation of fantasies discrediting Pivdenmash and Ukraine without attempts to verify this information directly with the enterprise."

The New York Times reported on Monday with reference to conclusions by a missile expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies that the Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile launched by the DPRK in July may have been powered by an engine designed on the basis of the RD-250, which was developed for Soviet ICBMs in the 1960s.

The report names Pivdenmash, which The New York Times describes as "one of Russia's primary producers of missiles even after Ukraine gained independence," as the most likely supplier of technology for building the engine for the North Korean missile.

Pivdenmash is a key enterprise of Ukraine's space rocket industry, which manufactures launch vehicles and civil, research and military satellites.

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/442212.html

14.08.2017
The Ukrainian defense and aerospace complexes did not supply weapons and military technology to North Korea, and false information disseminated by some foreign media about the alleged transfer of missile technology by Yuzhmash to the DPRK is most likely triggered by Russian special services, NSDC Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov has said.

"This information doesn't have a leg to stand on, is provocative in its content, and most likely provoked by Russian special services to cover their own crimes," the press service of the NSDC quoted Turchynov as saying on Monday.

"Ukraine has never supplied rocket engines and any missile technology to North Korea. And we believe that this anti-Ukrainian campaign was provoked by Russian special services to cover their participation in North Korean nuclear and missile programs," the National Security and Defense Council Secretary said.

Ukraine considers North Korea's regime "totalitarian, dangerous, and unpredictable and supports all sanctions against this country," Turchynov said.

Earlier on Monday, the New York Times published an article on its website saying that analysts studying photographs of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting new rocket engines had concluded "that they derive from designs that once powered the Soviet Union's missile fleet."

Those engines were manufactured at only a few plants in the former Soviet Union. U.S. government investigators and experts focused their inquiries on the Ukrainian Yuzhmash factory. During the Cold War, the factory in the city of Dnipro built powerful missiles for the Soviet arsenal, including the giant SS-18. It remained one of Russia's primary producers of missiles even after Ukraine's independence.

Following Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's removal from power in 2014, Yuzhmash fell on hard times, suffering a lack of funding. Experts believe it is the most likely source of the engines that powered intercontinental ballistic missiles launched by North Korea in July.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/442694.html

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has ordered an inquiry into the information published in The New York Times regarding missile engine supplies from Ukraine to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

"I ordered an urgent, thorough and full investigation of the situation to be conducted under chairmanship of the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, and with participation of the inter-agency commission for military-technical cooperation policy and export control, as well as Pivdenmash state enterprise and Pivdenne design bureau, and to report the results within three days," Poroshenko wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

Ukraine cherishes its reputation as a reliable partner in protecting and not spreading rocket and space technologies, and duly abides by the international rules for non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, the president said. "Having voluntarily rid ourselves from the world's third most powerful nuclear potential, we made a unique contribution in international security and would never let ourselves doubt our adherence to international commitments," Poroshenko wrote.

Whatever absurd the accusations directed at Ukraine may look, "as responsible partners we must carefully verify the information published by the New York Times about the alleged deliveries of rocket engines or relevant technologies to North Korea," Poroshenko wrote.

"I am convinced that this will help prove with certainty the contrived nature of presumptions about 'the Ukrainian trail' in the North Korean ballistic history and is likely to locate the real source and design of this unsubstantiated fake," Poroshenko wrote.

The New York Times reported on August 14 citing conclusions by a missile expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies that the Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile launched by the DPRK in July may have been powered by an engine designed on the basis of the RD-250, which was developed for Soviet ICBMs in the 1960s.

The report names the state-owned Pivdenmash machine-building plant, which The New York Times describes as "one of Russia's primary producers of missiles even after Ukraine gained independence," as the most likely supplier of technology for building the North Korean missile's engine.

Pivdenmash dismissed the allegations aired by The New York Times and described them as an attempt to discredit Pivdenmash and Ukraine.

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http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/442643.html

State-owned Ukrainian rocket maker Pivdenmash (also known as Yuzhmash) Machine Building Plant has disclosed details about a telephone conversation on Wednesday between the plant's director general, Serhiy Voit, and Russian pranksters.

Russian state-television channel Russia 24 on Wednesday aired a clip about the prank.

"The authors of the news item played with words to make it look like it was a conversation about the scandal involving Pivdenmash's dealings with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), about so-called cooperation with them. This does not correspond with reality," the press service of Pivdenmash said.

"The Pivdenmash design bureau has for years worked with the Republic of Korea [also known as South Korea]. The first contracts were fulfilled and announcements were posted to the enterprise's website. The partnership today with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) continues to develop. There has been no cooperation between Pivdenmash and DPRK, however," the press service said, adding that talk about the sale of the enterprise mentioned in Russia 24's news item was impossible.

"Pivdenmash cannot be privatized or incorporated according to Ukrainian law," the press service said.

As earlier reported, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Head Oleksandr Turchynov and the Dnipro-based Pivdenmash rocket factory on August 14 flatly denied manufacturing military missiles or missile systems in the years of Ukraine's independence.

Pivdenmash officials said the only serial engine that had been exported in the past several years - the RD-843 shipped to Italy for the European launch vehicle Vega - is designed to operate in outer space, and its features, including its thrust, makes it unsuitable for use in military ballistic missiles.

"The information presented in the report is not consistent with reality: in particular, Pivdenmash is far from being a primary producer of missiles for Russia, and it also does not supply Russia with any missiles or its components or elements, including rocket engines," a statement from Pivdenmash says.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/443890.html

The New York Times' article about possible involvement of Ukraine in the supply of rocket engines to North Korea is a distraction of the attention of the world community from the alleged participation of Russia in the implementation of the DPRK's missile programs, the report of the NSDC Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, says.

According to the report of Turchynov, who heads the working group on verification of information publishe in the article of The New York Times newspaper, the text of which was posted on Tuesday by the NSDC press service, "Russia has long been implementing a hostile policy against Ukraine, resulting in the annexation of Crimea and occupation of part of the eastern regions of Ukraine. Today, Russia's aggression against Ukraine is carried out in the form of a hybrid war, during which Russia, in addition to military operations, uses carefully planned information provocations, seeking to consistently discredit Ukraine as a reliable and predictable partner, in particular, in such sensitive areas as military and technical cooperation," the report says.

"Such provocations are intended among other things to manipulate public consciousness with the aim of camouflaging Russia's active participation in many destructive campaigns. The working group sees the NYT article dated August 14, 2017 as an element of information cover and distraction of the attention of the world community from Russia's alleged participation in the implementation of North Korean missile programs," the report says.

It is noted that the working group unanimously came to the reasoned conclusions, which completely refute Ukraine's involvement in the implementation of programs to develop North Korean ballistic missiles.

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http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/443908.html

Poroshenko initiates UN SC consideration of Ukraine's non-involvement in North Korea's missile program
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has instructed the Foreign Ministry to prepare the issue of Kyiv's non-involvement in the missile program of North Korea for consideration at the United Nations Security Council, the presidential official website said.

"In light of the conclusions made by the commission [the inter-agency commission for the policy of military-technical cooperation and export control] I want to instruct the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine to prepare a group of experts and initiate consideration of this matter at a closed UN Security Council session," Poroshenko said after hearing a report on the results of a working group which checked into the information contained in the New York Times article dated August 14, 2017.

"Separately, it is necessary to publish the conclusions of the working group and the inter-agency commission [for the policy of military-technical cooperation and export control], inform our international partners and initiate a similar inquiry by appropriate countries. The same kind of openness must primarily be demonstrated by the Russian Federation," Poroshenko said.

The secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council and head of the working group, Oleksandr Turchynov, reported to the president that, in accordance with his instructions, the group and the inter-agency commission checked the New York Times information of a possible transfer by the Production Association Pivdennyi Machine-Building Plant of missile technologies, in particular RD-250 rocket engines, to North Korea.

"Based on the results of the work carried out, and the materials provided by the state authorities, the working group states: the existing system of state export control over international transfers of military and dual-purpose products excludes the possibility of such products being transferred to the countries against which the UN Security Council introduced relevant sanctions," Turchynov said.

Ukraine has honored its international obligations in good faith and consistently, in particular, by operating a state mechanism of control over implementation and verification of international obligations assumed under the Treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and control over missile technologies, the NSDC secretary said.

 

[Hindustani78]

TOKYO, August 23, 2017 11:08 IST
Updated: August 23, 2017 11:09 IST
http://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...ile-designs/article19544463.ece?homepage=true

Concept diagrams of the missiles were seen hanging on a wall behind leader Kim Jong Un
North Korea’s state media released photos on Wednesday that appear to show the designs of one or possibly two new missiles.

Concept diagrams of the missiles were seen hanging on a wall behind leader Kim Jong Un while he visited a plant that makes solid-fuel engines for the country’s ballistic-missile program.

One of the photos clearly showed a diagram for a missile called “Pukguksong-3,” which appears to be the latest in its Pukguksong, or Polaris, series. The other was harder to discern, though it carried a “Hwasong,” or Mars, designation name.

The photos were carried in the morning edition of the Rodong Sinmun, the ruling party’s newspaper, and released by the Korean Central News Agency just two days after the United States and South Korea began annual military exercises that the North claims are a rehearsal for war.

Tensions on the peninsula generally ratchet up during the maneuvers and a series of larger exercises held each spring. The KCNA report on the visit said Kim called on workers at the plant to produce more solid-fuel rocket engines and rocket warhead tips.

Michael Duitsman, a research associate at the Center for Non-Proliferation Studies, said the first missile has not been seen before.

“The Pukguksong-3 is definitely new,” he said in an email to the AP.

The missile might be designed to fly farther and to be launched from protective canisters, which allow missiles to be transported more easily and makes them more difficult to locate and destroy in advance. Solid-fuel engines add to that difficulty because they allow for quicker launches than liquid-fuel missiles. It could possibly also boost the North’s submarine-launched missile capabilities.

North Korea successfully tested the submarine-launched Pukguksong-1 in August last year. It then followed up with a successful test of the land-based Pukguksong-2 in February this year. Both are believed to have intermediate ranges that could target Japan and the U.S. bases there but not the mainland United States.

The submarine and land-based technologies overlap, and developments in either can benefit both.

“It’s pretty smart to use the same missile design for both an SLBM and a land-based variant, the key being the canister,” said Vipin Narang, an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who focuses on nuclear proliferation. “On land it’s easier to move and store, and fire. And you need a canister-based system for ejection at sea.”

Duitsman said the quality of the pictures made it hard to immediately distinguish what the other missile was though he said it was likely either a Hwasong-13 or Hwasong-11.

“If it is the Hwasong-13, then there has been an enormous change to the design,” he said. “The Hwasong-13 was originally paraded in 2012 as a liquid-fueled missile.”

“Changing an entire missile from liquid to solid fuel, or vice versa, is generally something you don’t do,” he said. “The design principles are very different.”

 

[Hindustani78]

https://www.unian.info/politics/209...ile-program-by-blaming-ukraine-turchynov.html

The Russian Federation has tried to cover up its likely involvement in the implementation of the North Korean ballistic missile programs by spreading allegations of Ukraine's supplies of missile technology to the DPRK, according to the press service of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.


It is reported that pursuant to President Petro Poroshenko's order of August 16, the Working Group and Inter-agency Commission on military-technical cooperation and export control investigated the information published by The New York Times about possible transfer of missile technologies, in particular, the RD-250 missile engines, to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea by the State Enterprise "Production Association Yuzhmash."'

"In order to neutralize the negative effects of the publication in The New York Times, and to exclude possible speculation on this topic in the future, as well as to disprove information disseminated by Russian special services, the Working Group prepared recommendations to the relevant government agencies," the report says.


In the course of verification and professional analysis of the available information and materials provided by public authorities, the members of the Interagency Commission, the working group, and experts emphasized the fact that Ukraine conscientiously and consistently adheres to all its commitments without any exception. In particular, in order to ensure the strict implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, approved by the UN General Assembly's, and the Missile Technology Control Regime, Ukraine established an effective mechanism for strict state control over compliance and verification of its international obligations in this area," Turchynov said.


The NSDC secretary stressed Ukraine's responsible position, underlined by a voluntarily renunciation of its nuclear arsenal along with nuclear state status in exchange for assurances of sovereignty and security, laid out in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994. "However, the mentioned assurances given by the guarantor states remain unfulfilled," Turchynov said.

"Moreover, during the long-lasting period, the Russian Federation has been pursuing a hostile policy towards Ukraine, which resulted in the temporary occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as well as part of the of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. Russian aggression against Ukraine is currently carried out in the form of a hybrid warfare, where Russia, apart from conducting military operations, powerfully uses carefully pre-planned information provocations aimed at the systematic discrediting of Ukraine as a reliable and predictable partner, in particular in such areas sensitive to international community spheres as military-technical cooperation. One of the tasks for these provocations is manipulation by the Russian Federation with public consciousness aimed at its active covert participation in many destructive activities," the statement reads.


"In this context, the Working Group considers the article in The New York Times of 14 August 2017 to be a tactic of obfuscation and distraction of the international community's attention from the possible participation of the Russian Federation in the North Korea's rocket program," Turchynov said.

The Working Group has unanimously come to the conclusion that Ukraine "was not involved in the development of North Korea's ballistic missiles program."

 

[Hindustani78]

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/446399.html
Representative of Ukraine in the United Nations, Volodymyr Yelchenko, has said that Ukraine is committed to an investigation into the development of the missile capability of the North Korea, Radio Liberty (Svoboda) has reported.

"We will act in the context of the new resolution to make the UN Security Council initiate a new investigation aimed to determine why the country of North Korea was able to develop its nuclear and missile potential to such a level," it quoted Yelchenko's statement on Monday evening.

Yelchenko said that the UN Security Council has no official claims to Kyiv, nor is the article of The New York Times on the probable connection of the DPRK's success in the test of intercontinental ballistic missiles and Ukraine discussed.

"We discussed this issue with our colleagues in the Security Council [UN]. They believe that this is a constant factoid - no one has made official accusations against Ukraine - everyone proceeds from the fact that this has not been confirmed," he said.

 

[Hindustani78]

12 November 2017

Orbital ATK's redesigned Antares 230 rocket developed with Ukraine's participation successfully launched a Cygnus spacecraft at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia, the United States, on Sunday, November 12, according to the press service of the State Space Agency of Ukraine.
https://www.unian.info/world/223885...et-developed-with-ukraines-participation.html
https://www.unian.info/world/223885...et-developed-with-ukraines-participation.html
https://www.unian.info/world/223885...et-developed-with-ukraines-participation.html

"At 14:19 Kyiv time on November 12, the redesigned Antares 230 rocket with a Cygnus transport spacecraft was successfully launched on Wallops in Virginia, the United States," the agency said.

The main developer of the carrier rocket is U.S.-based Orbital ATK, the agency said.


"The basic design of the first stage is developed by Ukrainian space industrial enterprises, namely M.K. Yangel Yuzhnoye (Pivdenne) Design Bureau and A.M. Makarov Yuzhmash (Pivdenmash) machine plant (both based in Dnipro) in cooperation with the enterprises Khartron-ARKOS (Kharkiv), Khartron-UCOM (Zaporizhia), CHEZARA and RAPID (Chernihiv), and others," the press service said.


Ukrainian specialists also took part in preparations and the launch. Cygnus, which was developed by Orbital ATK's predecessor Orbital Sciences Corporation for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) and Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) programs, is one of two U.S. cargo vehicles that form part of a fleet of international spacecraft used to support the International Space Station (ISS) in orbit.


Cygnus will deliver to 3,229 kg of cargo to the ISS. The docking of Cygnus with the ISS is scheduled for November 14, the Ukrainian agency said.