Success Rockets (Russian: АО «Успешные ракеты») is a private Russian space company that produces ultralight suborbital and orbital launch vehicles, small spacecraft, satellite constellations, and space tugs. The company was founded in 2020 by Oleg Mansurov. It has subsidiaries across Russia. Success Rockets operates in Earth remote sensing, data generation, data processing, and data analysis. The first orbital test flights and commercial launches have been planned for 2024.
History Success Rockets (SR) was officially registered as a private space company in July 2020. The company collects images from open sources or purchases them from foreign organizations. According to Mansurov, negotiations with initial investors took five years. By the end of 2021, the company announced plans to go public within two to three years.
Team and development As of September 2021, Success Rockets employed more than 40 specialists including engineering designers, chemists, ballisticians, mathematicians, programmers, electronic designers, satellite construction, and rocket scientists. To increase cost-efficiency and accelerate production, the company outsources development and buys ready-made parts from the Russian Academy of Sciences and other universities. In past interviews, Mansurov mentions at least eight different development teams from MAI, BMSTU, Voenmeh, and major business companies to outsource development tasks at different stages of the project. Success Rockets expects to outsource most production and assembly works. To reduce costs, Success Rockets electronics are imported from China. They expect to get commercial orders from international private companies but also plan to collaborate with Russian state agencies.
Profile Success Rockets designs, produces and tests ultralight launch vehicles; a suborbital Nebo (translation: ‘Sky’) and an orbital Stalker. The company also produces small spacecraft and satellite constellations, used for communications and Earth remote sensing. Success Rockets designs space tugs and performs data processing. By creating its own full development cycle, the company strives for cost efficiency and resource saving. Success Rockets plans to reach the project capacity in three steps. First suborbital flights in the 20 to 100 km (12 to 62 mi) range are scheduled for late 2021 and 2022. This stage also includes engine and fuel testing, building satellite models, and a space tug. The second stage includes production of an ultralight carrier rocket and its test flight at 200 km (120 mi) altitude with a satellite platform and a space tug. At the third stage, Success Rockets plans to scale up the production of ultralight rockets, satellites, and space tugs, and launch them from its own spaceports.
Ultralight rockets Nebo is an ultralight rocket designed for scientific experiments, atmosphere, and meteorological research. The Stalker launch vehicle is planned to carry more than 250 kg (550 lb) payload to a 500 km (310 mi) Sun-synchronous orbit, the first launch is scheduled for 2024. Success Rockets mostly applies its own technologies and solutions in its rockets. For instance, the engine body is made of carbon fibers, and heat-resistant graphite is used for the de Laval nozzle. To avoid pollution, the team aims to design a zero-waste staging system where all the detached stages burn in the atmosphere after separation. The rocket's layout was displayed in December 2021. The next year, in December 2022, the company introduced an internally developed series of reusable liquid-propellant rocket engines. All engines are composed of Russian-made components.
Satellites Success Rockets produces platforms for different small satellites. For example, Skibr-cub, Skibr-micro, and Skibr-mini are used for CubeSats and larger satellites that are mainly purposed for Earth Remote sensing with resolution of 0.5–5 meters, Internet of things, and satellite communication. The production is led by a subsidiary company SR Satellites that was launched in April 2021 in Rostov region.
Satellite constellations In March 2021, Success Rockets announced the development of a 200 kg (440 lb) satellite for gas emissions monitoring. In September 2021, it was showcased at the 26th UN Conference on Climate Change in Glasgow. A constellation of 60 satellites equipped with two types of spectrometers will form a climate change monitoring system. This program is managed by SR CMS subdivision. The system will track greenhouse gasses concentrations in the atmosphere and collect and analyze climate change data. In October 2021, the company announced plans to create satellite constellations for Earth radar remote sensing that will potentially be demanded by FSUE Atomflot, Rosatom, and Sovcomflot for the Northern Sea Route navigation. All constellations are designed for low Earth orbit and will burn up in the atmosphere after service without polluting the space.
Space data analysis The first area of the company's work was space data analysis for Russian and international markets. A steady increase in the number of satellites orbiting the Earth makes data processing one of the most popular services that is in great demand for construction, agriculture, natural disasters prognosis, and ecological monitoring. IT companies are the biggest consumers of satellite data on the international market. Russian telecom giants MegaFon, Beeline, MTS (network provider), corporations Yandex and Mail.ru, and large banks announced plans on the creation and launching of their own satellites. As of 2021, state orders made more than 70% of the satellite data market. Success Rockets primarily focuses on private clients.
Space tugs SR's lineup of space tugs includes Strannik-1 and Strannik-2 models. Strannik-1 is designed to work with small satellites in low Earth orbit. Strannik-2 is designed for Interplanetary spaceflights. Estimated payload costs will range from $20,000 to $90,000, respectively. Some space tugs are planned to tow space debris from high orbit to burn up in dense atmosphere.
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