The explosion, which ended the rocket engine tests of a private Russian company Lin Industrial in December 2016, loudly sounded not only in the physical, but also in the
information space . Unfortunately, immediately after the incident, the company went into silence mode,
writing that any discussion can greatly worsen the situation. After a year and a half, we can finally find out how the story ended, how she lived, and, more precisely, Lin Industrial survived all this time, and what plans they have now. I also managed to ask the head of the company, Alexander Ilyin, to publish a full video of the tests, and we can finally see that historical explosion.
First of all I want to ask, what ended up with the accident at the tests, can you tell something?Alexander Ilyin: Yes, in 17, the case was closed. The damage turned out to be much less than the one who trumpeted the media, there were no severed hands, and we were able to reconcile with the victim by paying him compensation. But unforeseen expenses put us on the verge of closure, we had to sell the property. The money ran out completely - this is when you give an accountant an old trailer as a salary, and you are transporting things to a friend at a free warehouse. In June, they abandoned the office, sold out what they could to pay salaries to employees. In search of funds, I went to major investors in Cyprus. Interest is there, however, there are two “but” - history should be connected only with Cyprus (it will be necessary to break all relations with Russia) and potential investors need to think - indefinite time. If I’m ready to go to the first one (what to do, if I don’t wait for support in my homeland?), I simply didn’t have reserves for half a year or a year. Everything seemed to be the case, the story of “Lin Industrial” is ending, but in July cooperation began with the GC “Galaxy”, which saved us.
And you can finally see how the first serious accident occurred at the Russian rocket private traders?Did you conduct a technical investigation? Established the cause of the accident?The main mistake - the desire to reduce the program of experimental development. Instead of a gradual release from small pressures, we immediately delivered the fuel components to the maximum. At the same time, in the experiment, they worked without a connected curtain (a layer of working medium for thermal insulation of the walls of the combustion chamber, in more
detail here ). It was extremely important for us to show investors a torch, and for this to guarantee ignition (some industry experts doubted that we could start the engine in principle).
The main version of the accident - the destruction of the nozzle head under the catalyst package, the destruction of the package and the ingress of its granules into the engine. In fact - a technological error, which revealed, alas, during such an "extreme" test. I repeat - it was extremely important for us to demonstrate to investors the torch of the engine and our ability to, in principle, build both a stand and an LPRE. Of course, such a rush is extremely harmful in rocket technology.
As far as I remember the open news, after the accident you made changes to the design of the Taimyr launch vehicle. What happened next?For 2017, we have developed a huge number of documents, from educational programs to ICO to the lunar helium-3 getter. At various state meetings, it was often necessary to prove obvious things - it is hard to believe, but in Russia experts seriously believe that only two microsatellites are launched in the world per year, and ultralight rockets are not needed at all!
At the end of the year, there was a hope to receive funding for a suborbital rocket (a rocket that “jumps” to an altitude of 100 km concerns space, but does not go into orbit). Such a rocket would not only allow bouncing to space (performing various commercial tasks related to this), but also become a prototype of an orbital rocket, our "Taimyr". We developed an advance design, printed out a metal chamber of a liquid rocket engine on a 3D printer, began to assemble a stand. It seemed a few more months, new fire tests - and now - the way out to a simple "flying tube", but a "tube" that would reach the boundary of space. Alas, due to the spring fall of the ruble and other troubles, the new investor began to doubt, and the work was suspended.
And how are you doing now?Diverse. On the one hand, we have projects: the Teiya geophysical suborbital rocket, the Taimyr orbital launch vehicle and even the potentially revolutionary BEaM launch vehicle that can turn the market around and make space much more accessible. Naturally, it is not easy, the project is risky and requires a large amount of research work. But this is also the hope of a “real cosmonautics” - from the old fiction! After all, everyone who read the fiction of the 60s as a child didn’t even have any doubts - just a little bit more and we’ll fly to space for the holidays. But something went wrong - the date of the expedition to Mars is always “after 20 years,” and the base on the Moon was never built. And we do not have a spacesuit, and it seems that there is nowhere to travel and nothing.
On the other hand, we are now experiencing funding problems. For a couple of months, our team has been working remotely (to save on the office rent), and there are much fewer people left on the salary than before - many are in “waiting mode” (they did not leave - but they are not ready to work for free). The financing of the Galaktika Group of Companies makes it possible to carry out "paper" work, but additional investments are needed to move to full-fledged OCD.
We won the competition (won first place) of Starburst Aerospace accelerator projects, but they don’t give cash prizes for the victory, and all acceleration events are only for EU residents or the “right” Asian countries.
Just the other day I prepared a letter for crypto millionaires who made fortunes on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Who knows, maybe they will be interested in the progress of mankind? At the same time, we are looking at the option of office and work in Singapore. There, the Singapore Bank is ready to give soft loans, but again - jur. A person need not in Russia. In my opinion on the dragging of the team and the initial work you need about 300,000 euros.
Let's first about the good, what are these three projects?The first is the
Teya geophysical suborbital
rocket , which will have to lift 30 kg to an altitude of 100 km. It is the easiest and the cheapest way to do this, and it should be in demand for orders that will last for several minutes of weightlessness. 75,000 thousand dollars are needed for significant progress, about 1 million for the entire project (before launching 100 km), and you can touch the space.
The second option is the ultralight
launch vehicle “Taimyr” , which will be able to launch 65 kg into an orbit of 500 km altitude. There are more risks here, and the scale is different. But commercial use is more understandable than in the case of suborbital hops. For significant progress you need $ 3 million, for the entire project - $ 18 million.
Well, the third, the most ambitious option - a laser
removal tool BEaM . For the initial stage, RnD needs $ 2 million, for the entire project - $ 110 million. At the exit - a revolution! Large satellite constellations (“constellations”), commercial orbital stations, real exploration of the moon, space refueling, drones-builders of large orbital structures, private probes for deep space, and the extraction of resources on asteroids - all this can become a reality if you manage to reduce the cost of cargo clearance into orbit!
This is your development of Lightcraft (Note: it was invented in 1976 and tested from the 1980s to the 2000s. Scale models flew quite successfully)?With some modifications - using the technology of the MHD generator and magnetic intake.
Recently, Rogozin was appointed head of Roskosmos, did you not turn to him for help?I have worked with the team of Dmitri Olegovich. At the moment, negotiations are underway regarding a new project, but I cannot disclose the details. To be honest - I am not attracted to work related to defense projects, I am for the peaceful exploration of space by all the powers of our planet.
Did you think to follow in the footsteps of Rocket Lab - start with some small projects, recruit a team, tools and experience, and then switch to rockets?Working with the “Galaxy” Group of Companies, we have developed many projects, from a roadmap of a space city to various VR attractions. But they still remain on paper. Unfortunately, in Russia it is difficult to convince investors to make investments even in a simple and understandable VR-attraction. There is a huge number of questions and requirements for the consideration of which requires significant resources. The only real hardware created this year is the engine chamber printed on a 3D printer. And the project of the stand, for which components have already begun to be purchased. All this was created while working with a new investor. "Taimyr" against the background of all this activity, alas, took less than half of the working time
What experience have you gained over the years?It would be nice to make a detailed analysis of errors. You can have a whole seminar or a series of seminars on this topic. For startups (laughs). Because at first everything seemed completely different. Too many areas tried to immediately cover, it was necessary to focus on one thing - namely, to create the engine. Mistaken with the choice of contractor and could not quickly correct the error. Affected and lack of experience in personnel management. You must be able to dismiss people - in case of violation of subordination or problems with the implementation of specific tasks and deadlines. I do not want to shift responsibility for mistakes to someone, mostly they are mine. Now there is experience. As well as understanding the limits of possibilities - our own and people.
AFTERWARD: It so happened that the material about Lin Industrial coincides with the story about the successes of Chinese private space companies. But, if you think about it, the comparison is very sad. Chinese successes and, in particular, the speed of their appearance, are based, among other things, on state support. Several years ago, Roskosmos announced a remarkable initiative - he is ready to withdraw student cubsat for free. If support measures in the form of grants, targeted financial assistance, and access to test stands were taken in respect of private companies, then there would be more companies and their results would be more noticeable.