A Russian cruise missile attack hit the Yuzhmash space factory in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on July 15th. What does this mean for Spaceport Nova Scotia?
According to the BBC three people were killed and fifteen people were injured in the attack, which is one of a number of Russian cruise missile attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure over these past weeks. The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed that the factory was producing ballistic missile parts for the Ukrainian army in the current conflict.
Yuzhmash has been a key manufacturer of rockets and rocket components going back to the Soviet space program, partnering with Yuzhnoye Design Office (also in Dnipro) to create the Kosmos, Tskyklon and Dnepr rockets as well as a variety of military rockets and missiles.
After the end of the Cold War, they shifted to making civilian machinery, like trolleys and tractors, and developing their peacetime orbital rocket manufacturing capabilities. They still produce a variety of space-related goods and services: including building the Zenit sea-launched rocket, and manufacturing components for the Antares launch vehicle.
Yuzhmash is important to at least one company in the Canadian space industry. Maritime Launch Services who are attempting to build a Canadian spaceport in Nova Scotia has been working with them on a plan to use the Yuzhmash-built Cyclone-4M launch vehicle to provide their customers with medium-lift launch capacity.
A separate arrangement with Reaction Dynamics on their Aurora hybrid rocket will ensure that MLS has small-sized launchers available regardless of what happens in Ukraine.
Losing Yuzhmash would still deal a potential blow, however, to MLS’s ambition to provide a Canadian alternative for companies looking to launch satellites into polar and inclined orbits. Even aside from the general impact of the humanitarian tragedies in Ukraine, it would also be deeply tragic for all the Canadians who’d built professional and personal relationships with their counterparts in Dnipro.
As of yet, however, there is no publicly released news on whether there was any serious effect on the productive capacity of Yuzhmash, or how these attacks may affect MLS’s various launch timelines.
MLS is however quite aware that an attack on the Yuzhmash facility was a strong possibility and have been planning according. That’s one reason they pushed the use of the Cyclone-4M to the second phase of development. And in the meantime, should the Cyclone-4M become unavailable for some time, MLS has been in discussions with other potential launch providers to fill in.
In an email exchange with SpaceQ, MLS founder and CEO Stephen Matier expressed understandable reluctance to share details on the incident, in order to respect the operational security and safety of his counterparts in Dnipro.
Instead, MLS said in a statement provided to SpaceQ, “We are extremely saddened by the Russian missile strikes in Dnipro, Ukraine including the Yuzhmash facility. Our immediate focus and thoughts are with our colleagues and friends from the Yuzhmash facility, as well as the residents of Dnipro, and indeed all of Ukraine. Russia’s unrelenting and unprovoked attacks continue to take the lives of innocent Ukrainians. Maritime Launch Services condemns, in the strongest possible terms, these attacks on the peace and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens.”
Video of missile striking in Dnipro in the area of the Yuzhmash factory
Warning: The video contains images and audio that may be disturbing.
