| Type | State-owned company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Aerospace and defense |
| Key people | Semyon Lavochkin, designer |
| Products | Spacecraft |
| Website | http://www.laspace.ru |
NPO Lavochkin (OKB-301, also called Lavochkin Research and Production Association or shortly Lavochkin Association, LA) is a Russian aerospace company. It is a major player in the Russian space program, being the developer and manufacturer of the Fregat upper stage, as well as interplanetary probes such as Fobos-Grunt. Currently it is headed by Victor Khartov.[1]
Overview[]
The company develops and manufactures spacecraft such as the Fregat rocket upper stages, satellites and interplanetary probes. It is a contractor for a number of military programs, such as the Oko early warning satellite, Prognozdisambiguation needed and Araks programmes as well as the civilian program Kupon. One of the company's most notable projects was the participation in the failed Fobos-Grunt sample return mission.[2] NPO Lavochkin has also developed the Elektro–L series of new-generation weather satellites, as well as the Navigator standardised satellite platform, which will serve as the basis for several future Russian satellites.[3]
History[]
The company was founded in 1937 as OKB-301, a Soviet aircraft design bureau (OKB). The head designer was Vladimir P. Gorbunov. On October, 1945 Semyon Lavochkin was promoted for the head designer of the design bureau. It gained distinction for its family of piston-engined fighter aircraft during World War II, and later shifted to missile and jet fighter designs. The bureau was reorganized in 1960 after its head designer's death and named after him as the NPO Lavochkin. Later, it turned to work on interplanetary probe designs for Luna sample return program, the Lunokhod program, Vega program, Phobos program etc.
In January 2012, officials of Lavochkin faced administrative punishment for not taking into account of designing the computer system after the crash of Russia's Mars moon spacecraft Fobos-Grunt.[4]
Aircraft[]
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Rockets and Missiles[]
- La-350 Burya
- Fregat
Surface-to-Air Missiles[]
Spacecraft[]
- Astron
- Lunokhod
- Lunokhod 1
- Lunokhod 2
- Venera Venus missions
- Sputnik 7
- Venera 1
- Sputnik 19
- Sputnik 20
- Sputnik 21
- Cosmos 27
- Venera 2
- Venera 3
- Venera 4
- Venera 5
- Venera 6
- Venera 7
- Venera 8
- Cosmos 482
- Venera 9
- Venera 10
- Venera 11
- Venera 12
- Venera 13
- Venera 14
- Venera 15
- Venera 16
- Vega missions
- Vega 1
- Vega 2
- Mars-96 Mars mission
- Oko
- Spektr-R (RadioAstron) - space radio telescope dedicated to Very Long Baseline Interferometry
- Fobos-Grunt mission
- Luna-Glob mission
Designers and engineers[]
- Georgy Babakin
- Semyon Lavochkin
See also[]
- Babakin Space Centre
- Yuri Koptev
References[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lavochkin. |
- ↑ "Russia starts building Moon spaceship, eyes Lunar base". Space Travel. 2012-07-24. http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Russia_starts_building_Moon_spaceship_eyes_Lunar_base_999.html.
- ↑ Harvey, Brian (2007). "The design bureaus". The Rebirth of the Russian Space Program (1st ed.). Germany: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-71354-0.
- ↑ "Russia meteo satellite Electro-L successfully orbited". ITAR-TASS. 2011-01-21. http://www.webcitation.org/5vw1LNgQr.
- ↑ "Phobos-Grunt chips supposedly were counterfeit". 31 January 2012. http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/330734.html. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
- William H Mott, Robert B Sheldon, L Philip Sheldon (2000). Laser Satellite Communication: The Third Generation. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 132. ISBN 1-56720-329-9
- GlobalSecurity.org - http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/world/russia/npolav.htm
The original article can be found at Lavochkin and the edit history here.