Innovative Technology in Rocket Propulsion Engineering

Samara National Research University named after academician S.P. Korolev (Samara University) is one of the leading institutions of higher education in Russia. In 2015, it amalgamated collectives from the aerospace (SGAU) and classical (SamGU) universities, becoming the rightful heir to their illustrious achievements and traditions.

For many years now, the university has been inextricably linked to the overall industrial and economic development of Samara Region, one of the leading domestic and global centers of aerospace technologies. 

Scientists, experts and graduates of Samara University are proactively engaged in the elaboration and manufacturing of the latest specimens of Russian aviation and space-rocket machinery. 

It was in Samara where a batch production of the world’s first intercontinental ballistic missile R-7 started. Carrier rockets developed later on the basis of the legendary R-7 ushered in the Space Age. Both the first artificial Earth satellite and the spacecraft with the world’s first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin were placed into orbit with rockets manufactured in Samara.

Now Samara is the burgeoning home to all manner of cutting-edge space equipment. This equipment includes rocket propulsion systems, various types of satellites designed for Earth remote sensing and for researching – Resurs, AIST, Bion, and, of course, the most reliable family of carrier rockets in the history of space exploration – the Soyuz. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the Soyuz rockets emerged as the only way to send relief crews to the International Space Station.

Today, Samara University aims to broaden its opportunities of interdisciplinary researches. We are planning to establish new scientific and educational sites – greenfields. We are currently working to open an Institute of Artificial Intelligence, which is one of these projects. In the near future, Samara University is also planning to establish a biotechnological greenfield, which will integrate engineering, medicine and biology. Another project is socio-humanitarian cybernetics focusing on psychological and sociological researches implementing computer science tools.

The main educational programs at Samara University are aimed at training in technology, the natural sciences and the humanities.

The learning process at the university proceeds according to the principle “education through research.” Every year, more than 3,000 students take part in the scientific-research, experimental-design and technological-engineering projects unfolding at the university. 

Thanks to our close integration with the leading industrial centers, our students and graduates can bring their ideas and advanced concepts to life – design a spacecraft, assemble it, launch it into space, and then control it in orbit. They create machinery for research satellites and take part in space experiments. Samara University is one of the select few research-and-education centers in the world to boast its own orbital family of small spacecraft intended for R&D purposes. 

Aside from its aerospace stream, Samara University also pursues scientific research and conducts the training of specialists in the field of cutting-edge biotechnologies, the creation of micro- and nano-devices for the next-generation of electronic and optoelectronic information systems, and the design of materials with pre-set properties. Coursework at the university also entails the study of fundamental social processes, exposure to the theory and practice of the preservation of cultural and linguistic heritage, and training for teaching and research pursuits.