Soyuz-2.1v

Soyuz-1

The development of advanced light-class Soyuz-1 (now Soyuz-2.1v or Soyuz-2-1v) launch vehicle is performed to meet the increased demands of international market for small spacecraft launches.
The Soyuz-l is developed on basis of Soyuz-2K (1b) launch vehicle by means of strap-ons removal, by the use of sustainer engine NK-33M on the central module and use of "Yantar" nose fairing.
The extended lower part of the core-stage has an diameter of 2.66 (2.75 ?) m. Liftoff mass: 157-160 tons. Maximal length: 44 m.

Payload capability from Plesetzk

200 km	200 km	200 km	1,000 km	1,500 km	835 km
62.8°	82.4°	99.3°	62.8°	82.4°	98.7°
2,800 kg	3.050 kg	2.630 kg	1,700 kg	1,400 kg	1,400 kg

First version of new light-class version
of Soyuz-1 (ILA 2008)
(even without verniers)

Soyuz-1 concept
(Source: Anatoly Zak, RussianSpaceWeb)

"During the first decade of the 21st century, TsSKB Progress in Samara, the developer of the Soyuz series of rockets, continued efforts to upgrade this legendary family of launchers. Around 2007, following its strategy of modest improvements with limited funds, TsSKB Progress proposed yet another intermediate step on the road to integrating NK-33 engines inherited from N1 rocket into the Soyuz family.
Designated Soyuz-1, the new light-weight vehicle would use a core stage fitted with a single NK-33-1 engine, but without strap-on boosters typical for the Soyuz family. Also the diameter of the lower section of the core stage would be increased from 2,050 to 2,660 millimeters.
According to the information released at the ILA-2008 show in Berlin, a two-stage, 136-ton Soyuz-1 rocket was designed to deliver payloads ranging from 1.5 to 2.4 tons from Plesetsk into the low-Earth orbit with the inclination 62.5 degrees toward the Equator. By 2009, the launch mass of the vehicle grew to 158.5 tons. In 2010, TsSKB Progress quoted 157-160 tons as the launch mass. The vehicle would be 44 meters tall.
Soon after the cancelation of the Rus-M project in the fall of 2011, TsSKB Progress announced that it was considering launching the Soyuz-1 rocket (then renamed Soyuz-2-1v) from Baikonur and Vostochny launch site in addition to Plesetsk.

Modifications
A main design feature differing Soyuz-1 from other rockets in the Soyuz family would be the bottom section on the first (core) stage of the vehicle, accommodating the NK-33-1 engine. Sporting larger diameter than in previous rockets, the section could then migrate to the Soyuz-2-3 vehicle, if it was ever developed. Additionally, Soyuz-1 would need four new attachments around the "waist" of its first stage, which would be normally located at the tips of strap-on boosters. These devices would interface with the tulip-like supports of the launch pad, holding the rocket in place until the moment of a liftoff. Finally, in its tail section, Soyuz-1 would need four connectors for guiding devices (UN) extending from the launch pad, which would normally hold strap-on boosters. Respectively, on the ground, below the launch pad, a downward looking cable umbilical and guiding devices would have to be extended to reach much slimmer base of the Soyuz-1 rocket.

Development
As of mid-2008, TsSKB was preparing to defend the preliminary design of the vehicle in September 2008.
In the middle of 2010, TsSKB Progress representatives said that the manufacturing of the test version of the Soyuz-1's core stage was underway. At the time, its "cold" and live firings were planned as early as the end of that year.
In February 2011, Lt. General Oleg Ostapenko, a commander of the Russian space forces, told Russian media that the first launch of Soyuz-2.1v (as Soyuz-1 became known) could not take place during 2011, due to a lack of payloads.
In August 2011, the head of TsSKB Progress told Russian media that all design documentation for the Soyuz-1 rocket had been completed and the production and testing of its components had been underway.
On December 13, 2011, the first stage of the Soyuz-2-1v rocket arrived to NITs RKP test center in Peresvet, north of Moscow in preparation for critical testing of its propulsion system. As usual for the R-7 family of rockets, during the transportation, the oversized core booster was split into two components: 2A, comprised of a propulsion section and a kerosene tank and 1A - an oxygen tank. Following the assembly of the stage, NITs RKP planned to conduct two "cold" tests, KhSI, and one "hot" static firing of a flight ready booster, OSI, inside a special test stand during 2012. The live firing test would be the last major development milestone, clearing the vehicle for the first flight.
The test flight program of the Soyuz-1 rocket, involving five launches, was to be completed in 2014.

Development of a steering engine
In March 2010, Roskosmos announced that the RD-0110R engine developed by KBKhA design bureau in Voronezh would steer the Soyuz-1 (Soyuz-2-1v) rocket during the first stage of the flight. Four chambers of the RD-0110 engine have capability to rotate in a single plane each, providing a three-axis stabilization. Via its heat-exchanger system, the engine is also designed to heat up helium used for pressurization of propellant tanks.
In 2000, RKK Energia, TsSKB Progress and KBKhA made a decision to use RD-0110R on the second stage of the Avrora rocket, proposed for a never-developed launch facility on Christmas Island, Australia. Based on a technical assignment from TsSKB Progress, KBKhA issued a preliminary design for this steering engine, closely based on the original RD-0110 engine. Modifications involved mostly secondary components including: gimbal system, shortening of the combustion chamber nozzles, supply lines for propellant and combustion chamber purging, helium heat exchangers and exhaust nozzles. The aft bulkhead of the launch-vehicle's tail section would be used as the attachment point for the combustion chambers, turbopump, gas exhaust system and propellant supply lines.
According to Roskosmos, the production of the engine was in process of being started at the adjacent Voronezh mechanical plant. The engine would have to be modified to fit into the core stage, apparently requiring to increase distance between four steering nozzles. Roskosmos promised first test firings of the engine, based on the existing 11D55 powerplant in April-May 2010. On May 24, 2010, Viktor Gorokhov, a chief designer of the engine, was quoted as saying that initial "cold" tests of the engine, involving flow of propellant without its ignition, had been completed and after few more "cold" trials, a live firing of RD-0110R would be conducted.

Volga upper stage
Within the Soyuz-1 development project, TsSKB also proposed a Volga upper stage, identified in official documentation as "block vyvedeniya" (insertion stage). Serving as a second stage of the Soyuz-1, the Volga would deliver payload into the final orbit during its mission lasting no more than 24 hours. Based on a propulsion module of existing satellites developed at TsSKB Progress, Volga was expected to have a price tag as much as four times cheaper than that of the Fregat stage. A standard part of the Soyuz-1 rocket, Volga could also fly on the Soyuz-2-1a rocket, replacing Fregat in up to half of expected missions."