The scientific and technical Rover Co.
Ltd. (the Science & Technology Rover Co. Ltd.) was organized
in 1992 by the J.-ST. Co. VNIITRANSMASH (24% stocks) and
natural persons (76% stocks), who were leading specialists
on space subjects of the institute. They were initiators
of creating a new company. The leader of the collective,
the Chief Designer A.L. Kemurdjian, actively supported this
initiative. Creation of a new company was supported also
by the Director General of the institute E.K. Potyomkin.
Creation of the company, which has status of a small enterprise
from founding and up to the present, was stipulated by sharp
cutting down of the state financing space programs and,
accordingly, by increase of competition in this sphere of
activities in Russia. It was supposed in accordance with
world practice that such enterprise could more quickly specialize
to market conditions. This was proved to be correct.
S & T Rover Co. Ltd. have withstood the test of time
owing to a high qualification and great experience of designing
of its founders, which were basic makers of new mechanisms
and systems. Among them were scientists and engineers, which
took part in a number projects of the world level, such
as creation of the self-propelled automatic chassis for
Lunokhod 1 (1970) and Lunokhod 2 (1973), the small Mars
rover M-71 for the automatic stations Mars 3 and Mars 6
(1971), the mobile apparatus for motion over the surface
of Fobos, the special transport robots STR 1 for clearing
and decontamination of roofs of the Chernobyl atomic station
(1986).
At the last ten years a number of original
Earth-based demonstrators of planetary rovers were created.
Investigations of different aspects of their functioning
under real conditions of operation including joint projects
with CNES, ESA, NASA, NASDA, DLR and other foreign organizations
and enterprises were carried out.
Today experience gained when creating
space production is used by employees of S. & T. Rover
Co. Ltd. when developing new special mechanisms and robotic
system of Earth-based utilization, such as the polar mobile
robot, the oar-robot, the two-hand manipulator and the mobile
platform for the project Work Partner, spherical robots,
rovers for the RoSA-2 project, etc. These projects demanded
development of a new international co-operation. In particular,
the Robotic Centre of Monach University (Australian), Helsinki
University of Technology, Space System Co. And VTT (Finland)
became partners to the S &T Rover Co. Ltd.
In absence of a national Russian space program, providing
for application of planetary rovers, S & T Rover Co.
Ltd. aspires to increase his intellectual potential by means
of participation in foreign rover projects on a competitive
basis. This concern to the ESA’s project ExoMars, to the
MNTTs’s project on manned Martian mission, etc.
In May 2003 founders of the S &T Rover Co. Ltd. enlarged
a membership of stockholders and increased a collective
investment fund. On agreement with the J.-St. Co. VNIITRANSMASH’s
leadership coefficients of loading of the specialists, who
simultaneously are employees of both enterprises, to save
a salary schedule of the J.-St. Co. VNIITRANSMASH. The Doctor
of Sciences (Engineering sciences), a member of the Russian
Tsiolkovsky Academy of Astronautics (RAKTs) M.I. Malenkov
was elected as the Director General of the S &T Rover
Co. Ltd. on the meeting of its stockholders. A.N. Bogatchov,
C.I. Matrossov, V.I. Koutcherenko and S.A. Vladikin became
members of the company’s directorate.
According to the M.I. Malenkov’s proposal the common meeting
of stockholders decided to perpetuate the name of the founder
and the first leader of the collective on space subjects
of the VNIITRANSMASH A.L. Kemurdjian in the name of company.
At present a procedure of re-registering of the company
by a new full name Kemurdjian Scientific and Technical Centre
“Rover” Co. Ltd. is going on. The brief name is the “STC
Rover Co. Ltd.”
The “STC Rover Co. Ltd.” has the lease of premises with
the J.-St. Co. VNIITRANSMASH and is the successor of experience
and traditions of the institute’s collective on space subjects.
General Director of the Kemurdjian Rover Centre,
Chief Designer Space Robotics Department of VNIITransmash
- Dr. Mikhail I. Malenkov.
Phone: +(812) 149-6923,
E-mail: malenkovcst@mail.lanck.net
