Angara

Angara refers primarily to two related but distinct subjects associated with Russia: a river in Siberia and a family of space launch vehicles.

The Angara River is a major river in eastern Siberia, famous for being the outflow of Lake Baikal. It drains Baikal’s waters northward through Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai, passing towns such as Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk before flowing into the Yenisei River. The Angara is roughly about 1,000 kilometers in length and is the only river that drains Lake Baikal. Much of its lower and middle course has been dammed to form reservoirs for hydroelectric power, including the Bratsk Reservoir and the Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir. The river basin supports several urban centers and is subject to a subarctic climate with seasonal ice cover. The presence of hydroelectric facilities has influenced regional development, navigation, and ecological conditions along the river.

Angara also designates a Russian space launch vehicle family developed by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. The program seeks to provide a domestically produced, modular alternative to older Proton-M and related launchers. Configured around a common Universal Rocket Module, the Angara system can be assembled in light, medium, and heavy configurations to meet different payload requirements. The family includes several variants used for orbital launches from Russia’s space infrastructure, with operations conducted from sites such as the Plesetsk and Vostochny Cosmodromes. The Angara program is part of Russia’s strategy to maintain independent access to space through an indigenous launch capability.