Energia
 Energia mated with Buran shuttle (model). |
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| Function | Manned heavy-lift multi-purpose carrier rocket |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | NPO "Energia" |
| Country of origin | Soviet Union |
| Size | |
| Mass | 2,400,000 kg (5,291,408 lb) |
| Stages | 1 |
| Capacity | |
| Payload to LEO |
100,000 kg (220,462 lb)[1] (200,000 kg (Vulkan) |
| Payload to GSO |
20,000 kg (44,093 lb)[1] |
| Launch history | |
| Status | Retired |
| Launch sites | Baikonur |
| Total launches | 2 |
| Successes | 1 |
| Partial failures | 1 |
| Maiden flight | 15 May 1987 |
| Last flight | 15 November 1988 |
| Boosters (Stage 0) - Zenit | |
| No boosters | 4 |
| Engines | 1 RD-171 |
| Thrust | 29,000-32,000 kN[2] |
| Specific impulse | 309-338 sec |
| Fuel | RP-1/LOX |
| Core Stage | |
| Engines | 4 RD-0120 |
| Thrust | 5,800-7,500 kN[2] |
| Specific impulse | 359-454 sec |
| Burn time | 480-500 sec |
| Fuel | LH2/LOX |
Energia (Russian: Энергия, Energiya, "Energy") was a Soviet rocket that was designed by NPO Energia to serve as a heavy-lift expendable launch system as well as a booster for the Buran Space Shuttle. Control system main developer enterprise was the NPO "Electropribor"[3][4]. Rocket had the capacity to place about 100 metric tons in Low Earth orbit, up to 20 t to the geostationary orbit and up to 32 t to the lunar mission trajectory.[1]
Contents |
History
Development
Work on the Energia/Buran system began in 1976 after the decision was made to cancel the unsuccessful N1 rocket. The cancelled N1 rocket-based Manned Lunar Launch Facilities and Infrastructure were used for Energia (notably the huge horizontal assembly building), just as NASA reused infrastructure designed for the Saturn V in the Space Shuttle program. Energia also replaced the "Vulkan" concept, which was a design based on the Proton rocket and using the same hypergolic fuels, but much larger and more powerful. The "Vulkan" designation was later given to a variation of the Energia which has eight boosters and multiple stages.
The Energia was designed to launch the Russian "Buran" reusable shuttle,[5] and for that reason was designed to carry its payload mounted on the side of the stack, rather than on the top, as is done with other launch vehicles. However, the Energia has also been adapted as a heavy launch vehicle for large satellites, and its first launch was with a large military payload.
Due to the termination of the Buran program the Energia program was concluded after only two launches, and further the payload on the first launch didn't perform the final boost properly. The legacy of Energia/Buran project manifests itself most visibly in form of the RD-170 family of rocket engines, and the Zenit launcher, with the first stage roughly the same as one of the Energia first stage boosters.
First launch
The Energia was first test-launched on 15 May 1987, placing a payload into a suborbital trajectory. The Russians had originally announced that the launch was a successful sub-orbital test of the new Energia booster with a dummy payload, but some time later it was revealed that the flight had, in fact, been intended to orbit the Polyus (UKSS military payload). The Energia stage itself functioned as designed, but the Polyus payload required a burn of its own engines to reach orbit. Due to a software error in its attitude control system, the burn of the orbital insertion motor failed to insert the payload into orbit. Instead, the payload reentered the atmosphere over the Pacific ocean.
Second launch
The second flight, and the first one to successfully reach orbit, was the mission in which the unmanned Soviet Shuttle vehicle, Buran, was launched to orbit, in 1988. Both the Energia and Buran programs were designed to maintain strategic parity with the United States.
Discontinuation
Production of Energia rockets ended with the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Buran shuttle project. Ever since, there have been persistent rumors of the renewal of production, but given the current political realities, that is highly unlikely. While the Energia is no longer in production, the Zenit boosters are still in production and in use. The four strap-on liquid-fuel boosters, which burned kerosene and liquid oxygen, were the basis of the Zenit rocket which used the same engines. The engine is the RD-170, a powerful, modern, and efficient design. Its derivative, the RD-171, is still used on the Zenit rocket. A half-sized derivative of the engine, the RD-180, powers Lockheed Martin's Atlas V, one of the two new U.S. EELV rockets (the other being the Boeing Delta IV). The quarter size derivative of the engine, the RD-191, is to be used in the Russian Angara rocket.
Variants
Three major variants were planned after the original configuration, each with vastly different payloads.
Energia M
The Energia M was the smallest design configuration. The number of Zenit boosters was reduced from four to two, and instead of four RD-0120 engines in the core, it had only one. It was designed to replace the Proton rocket, but lost the 1993 competition to the Angara rocket.
Energia II (Uragan)
Energia II, named Uragan (Russian: Ураган, Hurricane), was a rocket planned to be fully reusable and would have been be able to land on a conventional airfield. Unlike the Energia, which was planned to be semi-reusable (like that of the U.S. Space Shuttle), the Uragan design would have allowed the complete recovery of all Buran/Energia elements, like that of the original totally reusable Orbiter/Booster concept of the U.S. Shuttle. The Energia II core as proposed would be capable of re-entering and gliding to a landing, presumably using technology developed for the Buran.
Vulkan-Hercules
The final unflown configuration was also the largest. With eight Zenit booster rockets and an Energia-M core as the upper stage of it, the "Vulkan" (which was interestingly the same name of another Soviet heavy lift rocket that was cancelled years earlier) or "Hercules" (which is the same name designated to the N-1 rockets) configuration could have launched up to 175 tonnes into orbit.[6]
See also
- Comparison of super heavy lift launch systems
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Launch vehicle "Energia" Official Site
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Data for stages is based on thrust of the engines of the stage in vacuum of space.
- ↑ Krivonosov, Khartron: Computers for rocket guidance systems
- ↑ Control systems for intercontinental ballistic missiles and launch vehicles
- ↑ Bart Hendrickx and Bert Vis, Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle (Springer Praxis Books, 2007) Link
- ↑ Godwin, Robert (2006). Russian Spacecraft. Space Pocket Reference Guides. Apogee Books. pp. 59. ISBN 1-894959-39-6.
External links
- Encyclopedia Astronautica: Energia
- Official energia.ru page
- Detailed site about Energia
- K26 Energia page
- (Russian) A page about Energia rocket on a site about Buran spacecraft - English translation
- Energia - last Moon project. (rus) english translation
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