Dnepr-1

Dnepr (Dnipro/Konversiya)

Function	Orbital carrier rocket
Manufacturer	Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant
Country of origin	Soviet Union (original build), Ukraine (commercial launches after 1999)
Size
Height	34.3 metres (113 ft)
Diameter	3 metres (9.8 ft)
Mass	211,000 kilograms (465,000 lb)
Stages	3 (4 or 5 with SpaceTug upper stages)
Capacity
Payload to LEO	4,500 kilograms (9,900 lb)
Payload to the ISS	3,200 kilograms (7,100 lb)
Payload to SSO	2,300 kilograms (5,100 lb)
Payload to TLI	550 kilograms (1,210 lb) (with ST-1)
Launch history
Status	Active
Launch sites	Site 109/95, Baikonur LC-13, Yasny
Total launches	22
Successes	21
Failures	1
First flight	21 April 1999
Engines	1 RD-264 module (four RD-263 engines)
Thrust	4,520 kilonewtons (1,020,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	318 s
Burn time	130 seconds
Fuel	N2O4/UDMH
Engines	1 RD-0255 module (one RD-0256 main engine and one RD-0257 vernier)
Thrust	755 kilonewtons (170,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	340 sec
Burn time	190 seconds
Fuel	N2O4/UDMH
Engines	1 RD-869
Thrust	18.6 kilonewtons (4,200 lbf)
Specific impulse	317 sec
Burn time	1,000 seconds
Fuel	N2O4/UDMH
SpaceTug 1
Engines	1 Solid
Thrust
Fuel	Solid
SpaceTug 3
Engines	1 Liquid
Thrust
Fuel	N2O4/UDMH

The Dnepr rocket (Ukrainian: Дніпро, Dnipró; Russian: Днепр, Dnepr) is a space launch vehicle named after the Dnieper River. It is a converted ICBM used for launching artificial satellites into orbit, operated by launch service provider ISC Kosmotras. The first launch, on April 21, 1999, successfully placed UoSAT-12, a 350 kg demonstration mini-satellite, into a 650 km circular Low Earth orbit.^[1][2]

History

The Dnepr is based on the R-36MUTTH Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) – called the SS-18 Satan by NATO – designed in the 1970s by the Yuzhnoe Design Bureau in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, which was then a part of the USSR.

The Dnepr control system was developed and produced by the JSC "Khartron", Kharkiv. The Dnepr is a three-stage rocket using storable hypergolic liquid propellants. The launch vehicles used for satellite launches have been withdrawn from ballistic missile service with the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces and stored for commercial use. A group of a total of 150 ICBMs were allowed under certain geopolitical disarmament protocols to be converted for use, and can be launched through 2020. The Dnepr is launched from the Russian-controlled Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and the Dombarovsky launch base, near Yasny, in the Orenburg region of Russia.

In February 2015, following a year of strained relations as a result of a Russian military intervention into Ukraine, Russia announced that it would sever its "joint program with Ukraine to launch Dnepr rockets and [was] no longer interested in buying Ukrainian Zenit boosters, deepening problems for [Ukraine's] space program and its struggling Yuzhmash factory."^[3] However ISC Kosmotras reported that they would continue to fulfill its obligations for three Dnepr launches in 2015 from which only one took place.^[4]

Performance

The Dnepr launch vehicle has only a small number of modifications compared to the R-36M ICBM in service. The main difference is the payload adapter located in the space head module and modified flight-control unit. This baseline version can lift 3,600 kg into a 300 km low earth orbit at an inclination of 50.6°, or 2,300 kg to a 300 km sun-synchronous orbit at an inclination of 98.0°. On a typical mission the Dnepr deploys a larger main payload and a secondary payload of Miniaturized satellites and CubeSats. A number of Space Tugs are under development which will be placed inside the space head module, thereby sacrificing volume and payload but enabling orbits requiring more energy, including planetary escape orbits.

Launch history

Before the Dnepr entered commercial service it was in service with the Strategic Rocket Forces which launched the ICBM version over 160 times with a reliability of 97%. The rocket has been used several times for commercial purposes with a single failure.

The Dnepr has at two points held the record for the most satellites orbited in a single launch; the April 2007 launch with 14 payloads held the record until 20 November 2013, when an American Minotaur I placed 29 satellites and two experiment packages into orbit.^[5] The next day a Dnepr re-took the record, placing 32 satellites and an experiment package bolted to the upper stage into low Earth orbit.^[6] This record was broken by an Antares launch in January 2014 which carried 34 spacecraft.

Launch failure

The committee investigating the failed launch on July 26, 2006 concluded that the failure was caused by a malfunctioning of the pumping hydraulic drive of combustion chamber #4. The control malfunctioning brought about the disturbances, which led to the roll instability, excessive dispersions of the yaw and pitch angles. Thrust termination occurred at 74 seconds after lift off. The crash site was located 150 km from the launch pad in an unpopulated area of Kazakhstan. Toxic propellants did pollute the crash site, forcing Russia to pay US$1.1m in compensation.^[15] The rocket used for this launch was more than twenty years old. Procedures for launch have been changed to prevent future malfunctions of this kind.

See also

• Comparison of orbital launchers families

References

1. ↑ "The Dnepr launcher". RussianSpaceWeb.com. 
2. ↑ "UoSAT-12 Integrates with Dnepr for Launch on 21 April". Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. 
3. ↑ Messier, Doug (6 February 2015). "Russia Severing Ties With Ukraine on Dnepr, Zenit Launch Programs". Parabolic Arc. Retrieved 8 February 2015. 
4. ↑ Clark, Stephen (6 February 2015). "Customers assured of Dnepr rocket’s near-term availability". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 8 February 2015. 
5. ↑ Graham, William (20 November 2013). "Orbital’s Minotaur I successfully lofts multitude of payloads". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 22 November 2013. 
6. ↑ Graham, William (21 November 2013). "Russian Dnepr conducts record breaking 32 satellite haul". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 22 November 2013. 
7. ↑ "EgyptSat 1/Saudisat-3 launch details" (in Russian). Roskosmos. 
8. ↑ "TerraSAR-X launch details" (in Russian). Roskosmos. 
9. ↑ "Five RapidEye remote sensing satellites launched". Spaceflight Now. 
10. ↑ William Graham (2013-08-22). "Russian Dnepr rocket launches with Arirang-5". NASASpaceflight.com. 
11. ↑ Stephen Clark (21 November 2013). "Silo-launched Dnepr rocket delivers 32 satellites to space". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 22 November 2013. 
12. ↑ Stephen Clark. "Russian Dnepr rocket lofts record haul of 37 satellites". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 19 June 2014. 
13. ↑ Stephen Clark (6 November 2014). "Japanese satellites launched on Soviet-era missile". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 7 November 2014. 
14. ↑ William Graham and Chris Bergin (2015-03-25). "Russia’s Dnepr rocket launches Kompsat-3A mission". NASASpaceflight.com. 
15. ↑ "Russia to pay Kazakhstan over US$1 million in compensation for damage from rocket crash". International Herald Tribune. 2006-10-03. 

External links

• "Kosmotras launch service provider". 
• "DNEPR User's guide" (PDF). MIT. November 2001. 
• "Astronautix entry - R-36M2". 
• "Space Calendar (JPL)". NASA. 
• "Riding the strangest rocket in the world". BBC. March 2010.