Dnepr (rocket)
The Dnepr rocket (Russian: Днепр, romanized: Dnepr; Ukrainian: Дніпро, romanized: Dnipró) was a space launch vehicle named after the Dnieper River. It was 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.[2][3]
 | |
| Function | Orbital carrier rocket |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | |
| Country of origin | Soviet Union (original build), Ukraine (commercial launches after 1999) |
| Cost per launch | US$29 million |
| Size | |
| Height | 34.3 metres (113 ft) |
| Diameter | 3 metres (9.8 ft) |
| Mass | 211,000 kilograms (465,000 lb) |
| Stages | 3 |
| Capacity | |
| Payload to LEO | |
| Mass | 4,500 kilograms (9,900 lb) |
| Payload to the ISS | |
| Mass | 3,200 kilograms (7,100 lb) |
| Payload to SSO | |
| Mass | 2,300 kilograms (5,100 lb) |
| Payload to TLI | |
| Mass | 550 kilograms (1,210 lb) (with ST-1) |
| Launch history | |
| Status | Retired[1] |
| Launch sites | Site 109/95, Baikonur LC-13, Yasny |
| Total launches | 22 |
| Success(es) | 21 |
| Failure(s) | 1 |
| First flight | 21 April 1999 |
| Last flight | 25 March 2015 |
| First stage | |
| Engines | 1 RD-264 module (four RD-263 engines) |
| Thrust | 4,520 kN (1,020,000 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 318 s (3.12 km/s) |
| Burn time | 130 seconds |
| Fuel | N 2O 4 / UDMH |
| Second stage | |
| Engines | 1 RD-0255 module (one RD-0256 main engine and one RD-0257 vernier) |
| Thrust | 755 kN (170,000 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 340 s (3.3 km/s) |
| Burn time | 190 seconds |
| Fuel | N2O4 / UDMH |
| Third stage | |
| Engines | 1 RD-864 |
| Thrust | 20.2 kN (4,500 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 309 s (3.03 km/s) |
| Burn time | 1,000 seconds |
| Fuel | N 2O 4 / UDMH |
History
The Dnepr was 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 Dnepropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR.
The Dnepr control system was developed and produced by the JSC "Khartron", Kharkov. The Dnepr was 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 The launch vehicles used for satellite launches have been withdrawn from ballistic missile service with the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces and stored for commercial use.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 was 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 2014 Ukrainian nationalist coup d'état, 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."[4] However ISC Kosmotras reported that they would continue to fulfill its obligations for three Dnepr launches in 2015,[5] of which only one took place.
By the end of 2016, no further launch had materialized and the remaining customers had switched to alternative launch providers.[6][7][8][1]
Performance
The Dnepr launch vehicle had only a small number of modifications compared to the R-36M ICBM in service. The main difference was the payload adapter located in the space head module and modified flight-control unit. This baseline version could 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 deployed a larger main payload and a secondary payload of Miniaturized satellites and CubeSats.
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 had 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.[9] 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.[10] This record was broken by an Antares launch in January 2014 which carried 34 spacecraft.
| Flight | Date (UTC) | Payload | Orbit | Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | April 21, 1999 04:59 | UoSAT-12 | LEO 650 km / 65˚ | Baikonur |
| 2 | September 26, 2000 10:05 |
| LEO 650 km / 65˚ | Baikonur |
| 3 | December 20, 2002 17:00 |
| LEO 650 km / 65˚ | Baikonur |
| 4 | June 29, 2004 06:30 |
| SSO 700 × 850 km / 98˚ | Baikonur |
| 5 | August 23, 2005 21:10 |
| SSO 600 × 550 km / 98˚ | Baikonur |
| 6 | July 12, 2006 14:53 | Genesis I (USA) | LEO 560 km / 65˚ | Yasny |
| 7 | July 26, 2006 19:43 |
| failed to reach orbit | Baikonur |
| 8 | April 17, 2007 06:46 |
| SSO 692 × 665 km / 98˚[11] | Baikonur |
| 9 | June 15, 2007 02:14 | TerraSAR-X | LEO 514 km / 97˚[12] | Baikonur |
| 10 | June 28, 2007 15:02 | Genesis II | LEO 560 km / 65˚ | Yasny |
| 11 | August 29, 2008 07:16 | RapidEye 1-5 | [13] | Baikonur |
| 12 | October 1, 2008 06:37 | THEOS | SSO | Yasny |
| 13 | July 29, 2009 18:46 | SSO | Baikonur | |
| 14 | April 8, 2010 13:57 | Cryosat-2 | Polar | Baikonur |
| 15 | June 15, 2010 14:42 | SSO | Yasny | |
| 16 | June 21, 2010 02:14 | TanDEM-X | LEO | Baikonur |
| 17 | August 17, 2011 07:12 |
| LEO | Yasny |
| 18[14] | August 22, 2013 14:39 | KOMPSat-5 | LEO | Yasny |
| 19[15] | November 21, 2013 07:10 |
| LEO | Yasny |
| 20[16] | June 19, 2014 19:11 |
| LEO | Yasny |
| 21[17] | November 6, 2014 07:35 |
| LEO | Yasny |
| 22[18] | March 25, 2015 22:08 | KOMPSat-3A | LEO | Yasny |
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 polluted the crash site, forcing Russia to pay US$1.1m in compensation.[19] 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
- Dnipro (anti-air missile)
- Minotaur (rocket family), US launch vehicles made from converted ICBMs
References
- Clark, Stephen (30 December 2016). "Iridium satellites closed up for launch on Falcon 9 rocket". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
Russian officials have said they plan to discontinue Dnepr launches.
- "The Dnepr launcher". RussianSpaceWeb.com.
- "UoSAT-12 Integrates with Dnepr for Launch on 21 April". Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28.
- Messier, Doug (6 February 2015). "Russia Severing Ties With Ukraine on Dnepr, Zenit Launch Programs". Parabolic Arc. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- Clark, Stephen (6 February 2015). "Customers assured of Dnepr rocket's near-term availability". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- Krebs, Gunter. "Iridium-NEXT". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
Kosmotras has received a contract to provide supplemental launch services on Dnepr launch vehicles. Dnepr can carry two satellites on each launch. One Dnepr launch, carrying the first two satellites, was planned, but it was delayed and finally cancelled due to bureaucratic hurdles.
- Krebs, Gunter. "GRACE-FO". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
Originally a launch on a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur in 2017 was planned, but with Dnepr becoming unavailable, the launch was switched to a Falcon-9 v1.2 subcontracted from Iridium, flying together with five Iridium-NEXT satellites in December 2017.
- Krebs, Gunter. "Paz". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
Originally Kosmotras was contracted to provide the Dnepr launch vehicle for a launch from Dombarovsky (Yasny) in 2015. After an 18 months delay, Hisdesat cancelled the launch contract in July 2016. Launch on a not yet disclosed vehicle is planned for 2017.
- Graham, William (20 November 2013). "Orbital's Minotaur I successfully lofts multitude of payloads". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- Graham, William (21 November 2013). "Russian Dnepr conducts record breaking 32 satellite haul". NASASpaceflight.com. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- "EgyptSat 1/Saudisat-3 launch details" (in Russian). Roskosmos.
- "TerraSAR-X launch details" (in Russian). Roskosmos.
- "Five RapidEye remote sensing satellites launched". Spaceflight Now.
- William Graham (2013-08-22). "Russian Dnepr rocket launches with Arirang-5". NASASpaceflight.com.
- Stephen Clark (21 November 2013). "Silo-launched Dnepr rocket delivers 32 satellites to space". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- Stephen Clark. "Russian Dnepr rocket lofts record haul of 37 satellites". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- Stephen Clark (6 November 2014). "Japanese satellites launched on Soviet-era missile". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
- William Graham and Chris Bergin (2015-03-25). "Russia's Dnepr rocket launches Kompsat-3A mission". NASASpaceflight.com.
- "Russia to pay Kazakhstan over US$1 million in compensation for damage from rocket crash". International Herald Tribune. 2006-10-03.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dnepr (rocket). |
- "Kosmotras launch service provider".
- "DNEPR User's guide" (PDF). MIT. November 2001.
- "Astronautix entry - R-36M2". Archived from the original on 2006-07-11.
- "Space Calendar (JPL)". NASA.
- "Riding the strangest rocket in the world". BBC. March 2010.