Last week, late in the evening of June 19, the Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr launch vehicle launched 33 small satellites from 17 countries into orbit at once. This launch means that the United States and the new authorities in Kiev failed to block the cooperation of the Russian Federation with foreign states in the field of space. The launch of the rocket with a record number of satellites on board was carried out from the territory of the Yasnensky formation of the Russian strategic missile forces located in the Orenburg region. All 33 satellites were successfully launched into low-earth orbit, according to the Russian-Ukrainian joint venture Kosmotras, which is the operator of the Dnepr program.
The launch campaign was completed in full and without incident. The satellites of 17 countries of the world, including Argentina, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Canada, the Netherlands, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the USA, Ukraine and Japan, were successfully launched into orbit. Among others, the rocket launched Russia's first private satellite into orbit. We are talking about the satellite "TabletSat-Aurora" weighing 25 kg. This microsatellite is designed for remote sensing of the earth's surface using an optical camera with a resolution of 15 meters. The information received from the satellite is planned to be received on a wide ground network of receiving stations of the Scanex Engineering and Technology Center. After that, the data can be used in scientific, environmental, educational and commercial projects.
The start, which was held on June 19, became the twentieth one within the framework of the Dnipro program. Its uniqueness lies not only in the unprecedented number of spacecraft launched into orbit at one time for the national cosmonautics. And not even that the rocket launched the first private Russian satellite into low-earth orbit. The main significance of the launch is that it actually broke through the impending blockade, into which the United States, through the hands of politicians from Ukraine and the West, has been trying to drag our rocket and space industry over the past few months. According to the Federal Space Agency, during 2014, it is planned to carry out 3 launches under this program.
Launch vehicle "Dnepr"
Dnepr is a Russian-Ukrainian launch vehicle, which was developed on the basis of the famous RS-20 intercontinental ballistic missile (NATO codification - Satan). The missile created on the basis of ICBMs today serves purely peaceful purposes. "Dnepr" is a liquid-propellant rocket made according to a three-stage scheme with a sequential arrangement of stages and a rocket head. In this case, both the first and second stages of the launch vehicle are standard stages of "Satan" and are used without any modifications.
The third stage is also standard for the RS-20, but it has been improved in terms of modernizing the control system. The modernization carried out makes it possible to implement the specified flight program of all rocket stages, the formation and sequential issuance of commands supplied to the automation elements of the spacecraft separation devices, as well as the detachable units of the space warhead (CGC), the withdrawal of the CGC and the third stage of the rocket from the working orbit after separation from the rocket of all spacecraft.
The launch weight of the rocket is 210 tons, the length is 34 meters, the diameter of the rocket is 3 meters. The rocket is able to launch a group of satellites for various purposes or spacecraft with a launch mass of up to 3.7 tons into low-earth orbit (300-900 km altitude). At present, the program for the creation and operation of the Dnepr carrier rocket, which was created on the basis of one of the most powerful ICBMs in the history, is considered one of the most serious programs in the history of conversion. This Russian-Ukrainian project is based on more than 150 intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are suitable for conversion into launch vehicles.
This conversion program was born in the early 1990s against the backdrop of the signing of the Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1) between the United States and the USSR. The treaty entered into force in 1994 after the collapse of the USSR. According to the agreements reached between the countries, Russia has pledged to halve the arsenal of its most formidable strategic weapon - the RS-20 missiles. These ICBMs were designed at the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (Ukraine) and were mass-produced at the Ukrainian enterprise Yuzhmash. This missile remains the most powerful strategic offensive weapon in the world to this day. Currently, 52 missiles of this type are still in service with the Strategic Missile Forces of the Russian armed forces.
According to START I, most of the Soviet arsenal of Satan missiles was to be disposed of. But in Russia they found the best application of the unique ICBM. In 1997, a joint Russian-Ukrainian venture (50/50) called Kosmotras was founded in Moscow. On the part of our country, it included Roskosmos, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and a number of companies in the rocket and space sector, on the part of Ukraine - the space agency of this country, Yuzhmash, Yuzhnoye design bureau and the manufacturer of the missile control system - Kharkiv-based enterprise Khartron-Arkos . The shareholders of the Kosmotras company, scientific enterprises and organizations from Russia and Ukraine, who have developed this launching system, today carry out designer and warranty supervision during its operation.
For launches of the Dnepr carrier rocket, launch pads at the Baikonur cosmodrome and launchers of the 13th Orenburg Red Banner Missile Division in the city of Yasny, Orenburg Region, can be used. The first launch of a new conversion rocket was made in 1999 by a combat crew of the Strategic Missile Forces.
Since the first launch, which was carried out in 1999, the Kosmotras company has carried out 20 launches of Dnepr carrier rockets, as a result of which 122 spacecraft for various purposes have been successfully launched into low-earth orbit. The launch customers were companies and space agencies from Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, USA, France, South Korea, Japan and many other countries of the world. The Dnepr launch vehicle is distinguished by its very good reliability. In 20 launches, a misfire occurred only once - in 2006, 11 US microsatellites crashed. However, this incident did not have much impact on the Russian-Ukrainian program.
Today the technology of launching the Dnepr launch vehicle has been worked out to the smallest detail. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is sending the RS-20 missiles removed from combat duty (they received this designation according to the START-1 treaty) to Dnepropetrovsk. Here the rocket is "reloaded" and sent back to Russia or Kazakhstan. Here they prepare spacecraft for launch, integrate them with the launch vehicle and carry out launches. Small on a global scale, but quite stable business for the delivery of microsatellites, experimental spacecraft and university satellites into orbit. The cost of the program, given that the launch vehicle is almost ready, is minimal. Moreover, each launch of the Dnepr LV brings the parties (information from 2010/11) about $ 31 million.
Failure of the US administration
In the spring of 2014, against the background of the aggravation of the situation around Ukraine, the US administration actually imposed a ban on other countries from launching spacecraft containing American components using Russian carrier rockets. This decision put the entire Dnepr program in jeopardy, since the main payload of the rocket has always been American and European satellites. Plus Ukraine itself and Saudi Arabia. Canada, as one of the most loyal American allies, has announced that it will also refuse to launch spacecraft on Russian missiles. Fuel was added to the fire by the new President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, who, speaking at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, banned Ukrainian enterprises from any cooperation with the Russian Federation in the military-industrial sphere. In fact, this decision put an end to the Dnepr program in its current form.
But only a week has passed since the loud statement, and the official decree, which would have announced the termination of relations between the "defenders" of the two countries, has not been published anywhere. Therefore, the Yuzhnoye design bureau located in Dnepropetrovsk continues to service the Russian Satan ICBMs, receiving good money for this. It is quite obvious that the Dnipropetrovsk engineers took a direct part in preparing the launch of the Dnipro on June 19.
Moreover, the Dnepr launch vehicle launched satellites of 17 countries into orbit, showing the failure of the US threats to its allies. The funniest thing is that not only satellites of Canada, European countries that are members of NATO and Saudi Arabia have been put into orbit, but also American satellites directly. We are talking about communication satellites AprizeSat 9 and 10. The "international" composition of the constellation of satellites launched into Earth's orbit demonstrates better than any words that, despite pressure from the American administration, all sensible Western companies are not going to refuse to launch their spacecraft with the help of Russian missiles. Business turns out to be above politics.
Russia will survive the possible self-withdrawal of Ukraine from the project
Even if we assume that the current Kiev authorities tomorrow will give a direct ban on participation in the conversion of ICBMs RS-20 to the Dnepropetrovsk design bureau "Yuzhny" and "Yuzhmash", then Russia will only benefit from such a decision. First, Dnepr rockets do not fly often - 1-2 times a year. Out of 36 launches to take place this year, only 2 remain on Dnepr. For this reason, Roscosmos will have enough free time to convert ICBMs into a light launch vehicle on its own. According to the deputy head of Roscosmos, Sergei Ponomarev, it will take no more than 2-3 months to resolve the technological and organizational issues necessary for this. If necessary, Russia is ready to terminate the contract with Ukraine and transfer all work on the Dnepr carrier rocket to Russian cooperation, Ponamarev noted in an interview with ITAR-TASS. The most probable successor to the Yuzhnoye design bureau from the Russian side is called the state missile center. Makeeva. This Russian enterprise can become the leading one in the work on extending the service life of these heavy ICBMs, emphasized the deputy head of Roscosmos. A similar opinion is shared by the leadership of the RF Ministry of Defense.
Secondly, the RS-20, created by the outstanding Soviet designer Vladimir Fedorovich Utkin, is an excellent rocket, but not eternal. Still, the period of its active operation has already exceeded 40 years. Currently, 2 new projects of light launch vehicles are on the way in Russia. The first rocket, Soyuz-2-1v, designed for a payload of 3 tons and created at TsSKB-Progress in Samara, made its maiden flight on December 28, 2013. This rocket has already been liked by both commercial cargo delivery operators and the Russian military.
And at the end of June this year from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, the first ever test launch of another Russian novelty is to take place - a light version of the Angara launch vehicle, which was created by specialists of the GKNPTs im. Khrunichev. With a rocket launch mass of 170 tons (40 tons less than that of the conversion Dnepr), the Angara 1.2 rocket is able to put 3, 8 tons of payload into a low reference orbit - this is even slightly more than the calculated payload launched into orbit. load of Dnipro. Of course, in GKNPTs them. Khrunichev, to put it mildly, were delayed with the creation of "Angara", and it is increasingly difficult to call it a "new" project. But in Russia, a whole class of light launch vehicles still appears, which will allow us to select the most optimal options for delivering satellites into orbit for any customers without exception.
