Vehicle Configurations

Vehicle Components

The Dnepr space launch vehicle, offered by the Russian/Ukrainian Kosmotras consortium, is a modified three-stage R-36MU intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Known as SS-18 “Satan” missiles in the West, R-36MUs were developed during the late 1970s to supplant previous R-36M missile designs.   R-36MU added an upgraded multiple warhead third stage dispenser bus, along with other improvements.  The Start 2 treaty allowed up to 150 missiles of the R-36M series to be converted for use as space launchers.

More than 162 R-36MUs were deployed in missile silos beginning in 1980.  Dozens are expected to remain on combat duty with the Russian Strategic Missile Forces until at least 2007-09.  Some R-36MUs have been, and will continue to be, converted for use as Dnepr space launchers. 

Russia also plans to keep about 40 of the more powerful R-36M2 missiles, a variant developed during the late 1980s after R-36MU was deployed, in service until at least 2016.  R-36M2 missiles may also end up being used for space launch purposes.

Developed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, the hypergolic fueled R-36MU, like the R-36M before it, was derived from earlier R-36 “Tsyklon” type rockets that dated from the late 1960s.

The missile’s first two stages were fitted with higher thrust engines than the R-36 and the old third stage was replaced with an all-new third stage that served as a dispenser “bus” for multiple warheads. Previous “Tsyklon” first stages had been powered by three sets of two-chamber RD-251 fixed nozzle engines augmented by four steering chambers. The new “Satan” first stage was powered by a single four-chamber RD-264 engine that produced 461 metric tons of thrust. All four chambers of the engine could gimbal to steer the rocket.

The missiles are “mortar launched” from underground silos. The process ejects the 211 metric ton missile straight up out of the silo where, appoximately 20 meters above the ground, the first stage engine ignites.

Prior to launch, the rocket is packaged in a "transport and launch canister" with a "tray" protecting the base of the missile. A solid propellant gas generator fires to pressurize the canister, pushing the "tray" and missile up out of the silo. After exiting the silo, motors fire to jettison the "tray" sideways. The Dnepr main engines ignite immediately after the "tray" moves aside.

The end of the Cold War and the signing of Start 2 meant that the missiles either had to be used for space launches or destroyed. Kosmotras was begun in 1997 to market the missiles under the Dnepr name, after the famous river. Ukraine’s NPO YuzhnoyeNPO, descendant of the Yangel Design Bureau, was contracted to modify the R-36MU missiles. To minimize costs, to maximize reliability, and to allow continued flight testing of the missile system, few changes were made to the ICBM or the launch system.

After a 1998 suborbital test of Dnepr modifications on an ICBM, the first orbital Dnepr launch took place in 1999 from an underground silo at Baikonur’s LC 109/95. The first several launches were used to orbit clusters of experimental microsatellites provided by organizations in several countries. In 2004, Kosmotras won a contract to orbit experimental inflatable modules for Bigalow Aerospace of the U.S

A typical Dnepr flight consists of a silo launch, a 109 second first stage burn, a 161 second burn of the second stage, and an extended (up to 1000 second) low-thrust third stage burn. The third stage engine actually ignites with its forward-facing engine firing forward, then rotates 180 degrees to complete the remaining, lower-thrust portion of its burn "backward" to provide positive thrust. Multiple payloads can be deployed. Spacecraft separation occurs during, and near the end of, the low-thrust third stage burn. Dnepr can put up to 4.5 metric tons into a 200 km x 46 deg orbit from Baikonur.

Future plans may include a Dnepr-M with a third stage modified to perform in a more conventional manner. Plans also include Dnepr-ST ("Space-Tug") variants with various combinations of solid or liquid 4th/5th stages added. 

Launch Sites

Dnepr initially flew only from Baikonur LC 109/95 in Kazakhstan, but a new launch site at an operational Russian R-36M2 silo field at Dombarovskiy near the city of Orenburg, Russia was inaugurated in 2006. The July 12, 2006 launch from the renamed "Yasny Launch Base" orbited the Genesis 1 inflatable test satellite for Bigelow Aerospace, a private U.S. company. A precursor test from Dombarovskiy occured In December 2004 when the Strategic Missile Forces performed an R-36M2 training launch from an operational silo at the site. This launch of a missile that had been on combat duty since 1992 tested the combat readiness of the system, but it was also advertised as a test of future Dnepr launches from Russian soil.

Kosmotras

Kosmotras is a consortium of Russian and Ukrainian organizations that include the Russian Space Agency and NPO Yuzhnoye, among others.

Vehicle Configurations

Vehicle Components

References

www.kosmotras.ru

Last Update: July 31, 2006