"Buran" was intended for:
One of the purposes of the Buran spacecraft was "the precise adjustment of the parameters of the orbit of artificial satellites of the Earth." First of all, the satellites of the orbital constellation, which provides the transmission of GPS coordinates, should have undergone “fine alignment”.
The first and only space flight "Buran" made on November 15, 1988 in automatic mode and without a crew on board. Despite the fact that Buran was designed for 100 flights into space: 2, it was not launched again. The ship was controlled using the Biser-4 on-board computer. A number of technical solutions obtained during the creation of Buran were used in Russian and foreign rocket and space technology.
Story
The production of orbital ships has been carried out at the Tushino Machine-Building Plant since 1980; by 1984, the first full-scale copy was ready. From the factory, the ships were delivered by water transport (on a barge under an awning) to the city of Zhukovsky, and from there (from the Ramenskoye airfield) - by air (on a special VM-T transport aircraft) - to the Yubileiny airfield of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
- "Western alternate airfield" - Simferopol airport in the Crimea with a reconstructed runway with dimensions of 3701 × 60 m ( 45°02′42″ s. sh. 33°58′37″ E d. HGI AMOL) ;
- "Eastern alternate airfield" - the military airfield Khorol in Primorsky Krai with a runway measuring 3700 × 70 m ( 44°27′04″ s. sh. 132°07′28″ E d. HGI AMOL).
At these three airfields (and in their areas), complexes of radio-technical systems for navigation, landing, trajectory control and air traffic control "Vympel" were deployed to ensure the regular landing of "Buran" (in automatic and manual mode).
In order to ensure readiness for an emergency landing of Buran (in manual mode), runways were built or reinforced at fourteen more airfields, including those outside the territory of the USSR (in Cuba, in Libya).
The full-size analogue of Buran, which had the designation BTS-002 (GLI), was made for flight tests in the Earth's atmosphere. It had four turbojet engines in its tail section, which allowed it to take off from a conventional airfield. In -1988, it was used in (later named after the Hero of the Soviet Union M. M. Gromov) to work out the control system and the automatic landing system, as well as to train test pilots before space flights.
On November 10, 1985, a full-size analogue of the Buran made the first atmospheric flight at the LII MAP of the USSR (machine 002 GLI - horizontal flight tests). The car was piloted by LII test pilots Igor Petrovich Volk and R. A. Stankevicius.
Earlier, by order of the MAP of the USSR dated June 23, 1981 No. 263, the Branch Detachment of Test Cosmonauts of the USSR Ministry of Aviation Industry was created, consisting of: Volk I.P., Levchenko A.S., Stankyavichyus R.A. and Shchukin A.V. (first set) .
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Flight
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The space flight of Buran took place on November 15, 1988. The Energia launch vehicle, launched from pad 110 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, launched the spacecraft into near-Earth orbit. The flight lasted 205 minutes, during which time the ship made two orbits around the Earth, after which it landed at the Yubileiny airfield of the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The flight took place in automatic mode using the on-board computer and on-board software. Over the Pacific Ocean "Buran" was accompanied by the ship of the measuring complex of the Navy of the USSR "Marshal Nedelin" and the research vessel of the USSR Academy of Sciences "Cosmonaut Georgy Dobrovolsky".
During takeoff and landing, the Buran was accompanied by a Mig-25 fighter piloted by pilot Magomed Tolboev, with videographer Sergei Zhadovsky on board.
During the landing phase, there was an emergency, which, however, only underlined the success of the creators of the program. At an altitude of about 11 km, the Buran, which received information from the ground station about the weather conditions at the landing site, unexpectedly made a sharp maneuver for everyone. The ship described a smooth loop with a 180º turn (initially entering the runway from the northwest direction, the ship landed, entering from the side of its southern end). As it turned out later, due to the storm wind on the ground, the ship's automation decided to additionally reduce speed and go along the most favorable landing trajectory under the new conditions.
At the time of the turn, the ship disappeared from the field of view of ground surveillance equipment, communication was interrupted for a while. Panic began in the MCC, the responsible persons immediately suggested using the emergency system to blow up the ship (TNT charges were installed on it, which were provided to prevent the top-secret ship from crashing on the territory of another state in case of loss of course). However, Stepan Mikoyan, Deputy Chief Designer of NPO Molniya for flight tests, who was in charge of controlling the ship in the descent and landing section, decided to wait, and the situation was resolved successfully.
Initially, the automatic landing system did not provide for the transition to manual control mode. However, test pilots and cosmonauts demanded that the designers include a manual mode in the landing control system:
... the control system of the Buran ship was supposed to automatically perform all actions up to the ship stopping after landing. The participation of the pilot in the management was not provided. (Later, at our insistence, they nevertheless provided for a backup manual control mode in the atmospheric leg of the flight during the return of the spacecraft.)
A significant part of the technical information about the course of the flight is not available to a modern researcher, since it was recorded on magnetic tapes for BESM-6 computers, no serviceable copies of which have been preserved. It is possible to partially recreate the course of the historical flight using the preserved paper rolls of printouts on the ATsPU-128 with selections from on-board and ground telemetry data.
Subsequent events
In 2002, the only Buran flying into space (product 1.01) was destroyed during the collapse of the roof of the assembly and test building at Baikonur, in which it was stored along with finished copies of the Energia launch vehicle.
After the disaster of the Columbia spacecraft, and in particular with the closure of the Space Shuttle program, the Western media have repeatedly expressed the opinion that the US space agency NASA is interested in reviving the Energia-Buran complex and intends to place an appropriate order for Russia in the near future. time. Meanwhile, according to the Interfax agency, director G. G. Raikunov said that Russia could return after 2018 to this program and the creation of launch vehicles capable of launching up to 24 tons of cargo into orbit; testing will begin in 2015. In the future, it is planned to create rockets that will deliver cargo weighing more than 100 tons into orbit. In the distant future, there are plans to develop a new manned spacecraft and reusable launch vehicles. Also, at school 830 at the Tushino machine-building plant, the Burana Museum was opened, in which excursions are conducted with veterans. http://sch830sz.mskobr.ru/muzey-burana.
Specifications
The technical characteristics of the Buran ship have the following meanings:
A sealed all-welded cabin for the crew is inserted into the nose compartment of the Buran, for carrying out work in orbit (up to 10 people) and most of the equipment, to ensure flight as part of the rocket and space complex, autonomous flight in orbit, descent and landing. The cabin volume is over 70 m 3 .
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One of the numerous specialists in heat-shielding coating was the musician Sergei Letov.
Comparative analysis of the Buran and Space Shuttle systems
With an outward resemblance to the American Shuttle, the Buran orbiter had a fundamental difference - it could land in a fully automatic mode using an on-board computer and the Vympel ground-based complex of radio engineering systems for navigation, landing, trajectory control and air traffic control.
"Shuttle" lands with idle engines. It does not have the ability to land several times, so there are several landing sites in the United States.
The Energia-Buran complex consisted of the first stage, which consisted of four side blocks with RD-170 oxygen-kerosene engines (in the future, their return and reusable use was envisaged), the second stage with four RD-0120 oxygen-hydrogen engines, which is the basis of the complex and docked to it the returning spacecraft "Buran". At launch, both stages were launched. After resetting the first stage (4 side blocks), the second continued to work until reaching a speed slightly less than orbital. The final conclusion was carried out by the engines of the Buran itself, this excluded contamination of the orbits by fragments of spent rocket stages.
This scheme is universal, since it made it possible to launch into orbit not only the Buran MTKK, but also other payloads weighing up to 100 tons. The Buran entered the atmosphere and began to slow down (the entry angle was about 30°, the entry angle gradually decreased). Initially, for controlled flight in the atmosphere, the Buran had to be equipped with two turbojet engines installed in the aerodynamic shadow zone at the base of the keel. However, by the time of the first (and only) launch, this system was not ready for flight, therefore, after entering the atmosphere, the ship was controlled only by control surfaces without using engine thrust. Before landing, the Buran carried out a speed-damping corrective maneuver (flying in a descending figure-of-eight), after which it proceeded to land. In this single flight, the Buran had only one attempt to land. During landing, the speed was 300 km / h, during entry into the atmosphere it reached 25 speeds of sound (almost 30 thousand km / h).
Unlike the Shuttles, the Buran had an emergency crew rescue system. At low altitudes, a catapult operated for the first two pilots; at a sufficient height, in the event of an emergency, Buran could separate from the launch vehicle and make an emergency landing.
The chief designers of the Buran never denied that the Buran was partially copied from the American Space Shuttle. In particular, General Designer Lozino-Lozinsky spoke on the issue of copying as follows:
The general designer Glushko considered that by that time there were few materials that would confirm and guarantee success, at a time when the flights of the Shuttle proved that a configuration similar to the Shuttle worked successfully, and there is less risk when choosing a configuration. Therefore, despite the larger useful volume of the Spiral configuration, it was decided to carry out the Buran in a configuration similar to the Shuttle configuration.
... Copying, as indicated in the previous answer, was, of course, completely conscious and justified in the process of those design developments that were carried out, and during which, as already indicated above, many changes were made to both the configuration and the design. The main political requirement was to ensure that the dimensions of the payload compartment were the same as the payload compartment of the Shuttle.
... the absence of sustainer engines on the Buran noticeably changed the centering, the position of the wings, the configuration of the influx, well, and a number of other differences.
Causes and effects of system differences
The original version of the OS-120, which appeared in 1975 in Volume 1B "Technical Proposals" of the "Integrated Rocket and Space Program", was an almost complete copy of the American space shuttle - in the tail section of the ship there were three sustainer oxygen-hydrogen engines (11D122 developed by KBEM with a thrust along 250 t.s. and a specific impulse of 353 seconds on the ground and 455 seconds in a vacuum) with two protruding engine nacelles for orbital maneuvering engines.
The key issue turned out to be the engines, which had to be equal in all basic parameters to or exceed the characteristics of the onboard engines of the American SSME orbiter and side solid rocket boosters.
The engines created in the Voronezh Chemical Automation Design Bureau turned out to be compared with the American counterpart:
- heavier (3450 vs. 3117 kg),
- slightly larger in size (diameter and height: 2420 and 4550 versus 1630 and 4240 mm),
- with a slightly lower thrust (at sea level: 156 versus 181 t. s.), although in terms of specific impulse, which characterizes the efficiency of the engine, it was somewhat superior.
At the same time, ensuring the reusable use of these engines was a very significant problem. For example, the Space Shuttle, which was originally created as reusable engines, eventually required such a large amount of very expensive routine maintenance between launches that the Shuttle did not fully justify the hopes for reducing the cost of putting a kilogram of cargo into orbit economically.
It is known that in order to launch the same payload into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, for geographical reasons, you need to have more thrust than from the Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome. To launch the Space Shuttle system, two solid-propellant boosters with a thrust of 1280 tons each are used. each (the most powerful rocket engines in history), with a total thrust at sea level of 2560 t.s., plus a total thrust of three SSME engines of 570 t.s., which together creates thrust at separation from the launch pad of 3130 t.s. This is enough to launch a payload of up to 110 tons from the Canaveral launch site, including the shuttle itself (78 tons), up to 8 astronauts (up to 2 tons) and up to 29.5 tons of cargo in the cargo compartment. Accordingly, to put into orbit 110 tons of payload from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, all other things being equal, it is required to create thrust when separated from the launch pad by about 15% more, that is, about 3600 t.s.
The Soviet orbital ship OS-120 (OS means "orbital aircraft") was supposed to have a weight of 120 tons (to add to the weight of the American shuttle two turbojet engines for flying in the atmosphere and a system for ejection of two pilots into emergency). A simple calculation shows that to put into orbit a payload of 120 tons, more than 4000 tons of thrust on the launch pad is required.
At the same time, it turned out that the thrust of the propulsion engines of the orbital ship, if a similar configuration of the shuttle with 3 engines is used, is inferior to the American one (465 t.p. vs. 570 t.p.), which is completely insufficient for the second stage and the final launch of the shuttle into orbit. Instead of three engines, it was necessary to install 4 RD-0120 engines, but there was no space and weight in the design of the airframe of the orbital ship. The designers had to drastically reduce the weight of the shuttle.
Thus, the OK-92 orbital ship project was born, the weight of which was reduced to 92 tons due to the refusal to place sustainer engines together with a system of cryogenic pipelines, to lock them when separating the external tank, etc. As a result of the development of the project, four (instead of three) RD-0120 engines were moved from the rear fuselage of the orbiter to the lower part of the fuel tank. However, unlike the Shuttle, which was unable to perform such active orbital maneuvers, Buran was equipped with 16 tons of thrust maneuvering engines, which allowed it to change its orbit over a wide range if necessary.
On January 9, 1976, the general designer of NPO Energia, Valentin Glushko, approved the "Technical Information" containing a comparative analysis of the new version of the OK-92 ship.
After the release of Decree No. 132-51, the development of the orbiter airframe, means of air transportation of the ISS elements and the automatic landing system was entrusted to the specially organized NPO Molniya, headed by Gleb Evgenievich Lozino-Lozinsky.
The changes also affected the side accelerators. The USSR had no design experience, necessary technology and equipment for the production of such large and powerful solid-propellant boosters, which are used in the space shuttle system and provide 83% of thrust at the start. A harsher climate required more complex chemicals to operate over a wider temperature range, solid-fuel boosters created dangerous vibrations, did not allow thrust control, and destroyed the ozone layer of the atmosphere with their exhaust. In addition, engines solid fuel they are inferior in specific efficiency to liquid ones - and the USSR, due to the geographical location of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, was required to output a payload equal in terms of specification to the Shuttle with greater efficiency. The designers of NPO Energia decided to use the most powerful rocket engine available - the four-chamber RD-170 engine, created under the leadership of Glushko, which could develop thrust (after refinement and modernization) of 740 t. However, instead of two side accelerators, 1280 t. use four 740 each. The total thrust of the side boosters, together with the engines of the second stage RD-0120, when separated from the launch pad, reached 3425 t.s., which is approximately equal to the starting thrust of the Saturn-5 system with the Apollo spacecraft (3500 t.s. .).
The possibility of reusing side boosters was the ultimatum requirement of the customer - the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Ministry of Defense represented by D. F. Ustinov. It was officially believed that the side boosters were reusable, but in those two Energia flights that took place, the task of preserving the side boosters was not even set. American boosters are parachuted into the ocean, which provides a fairly "soft" landing, sparing the engines and booster hulls. Unfortunately, under the conditions of a launch from the Kazakh steppe, there is no chance for a “splashdown” of the boosters, and a parachute landing in the steppe is not soft enough to save the engines and rocket bodies. Gliding or parachute landing with powder engines, although designed, was not implemented in the first two test flights, and further developments in this direction, including the rescue of blocks of both the first and second stages with the help of wings, were not carried out due to the closure of the program.
The changes that made the Energy-Buran system different from the Space Shuttle system had the following results:
Military-political system
According to foreign experts, Buran was a response to a similar American Space Shuttle project and was conceived as a military system, which, however, was a response to, as it was then believed, the planned use of American shuttles for military purposes.
The program has its own background:
The shuttle launched 29.5 tons into near-Earth orbit and could de-orbit a load of up to 14.5 tons. The weight put into orbit using disposable carriers in America did not even reach 150 tons / year, but here it was conceived 12 times more; nothing descended from orbit, but here it was supposed to return 820 tons / year ... It was not just a program to create some kind of space system under the motto of reducing transportation costs (ours, our study institute showed that no reduction would actually be observed), it had a clear military purpose.
Director of the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering Yu. A. Mozzhorin
Reusable space systems had both strong supporters and authoritative opponents in the USSR. Wanting to finally decide on the ISS, GUKOS decided to choose an authoritative arbiter in the dispute between the military and industry, instructing the head institute of the Ministry of Defense for military space (TsNII 50) to carry out research work (R&D) to justify the need for the ISS to solve the problems of the country's defense capability. But even this did not bring clarity, since General Melnikov, who led this institute, having decided to play it safe, issued two “reports”: one in favor of the creation of the ISS, the other against. In the end, both of these reports, overgrown with numerous authoritative "Agreed" and "I approve", met in the most inappropriate place - on the table of D. F. Ustinov. Annoyed by the results of the "arbitration", Ustinov called Glushko and asked to bring him up to date, providing detailed information on the options for the ISS, but Glushko unexpectedly sent an employee to a meeting with the Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, a candidate member of the Politburo, instead of himself - the General Designer - his employee, and . O. Head of Department 162 Valery Burdakov.
Arriving at Ustinov's office on Staraya Ploshchad, Burdakov began answering questions from the Secretary of the Central Committee. Ustinov was interested in all the details: why the ISS is needed, what it could be, what we need for this, why the US is building its own shuttle, what threatens us. As Valery Pavlovich later recalled, Ustinov was primarily interested in the military capabilities of the ISS, and he presented to D.F. anywhere on the planet.
The prospects for the ISS, presented by Burdakov, so deeply excited and interested D. F. Ustinov that he quickly prepared a decision that was discussed in the Politburo, approved and signed by L. I. Brezhnev, and the topic of a reusable space system received the highest priority among all space programs in the party-state leadership and the military-industrial complex.
Drawings and photographs of the shuttle were first received in the USSR through the GRU in early 1975. Immediately, two examinations were carried out for the military component: at military research institutes and at the Institute of Applied Mathematics under the direction of Mstislav Keldysh. Conclusions: “the future reusable ship will be able to carry nuclear munitions and attack the territory of the USSR with them from almost anywhere in near-Earth space” and “The American shuttle with a carrying capacity of 30 tons, if loaded with nuclear warheads, is capable of flying outside the radio visibility zone of the domestic missile attack warning system. Having made an aerodynamic maneuver, for example, over the Gulf of Guinea, he can release them across the territory of the USSR "- they pushed the leadership of the USSR to create an answer -" Buran ".
And they say that we will fly there once a week, you know ... But there are no goals and cargoes, and immediately there is a fear that they are creating a ship for some future tasks that we do not know about. Possible military use? Undoubtedly.
And so they demonstrated this by flying over the Kremlin on the Shuttle, so it was a surge of our military, politicians, and so a decision was made at one time: working out a technique for intercepting space targets, high, with the help of aircraft.
By December 1, 1988, there had been at least one classified Shuttle launch with military missions (NASA flight code STS-27). In 2008, it became known that during the flight on the instructions of the NRO and the CIA, the all-weather reconnaissance satellite Lacrosse 1 was launched into orbit (English) Russian, who took pictures in the radio range using radar.
The United States stated that the Space Shuttle system was created as part of a program of a civilian organization - NASA. The Task Force under the leadership of Vice President S. Agnew in 1969-1970 developed several options for promising programs for the peaceful exploration of outer space after the end of the lunar program. In 1972, Congress, based on economic analysis, supported a project to create reusable shuttles to replace disposable rockets.
Product list
By the time the program was closed (early 1990s), five flight copies of the Buran spacecraft had been built or were under construction:
- Product 1.01 "Buran"- the ship made a space flight in automatic mode. It was located in the collapsed assembly and test building at the 112th site of the cosmodrome, was completely destroyed along with the Energia launch vehicle model during the collapse of the assembly and test building No. 112 on May 12, 2002.
- Product 1.02 "Storm" - was supposed to make the second flight in automatic mode with docking with the manned station "Mir". Located at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. In April 2007, a mass-dimensional model of the product, previously abandoned in the open air, was installed in the exposition of the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum (site 2). Product 1.02 itself, together with the OK-MT model, is located in the assembly and filling building, and there is no free access to it. However, in May-June 2015, blogger Ralph Mirebs managed to take a number of photos of the collapsing shuttle and mock-up.
- Product 2.01 "Baikal" - the degree of readiness of the ship at the time of the cessation of work was 30-50%. Until 2004, it was in the shops, in October 2004 it was transported to the pier of the Khimki reservoir for temporary storage. On June 22-23, 2011, it was transported by river transport to the airfield in Zhukovsky, for restoration and subsequent display at the MAKS air show.
- Item 2.02 - was 10-20% ready. Dismantled (partially) on the stocks of Tushinsky machine-building plant.
- Product 2.03 - the backlog was destroyed in the shops of the Tushino Machine-Building Plant.
List of layouts
During the work on the Buran project, several mock-ups were made for dynamic, electrical, airfield and other tests. After the closure of the program, these products remained on the balance sheet of various research institutes and industrial associations. It is known, for example, that the rocket and space corporation Energia and NPO Molniya have prototypes.
- BTS-001 OK-ML-1 (product 0.01) was used to test the air transportation of the orbital complex. In 1993, a full-size model was leased to the Cosmos-Earth society (president - cosmonaut German Titov). Until June 2014, it was installed on the Pushkinskaya embankment of the Moskva River in the Central Park of Culture and Leisure named after. Gorky. As of December 2008, a scientific and educational attraction was organized in it. On the night of July 5-6, 2014, the layout was moved to the territory of VDNH for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of VDNKh.
- OK-KS (product 0.03) is a full-size complex stand. It was used for testing air transportation, complex testing of software, electrical and radio testing of systems and equipment. Until 2012, he was in the building of the control and test station of RSC Energia, the city of Korolev. He was moved to the territory adjacent to the center building, where he underwent conservation. Currently located in the educational center "Sirius" in Sochi.
- OK-ML1 (product 0.04) was used for dimensional and weight fitting tests. Located in the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum.
- OK-TVA (product 0.05) was used for heat-vibration-strength tests. Located in TsAGI. As of 2011, all mock-up compartments have been destroyed, with the exception of the left wing with the landing gear and standard thermal protection, which were included in the orbiter mock-up.
- OK-TVI (product 0.06) was a model for thermal vacuum tests. It is located in NIIKhimMash, Peresvet, Moscow Region.
- OK-MT (product 0.15) was used to practice pre-launch operations (ship refueling, fitting and docking work, etc.). Currently located at the site of Baikonur 112A, ( 45°55′10″ s. sh. 63°18′36″ E d. HGI AMOL) in building 80, together with product 1.02 "Storm". It is the property of Kazakhstan.
- 8M (product 0.08) - the layout is only a cabin model with hardware stuffing. Used to test the reliability of ejection seats. After completion of work, he was on the territory of the 29th Clinical Hospital in Moscow, then he was transported to the Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow. Currently located on the territory of the 83rd Clinical Hospital of the FMBA (since 2011 - the Federal Scientific and Clinical Center for Specialized Types of Medical Care and Medical Technologies of the FMBA).
- BOR-4 - a mock-up tested as part of the Buran program, which was a miniature version of the apparatus developed according to the Spiral program, which was closed by that time. He flew into space six times from Kapustiny Yar. The thermal protection needed by Buran was worked out, maneuvers after deorbiting: 23.
- BOR-5 - a model tested within the framework of the Buran program, which was an eight-fold reduced copy of the future Buran spacecraft. The thermal protection needed by Buran was worked out, maneuvers after deorbiting: 23.
"Shuttle" and "Buran"
When you look at photographs of the Buran and Shuttle winged spacecraft, you may get the impression that they are quite identical. At least there shouldn't be any fundamental differences. Despite the external similarity, these two space systems are still fundamentally different.
"Shuttle"
The Shuttle is a reusable transport spacecraft (MTKK). The ship has three liquid-propellant rocket engines (LPRE) powered by hydrogen. The oxidizing agent is liquid oxygen. Enormous amounts of propellant and oxidizer are required to make an entry into near-Earth orbit. Therefore, the fuel tank is the largest element of the Space Shuttle system. The spacecraft is located on this huge tank and is connected to it by a system of pipelines through which fuel and oxidizer are supplied to the Shuttle engines.
And still, three powerful engines of a winged ship are not enough to go into space. Two solid-propellant boosters are attached to the central tank of the system - the most powerful rockets in the history of mankind today. The greatest power is needed precisely at the start in order to move a multi-ton ship and lift it for the first four and a half dozen kilometers. Solid rocket boosters take on 83% of the load.
Another shuttle takes off
At an altitude of 45 km, solid-fuel boosters, having developed all the fuel, are separated from the ship and parachuted into the ocean. Further, up to a height of 113 km, the "shuttle" rises with the help of three rocket engines. After the separation of the tank, the ship flies for another 90 seconds by inertia and then, on a short time, two orbital maneuvering engines operating on self-igniting fuel are turned on. And the shuttle goes into working orbit. And the tank enters the atmosphere, where it burns. Parts of it fall into the ocean.
Department of solid propellant boosters
Orbital maneuvering engines are designed, as their name implies, for various maneuvers in space: for changing orbital parameters, for mooring to the ISS or other spacecraft in near-Earth orbit. So the "shuttles" visited the Hubble orbital telescope several times for maintenance.
And, finally, these engines serve to create a braking impulse when returning to Earth.
The orbital stage is made according to the aerodynamic scheme of a tailless monoplane with a low-lying delta wing with a double-swept leading edge and with a conventional vertical tail. For control in the atmosphere, a two-section rudder on the keel (here an air brake), elevons on the trailing edge of the wing and a balancing flap under the rear fuselage are used. Chassis retractable, tricycle, with a nose wheel.
Length 37.24 m, wingspan 23.79 m, height 17.27 m. The “dry” weight of the device is about 68 tons, take-off - from 85 to 114 tons (depending on the task and payload), landing with a return load on board - 84.26 tons.
The most important feature of the airframe design is its thermal protection.
In the most heat-stressed places (calculated temperature up to 1430º C), a multilayer carbon-carbon composite was used. There are few such places, these are mainly the nose of the fuselage and the leading edge of the wing. The lower surface of the entire apparatus (heated from 650 to 1260º C) is covered with tiles made of a material based on quartz fiber. The top and side surfaces are partially protected by low-temperature insulation tiles - where the temperature is 315-650º C; in other places where the temperature does not exceed 370º C, felt material covered with silicone rubber is used.
The total weight of the thermal protection of all four types is 7164 kg.
The orbital stage has a two-deck cabin for seven astronauts.
The upper deck of the shuttle cabin
In the case of an extended flight program or when performing rescue operations, up to ten people can be on board the shuttle. In the cockpit - flight controls, work and sleeping places, a kitchen, a pantry, a sanitary compartment, an airlock, operations and payload control posts, and other equipment. The total pressurized cabin volume is 75 cubic meters. m, the life support system maintains a pressure of 760 mm Hg in it. Art. and temperature in the range of 18.3 - 26.6º C.
This system is made in an open version, that is, without the use of air and water regeneration. This choice is due to the fact that the duration of the shuttle flights was set at seven days, with the possibility of bringing it up to 30 days with the use of additional funds. With such a small autonomy, the installation of regeneration equipment would mean an unjustified increase in weight, power consumption and complexity of onboard equipment.
The supply of compressed gases is enough to restore the normal atmosphere in the cabin in the event of one complete depressurization or to maintain a pressure of 42.5 mm Hg in it. Art. within 165 minutes with the formation of a small hole in the body shortly after the start.
Cargo compartment with dimensions of 18.3 x 4.6 m and a volume of 339.8 cubic meters. m is equipped with a "three-knee" manipulator with a length of 15.3 m. When the compartment doors are opened, the radiators of the cooling system are rotated together with them into the working position. The reflectivity of the radiator panels is such that they remain cool even when the sun shines on them.
What can the Space Shuttle do and how does it fly?
If we imagine the assembled system flying horizontally, we see the external fuel tank as its centerpiece; an orbiter is docked to it from above, and accelerators are on the sides. The total length of the system is 56.1 m, and the height is 23.34 m. The overall width is determined by the wingspan of the orbital stage, that is, it is 23.79 m. The maximum launch weight is about 2,041,000 kg.
It is impossible to speak so unambiguously about the value of the payload, since it depends on the parameters of the target orbit and on the launch point of the spacecraft. We present three options. The Space Shuttle system is capable of displaying:
29,500 kg when launched eastward from Cape Canaveral (Florida, East Coast) to an orbit with an altitude of 185 km and an inclination of 28º;
11 300 kg at launch from the Space Flight Center. Kennedy to an orbit with a height of 500 km and an inclination of 55º;
14,500 kg when launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base (California, West Coast) into a subpolar orbit at a height of 185 km.
Two landing strips were equipped for shuttles. If the shuttle landed far from the cosmodrome, it returned home on a Boeing 747
Boeing 747 is carrying a shuttle to the spaceport
In total, five shuttles were built (two of them died in accidents) and one prototype.
During the development, it was envisaged that the shuttles would make 24 launches per year, and each of them would make up to 100 flights into space. In practice, they were used much less - by the end of the program in the summer of 2011, 135 launches were made, of which Discovery - 39, Atlantis - 33, Columbia - 28, Endeavor - 25, Challenger - 10 .
The shuttle crew consists of two astronauts - the commander and the pilot. The largest shuttle crew is eight astronauts (Challenger, 1985).
Soviet reaction to the creation of the "Shuttle"
The development of the "shuttle" made a great impression on the leaders of the USSR. It was believed that the Americans were developing an orbital bomber armed with space-to-earth missiles. The sheer size of the shuttle and its ability to return a payload of up to 14.5 tons to Earth was interpreted as a clear threat of theft of Soviet satellites and even Soviet military space stations of the Almaz type, which flew in space under the name Salyut. These estimates were erroneous, since the United States abandoned the idea of a space bomber back in 1962 in connection with the successful development of the nuclear submarine fleet and ground-based ballistic missiles.
"Soyuz" could easily fit in the cargo compartment of the "Shuttle"
Soviet experts could not understand why 60 shuttle launches a year were needed - one launch per week! Where were the many space satellites and stations for which the "Shuttle" would be needed to come from? The Soviet people, living within a different economic system, could not even imagine that the leadership of NASA, which was pushing hard for a new space program in government and congress, was driven by the fear of being out of a job. The lunar program was nearing completion and thousands of highly qualified specialists were out of work. And, most importantly, before the respected and very well-paid leaders of NASA, there was a disappointing prospect of parting with habitable offices.
Therefore, a business case was prepared on the large financial benefits of reusable transport spacecraft in the event of abandoning disposable rockets. But for the Soviet people it was absolutely incomprehensible that the president and the congress could spend national funds only with great regard for the opinion of their voters. In this connection, the opinion prevailed in the USSR that the Americans were creating a new spacecraft for some future incomprehensible tasks, most likely military ones.
Reusable spacecraft "Buran"
In the Soviet Union, it was originally planned to create an improved copy of the Shuttle - the OS-120 orbital aircraft, weighing 120 tons. (The American shuttle weighed 110 tons when fully loaded). Unlike the Shuttle, it was supposed to equip the Buran with an ejection cabin for two pilots and turbojet engines for landing at the airfield.
The leadership of the armed forces of the USSR insisted on almost complete copying of the "shuttle". By this time, Soviet intelligence had managed to obtain a lot of information on the American spacecraft. But it turned out not to be so simple. Domestic hydrogen-oxygen rocket engines turned out to be larger and heavier than American ones. In addition, they were inferior in power to overseas ones. Therefore, instead of three rocket engines, it was necessary to install four. But on an orbital plane there was simply no room for four sustainer engines.
At the shuttle, 83% of the load at the start was carried by two solid-propellant boosters. The Soviet Union failed to develop such powerful solid-propellant missiles. Missiles of this type were used as ballistic carriers of sea and land-based nuclear charges. But they did not reach the required power very, very much. Therefore, Soviet designers had the only option - to use liquid rockets as boosters. Under the Energia-Buran program, very successful kerosene-oxygen RD-170s were created, which served as an alternative to solid fuel boosters.
The very location of the Baikonur Cosmodrome forced the designers to increase the power of their launch vehicles. It is known that the closer the launch pad is to the equator, the more cargo the same rocket can put into orbit. The American cosmodrome at Cape Canaveral has a 15% advantage over Baikonur! That is, if a rocket launched from Baikonur can lift 100 tons, then when launched from Cape Canaveral, it will put 115 tons into orbit!
Geographical conditions, differences in technology, characteristics of the engines created and a different design approach - had an impact on the appearance of the Buran. Based on all these realities, a new concept was developed and a new orbital ship OK-92, weighing 92 tons. Four oxygen-hydrogen engines were transferred to the central fuel tank and the second stage of the Energia launch vehicle was obtained. Instead of two solid-fuel boosters, it was decided to use four kerosene-oxygen liquid fuel rockets with four-chamber RD-170 engines. Four-chamber - this means with four nozzles. It is extremely difficult to make a large-diameter nozzle. Therefore, designers go to the complication and weighting of the engine by designing it with several smaller nozzles. How many nozzles, so many combustion chambers with a bunch of pipelines for supplying fuel and oxidizer and with all the “chandals”. This bundle is made according to the traditional, "royal" scheme, similar to the "unions" and "easts", became the first step of "Energy".
"Buran" in flight
The Buran cruise ship itself became the third stage of the launch vehicle, like the same Soyuz. The only difference is that the Buran was located on the side of the second stage, and the Soyuz was at the very top of the launch vehicle. Thus, a classic scheme of a three-stage disposable space system was obtained, with the only difference that the orbital ship was reusable.
Reusability was another problem of the Energia-Buran system. The Americans, "shuttles" were designed for 100 flights. For example, orbital maneuvering engines could withstand up to 1000 inclusions. All elements (except the fuel tank) after the prophylaxis were suitable for launching into space.
Solid propellant booster picked up by a special ship
Solid propellant boosters parachuted into the ocean, were picked up by special NASA vessels and delivered to the manufacturer's plant, where they underwent maintenance and were filled with fuel. The Shuttle itself was also thoroughly tested, prevented and repaired.
Minister of Defense Ustinov, in an ultimatum form, demanded that the Energia-Buran system be as reusable as possible. Therefore, the designers were forced to deal with this problem. Formally, the side boosters were considered reusable, suitable for ten launches.. But in fact, it did not come to this for many reasons. Take, for example, the fact that American boosters plopped into the ocean, and Soviet ones fell in the Kazakh steppe, where landing conditions were not as forgiving as warm ocean waters. Yes, and a liquid rocket is a more gentle creation. than solid fuel. "Buran" was also designed for 10 flights.
In general, a reusable system did not work out, although the achievements were obvious. The Soviet orbital ship, freed from large main engines, received more than powerful engines for maneuvering in orbit. Which, in the case of its use as a space "fighter-bomber", gave it great advantages. And plus turbojet engines for flight and landing in the atmosphere. In addition, a powerful rocket was created with the first stage on kerosene fuel, and the second on hydrogen. It was precisely such a rocket that the USSR lacked to win the lunar race. "Energy" in its characteristics was almost equivalent to the American rocket "Saturn-5" sent to the moon "Apollo-11".
"Buran" has a great external resemblance to the American "Shuttle". Korabl poctroen Po cheme camoleta tipa "bechvoctka» c treugolnym krylom peremennoy ctrelovidnocti, imeet aerodinamicheckie organy upravleniya, rabotayuschie at pocadke pocle vozvrascheniya in plotnye cloi atmocfery - wheel napravleniya and elevony. He was able to make a controlled descent in the atmosphere with a lateral maneuver up to 2000 kilometers.
The length of the Buran is 36.4 meters, the wingspan is about 24 meters, the height of the ship on the chassis is more than 16 meters. The launch weight of the ship is more than 100 tons, of which 14 tons are fuel. In nocovoy otcek vctavlena germetichnaya tselnocvarnaya kabina for ekipazha and bolshey chacti apparatury for obecpecheniya poleta in coctave raketno-kocmicheckogo komplekca, avtonomnogo poleta nA orbite, cpucka and pocadki. Cabin volume - more than 70 cubic meters.
When vozvraschenii in plotnye cloi atmocfery naibolee teplonapryazhennye uchactki poverhnocti korablya rackalyayutcya do graducov 1600, zhe teplo, dohodyaschee nepocredctvenno do metallicheckoy konctruktsii korablya, ne dolzhno prevyshat 150 graducov. Therefore, "Buran" was distinguished by powerful thermal protection, providing normal temperature conditions for the design of the ship during the passage of dense layers of the atmosphere during landing.
The heat-shielding coating of more than 38 thousand tiles is made from special materials: quartz fiber, high-temperature organic fibers, partially angled material Ceramic armor has the ability to accumulate heat without letting it through to the ship's hull. The total weight of this armor was about 9 tons.
The length of the cargo compartment "Buran" is about 18 meters. In its vast cargo compartment could accommodate a payload weighing up to 30 tons. It was possible to place large-sized spacecraft there - large satellites, blocks of orbital stations. The landing weight of the ship is 82 tons.
Buran was equipped with all the necessary systems and equipment for both automatic and manned flight. These are means of navigation and control, and radio engineering and television systems, and automatic devices for regulating the thermal regime, and the life support system of the other crew, and men
Cabin Burana
The main propulsion system, two groups of engines for maneuvering are located at the end of the tail section and in the front of the hull.
November 18, 1988 "Buran" went on his flight into space. It was launched using the Energia launch vehicle.
After entering the near-Earth orbit, Buran made 2 orbits around the Earth (in 205 minutes), then began to descend to Baikonur. The landing was made at a special Yubileiny airfield.
The flight took place in automatic mode, there was no crew on board. The flight in orbit and landing were carried out using an on-board computer and special software. The automatic flight mode was the main difference from the Space Shuttle, in which astronauts make manual landings. Buran's flight entered the Guinness Book of Records as unique (no one had previously landed spacecraft in a fully automatic mode).
Automatic landing of a 100-ton hulk is a very complicated thing. We did not make any "iron", only software for the landing mode - from the moment of reaching (when descending) an altitude of 4 km to stopping on the runway. I will try to describe very briefly how this algorithm was made.
First, the theorist writes the algorithm in a high-level language and tests it against test cases. This algorithm, which is written by one person, is "responsible" for some one, relatively small, operation. Then there is a combination into a subsystem, and it is dragged to a modeling stand. In the stand "around" the working, on-board algorithm, there are models - a model of the dynamics of the device, models of executive bodies, sensor systems, etc. They are also written in a high-level language. Thus, the algorithmic subsystem is tested in the “math flight”.
Then the subsystems are brought together and tested again. And then the algorithms are "translated" from the high-level language into the language of the on-board machine (OCVM). To check them, already in the form of an onboard program, there is another modeling stand, which includes an onboard computer. And the same thing is wrapped around her - mathematical models. They are, of course, modified in comparison with the models in a purely mathematical stand. The model is "spinning" in the mainframe general purpose. Don't forget, this was the 1980s, personal computers were just beginning and were very low-powered. It was the time of mainframes, we had a pair of two EC-1061s. And to connect the on-board machine with the mathematical model in a universal computer, special equipment is needed, it is also needed as part of the stand for various tasks.
We called this stand semi-natural - after all, in it, in addition to any mathematics, there was a real on-board computer. It implemented the mode of operation of on-board programs, which is very close to real time. Long to explain, but for the onboard computer it was indistinguishable from the "real" real time.
Someday I'll get together and write how HIL mode works - for this and other cases. In the meantime, I just want to explain the composition of our department - the team that did all this. It had a complex department that dealt with the sensor and actuator systems involved in our programs. There was an algorithmic department - these actually wrote on-board algorithms and worked them out on a mathematical stand. Our department was engaged in a) translating programs into the onboard computer language, b) creating special equipment for a semi-natural test bench (I worked here), and c) programs for this equipment.
Our department even had its own designers to make documentation for the manufacture of our blocks. And there was also a department involved in the operation of the aforementioned EC-1061 twin.
The output product of the department, and hence the entire design bureau within the framework of the “stormy” topic, was a program on magnetic tape (1980s!), Which was taken to work out further.
Next is the stand of the enterprise-developer of the control system. It is clear that the control system aircraft- it's not only BTsVM. This system was made by a much larger enterprise than we are. They were the developers and "owners" of the onboard computer, they stuffed it with a variety of programs that perform the entire range of ship control tasks from pre-launch preparation to post-landing system shutdown. And we, our landing algorithm, in that onboard computer were given only a part of the computer time, in parallel (more precisely, I would say, quasi-parallel) other software systems worked. After all, if we calculate the landing trajectory, this does not mean that we no longer need to stabilize the device, turn on and off all kinds of equipment, maintain thermal conditions, form telemetry, and so on, and so on, and so on ...
However, let's get back to working out the landing mode. After working out in a standard redundant on-board computer as part of the entire set of programs, this set was taken to the stand of the enterprise-developer of the Buran spacecraft. And there was a stand called a full-size stand, in which an entire ship was involved. When the programs were running, he waved the elevons, buzzed with drives, and all that sort of thing. And the signals came from real accelerometers and gyroscopes.
Then I saw enough of all this on the Breeze-M booster, but for now my role was quite modest. I did not travel outside my design bureau ...
So, we passed a full-size stand. Do you think that's it? No.
Next was the flying laboratory. This is the Tu-154, in which the control system is configured so that the aircraft responds to the control actions generated by the on-board computer, as if it were not a Tu-154, but a Buran. Of course, it is possible to quickly "return" to normal mode. Buransky was turned on only for the duration of the experiment.
The crown of the tests were 24 flights of a copy of the Buran, made specifically for this stage. It was called BTS-002, had 4 engines from the same Tu-154 and could take off from the strip itself. He landed in the process of testing, of course, with the engines turned off - after all, "in the state" the spacecraft lands in the planning mode, there are no atmospheric engines on it.
The complexity of this work, or rather, of our software-algorithmic complex, can be illustrated by the following. In one of the flights BTS-002. flew “on the program” until the main landing gear touched the strip. The pilot then took control and lowered the nose strut. Then the program turned on again and led the device to a complete stop.
By the way, this is pretty self-explanatory. While the device is in the air, it has no restrictions on rotation around all three axes. And it rotates, as expected, around the center of mass. Here he touched the strip with the wheels of the main pillars. What's happening? Roll rotation is no longer possible at all. Pitch rotation is no longer around the center of mass, but around an axis passing through the touch points of the wheels, and it is still free. And the rotation along the course is now in a complex way determined by the ratio of the control moment from the rudder and the friction force of the wheels on the strip.
Here is such a difficult mode, so radically different from both the flight and the run along the “three points” lane. 'Cause when the lane goes down and front wheel, then - as in a joke: no one is spinning anywhere ...
In total, it was planned to build 5 orbital ships. In addition to Buran, Burya was almost ready, and almost half of Baikal. Two more ships that are in the initial stage of production have not received names. The Energia-Buran system was not lucky - it was born at an unfortunate time for it. The economy of the USSR was no longer able to finance expensive space programs. And some kind of fate pursued the astronauts who were preparing for flights on the Buran. Test pilots V. Bukreev and A. Lysenko died in plane crashes in 1977, even before they were transferred to the cosmonaut group. In 1980, test pilot O. Kononenko died. 1988 took the lives of A. Levchenko and A. Shchukin. Already after the flight of Buran, R. Stankevicius, the co-pilot for a manned flight of a winged spacecraft, died in a plane crash. I. Volk was appointed the first pilot.
No luck and "Buran". After the first and only successful flight, the ship was stored in a hangar at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. On May 12, 2012, 2002, the ceiling of the workshop in which Buran and the Energia model were located collapsed. On this sad chord, the existence of a winged spaceship that showed such great promise ended.
At approximately equivalent cost of programs, for some reason orbital stage - the spacecraft "Buran" itself had initially declared resource of 10 flights versus 100 for the Shuttle. Why this is so is not even explained. The reasons seem to be very unfavorable. About pride in the fact that "our Buran landed on the machine, but the Pindos couldn't do that" ... And the point of this, moreover, from the first flight, trust primitive automation, risking breaking the fucking expensive apparatus (Shuttle)? The price of the issue of this "fuck" is too high. And further. And why should we take our word for it that the flight is really unmanned? Ah, so we were told.
Ah, the life of an astronaut - above all, you say? Yes, don't tell me.... I think that the Pindos could, but they thought differently. Why do I think that they could - because I know: just in those years they already worked out(they worked out, and not once "flyed") a fully automatic flight of a Boeing-747 (yes, the one to which the Shuttle is fastened in the photo) from Florida, Fort Lauderdale to Alaska to Anchorage, i.e. across the entire continent. Back in 1988 (this is about the alleged suicide bombers who hijacked the 9/11 aircraft. Well, do you understand me?) But in principle, these are difficulties of the same order (land the Shuttle on the machine and take off - set echelon-landing of a heavy B- 747, which, as seen in the photo, is equal to several Shuttles).
The level of our technological lag is well reflected in the photo of the on-board equipment of the cabins of the spacecraft under consideration. Look again and compare. I am writing all this, I repeat: for objectivity, and not because of "crowing before the West", which I have never been sick of ..
As a hot point. Now these are destroyed already hopelessly lagging electronics industries.
What, then, are the vaunted "Topol-M" and so on equipped with? I do not know! And no one knows! But, not their own - this can be said for sure. And all this "not my own" can very well be stuffed (for sure, obviously) with hardware "bookmarks", and at the right time all this will become a dead heap of metal. This, too, was all worked out back in 1991, when Desert Storm, and the Iraqis were remotely turned off their air defense systems. Kind of like French.
Therefore, when I watch another video of "Military Secrets" with Prokopenko, or something else about "getting up from my knees", "analog-shit" in relation to new high-tech prodigies from the field of rocket-space and aviation high-tech, then ... No, not smile, there is nothing to smile here. Alas. Soviet space hopelessly fucked by the assignee. And all these victorious reports - about all sorts of "breakthroughs" - for alternatively gifted quilted jackets
|
MULTIPURPOSE SPACE SYSTEM AS A WHOLE |
|||||
|
ISS launch weight, t |
2380 |
2380 |
2410 |
2380 |
2000 |
|
Total engine thrust at start, tf |
2985 |
2985 |
3720 |
4100 |
2910 |
|
Initial thrust-to-weight ratio |
1,25 |
1,25 |
1,54 |
1,27 |
1,46 |
|
Maximum height at the start, m |
56,0 |
56,0 |
73,58 |
56,1 |
|
|
Maximum transverse dimension, m |
22,0 |
22,0 |
16,57 |
23,8 |
|
|
Time of preparation for the next flight, days |
n/a |
||||
|
Multiple use: Orbital ship I stage central block |
Up to 100 times with replacement of remote control after 50 flights up to 20 times |
up to 100 times up to 20 times 1 (with loss of engines II stage) |
N/A up to 20 times 1 (with remote control II stage) |
100 times with the replacement of the remote control after 50 p-ts up to 20 times |
|
|
Costs for one flight (without depreciation of the orbiter), million rubles (Doll.) |
15,45 |
n/a |
n/a |
$10,5 |
|
|
Start LCI: I stages as part of the launch vehicle 11K77 ("Zenith") Oxygen-hydrogen unit II stages as part of the ISS with a cargo shipping container Autonomous testing of OK in the atmosphere ISS as a whole |
1978 1981 1981 1983-85 |
1978 1981 1981 1983-84 |
1978 1981 1983 |
4 sq. 1977 3 sq. 1979 |
|
|
Development cost, billion rubles (Doll.) |
n/a |
n/a |
$5,5 |
||
|
R a c e t a n o s e l |
|||||
|
Designation |
RLA-130 |
RLA-130 |
RLA-130 |
RLA-130V |
|
|
Components and mass of fuel: I stage (liquid O 2 + kerosene RG-1), t II stage (liquid O 2 + liquid H2), t |
4×330 |
4×330 |
4×310 |
6×250 |
984 (TTU weight) |
|
Booster block sizes: I step, length×diameter, m II step, length×diameter, m |
40.75×3.9 n/a × 8.37 |
40.75×3.9 n/a × 8.37 |
25.705×3.9 37.45×8.37 |
45.5×3.7 n/a × 8.50 |
|
|
Engines: Stage I: LRE (KBEM NPO Energia) Thrust: at sea level, tf In a vacuum, ts In vacuum, sec RDTT (I stage at the "Shuttle"): Thrust, at sea level, tf Specific impulse, at sea level, sec In vacuum, sec II stage: LRE developed by KBHA Thrust, in vacuum, tf Specific impulse, at sea level, sec In vacuum, sec |
RD-123 4×600 4×670 11D122 3×250 |
RD-123 4×600 4×670 11D122 3×250 |
RD-170 4×740 4×806 308,5 336,2 RD-0120 4×190 349,8 |
RD-123 6×600 6×670 11D122 2×250 |
2×1200 SSME 3×213 |
|
Duration of the active site of excretion, sec |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
|
|
Orbital ship |
|||||
|
Orbiter dimensions: Total length, m Maximum hull width, m Wingspan, m Keel height, m Payload compartment dimensions, length×width, m The volume of the pressurized crew cabin, m 3 The volume of the lock chamber, m 3 |
37,5 22,0 17,4 18.5×4.6 n/a |
34,5 22,0 15,8 18.5×4.6 n/a |
34,0 n/a n/a × 5.5 |
37,5 23,8 17,3 18.3×4.55 n/a |
|
|
Launch weight of the ship (with SAS solid propellant rocket engine), t |
155,35 |
116,5 |
n/a |
||
|
Mass of the ship after the separation of the SAS solid propellant rocket engine, t |
119,35 |
||||
|
The mass of the payload launched by the OK into orbit with a height of 200 km and an inclination: I=50.7°, t I=90.0°, t I \u003d 97.0 °, t |
n/a n/a |
26,5 |
|||
|
Maximum payload mass returned from orbit, t |
14,5 |
||||
|
Landing weight of the ship, t |
89,4 |
67-72 |
66,4 |
84 (with a load of 14.5 tons) |
|
|
Landing weight of the ship during an emergency landing, t |
99,7 |
n/a |
n/a |
||
|
Dry mass of the orbiter, t |
79,4 |
68,1 |
|||
|
Stock of fuel and gases, t |
n/a |
10,5 |
12,8 |
||
|
Reserve of characteristic speed, m/s |
|||||
|
Thrust of corrective-braking engines, tf |
n/a |
2x14=28 |
2x8.5=17.0 |
n/a |
|
|
Orientation thrust, tf |
40×0.4 16×0.08 |
in the bow 16×0.4 and 8×0.08 in the tail section 24×0.4 and 8×0.08 |
ahead 18×0.45 rear 16×0.45 |
n/a |
|
|
Time spent in orbit, days |
7-30 |
7-30 |
n/a |
7-30 |
|
|
Lateral maneuver during descent from orbit, km |
± 2200 |
± 2200 (including WFD ± 5100) |
± 800…1800 |
± 2100 |
|
|
Air jet thrust |
D-30KP, 2×12 tf |
AL-31F, 2×12.5 tf |
|||
|
Possibility of landing an orbital ship on the territory of one's own country with Hcr=200km (~ 16 orbits per day): I = 28.5° I = 50.7° I = 97° |
Landing on the launch runway from seven turns, except 6-14 from five turns, except for 2-6,10-15 |
Landing at any airfields of the civil air fleet of the 1st class From all turns except 8.9 from all turns |
Landing on prepared ground special sites Ø 5km From all turns except 8.9 from all turns |
Landing at bases Edwards, Canaveral, Vandenberg from nine turns, except 7-13 from ten turns, except 2-4, 9-12 |
|
|
Required runway length and class |
4 km, special runway |
2.5-3 km, all airfields of the 1st class |
Special site Ø 5km |
4 km, special runway |
|
|
Orbiter landing speed, km/h |
parachute landing |
||||
|
Engines of the emergency rescue system (SAS), type and thrust, tf Fuel mass, t Weight of equipped engine, t Specific Impulse, Ground/Vacuum |
Solid propellant rocket engine, 2×350 2×14 2×18-20 235 / 255 sec |
Solid propellant rocket engine, 1×470 n/a 1×24.5 n/a |
Solid propellant rocket engine, 1×470 n/a 1×24.5 n/d/d |
||
|
Crew, pers. |
|||||
|
Means for transporting the orbiter and flight testing: |
An-124 (project) |
An-22 or autonomously |
An-22, 3M or standalone |
n/a |
Boeing 747 |
|
As a result, a ship was created with unique characteristics, capable of delivering a load of 30 tons into orbit and returning 20 tons to Earth. Having the ability to take on board a crew of 10 people, he could carry out the entire flight in automatic mode. But we will not dwell on the description of Buran, after all, the whole is dedicated to him, something else is more important for us - even before its flight, the designers were already thinking about developing next-generation reusable ships.
"Post-Buranovsky" projects. Multipurpose aerospace system (MAKS)
NPO Energia, using the backlog of the ISS Energia-Buran, also proposed a number of partially or fully reusable rocket and space systems with a vertical launch using the Zenit-2, Energia-M launch vehicles and a reusable winged vertical booster stage. launch on the basis of "Buran". Of greatest interest is the project of a fully reusable launch vehicle GK-175 ("Energy-2") based on the Energia launch vehicle with salvageable winged units of both stages. Also, NPO Energia was working on a promising project of a single-stage aerospace aircraft (VKS). Certainly, But in the history of our astronautics, there were also wingless reusable descent vehicles with a low aerodynamic quality, which were used as part of Since the beginning of 1985, a similar project - the reusable spacecraft Zarya (14F70) - was also developed at NPO Energia for the Zenit-2 rocket. The device consisted of a reusable spacecraft, shaped like an enlarged descent vehicle of the Soyuz spacecraft, and a one-time hinged compartment dropped before leaving orbit. The ship "Zarya" had a diameter of 4.1 m, a length of 5 m, a maximum mass of about 15 tons when launched into a reference orbit with a height of up to 190 km and an inclination of 51.6 0, including the mass of delivered and returned cargo, respectively, 2.5 tons and 1.5-2 tons with a crew of two cosmonauts; 3 tons and 2-2.5 tons when flying without a crew, or a crew of up to eight cosmonauts. The returned ship could be operated for 30-50 flights. Reusability was achieved through the use of "Buranovsky" heat-shielding materials and a new scheme for vertical landing on Earth using reusable rocket engines to dampen vertical and horizontal landing speeds and a honeycomb shock absorber of the ship's hull to prevent damage to it. Distinctive
The logic of the development of manned cosmonautics and the economic realities of Russia set the task of developing a new manned spacecraft - a capacious, inexpensive and efficient vehicle for near space. This was the project of the Clipper spacecraft, which absorbed the experience of designing reusable spacecraft. Let's hope that Russia has enough intelligence (and most importantly, funds!) to implement a new project and "" V. Lebedev;
-
photo report of the BTS-02 GLI analogue aircraft at the MAKS-99 air show; When creating this page, materials were used from the article by S. Alexandrov "Top" in the journal "Technique of Youth", N2 / 1999 pp. 17-19, 24-25 | |||||
disposable spacecraft and orbital stations. The OKB-52 of Vladimir Chelomey achieved the greatest success in creating such manned vehicles. Refusing to participate in the development of Buran, Chelomei began to develop his own winged ship LKS (Light Space Plane) of a "small" dimension with a launch weight of up to 20 tons for his Proton carrier. But the LKS program did not receive support, and OKB-52 continued to develop a three-seat reusable reentry vehicle (VA) for use as part of the 11F72 transport supply ship (TKS) and the Almaz military orbital station (11F71). 
A video published on the YouTube channel Exploring the Unbeaten Path is gaining popularity on the Internet. Its authors, residents of the Netherlands, managed to get into the hangar on the territory of the Baikonur cosmodrome, which houses the Soviet Buran space shuttle.
The fifteen-minute video shows adventurers sneaking into an abandoned hangar and studying a spacecraft that is slowly collapsing. “Our most insane and dangerous adventure,” the creators themselves described the video.
"These hangars belong to no one"
The penetration of the Dutch to the "Buran" is by no means the first such case. In 2015, pictures of this hangar and the apparatus in it were posted on the Web by a user Ralph Mirebs. And in May 2017, a whole group from Russia, Ukraine and Great Britain entered the hangar, which was detained by the cosmodrome security officers.
“It turns out that these hangars do not belong to anyone. They are located, as it were, on the territory of the cosmodrome, but there is nothing secret or important there, the FSB has no interest in these hangars, ”one of the participants in the May penetration, a roofer, wrote on his social network page. Vitaly Raskalov. At the same time, according to him, the active launch sites of the cosmodrome are carefully guarded.
The abandoned hangars at Baikonur are a memory of one of the most ambitious space programs in the USSR.
"Energy - Buran"
The construction of the Soviet reusable spacecraft began back in the seventies, in response to a similar American Space Shuttle program. The ship was supposed to perform tasks both in the peaceful exploration of space and in the framework of military programs.
As part of the project, the most powerful Soviet launch vehicle, called Energiya, was created. The carrier, capable of putting into orbit up to 100, and in the future 200 tons of payload, could lift into space not only a reusable ship, but also heavy space stations. In the future, it was planned to use Energia to prepare an expedition to the moon.
The first launch of the Energia launch vehicle took place in 1987. On November 15, 1988, Energia launched the Buran reusable spacecraft into orbit.
"Buran" in many respects superior to American counterparts. His first flight was fully automatic, including landing.
2 trillion down the drain?
The Energia-Buran program was the largest and most expensive in the history of Russian cosmonautics. At the rate of 2016, its cost is approximately 2 trillion rubles. For the Buran landings, a reinforced runway was specially equipped at the Yubileyny airfield in Baikonur. In addition, two more main reserve landing sites for Buran were seriously reconstructed and fully equipped with the necessary infrastructure - Bagerovo military airfields in the Crimea and Vostochny in Primorye - as well as runways were built or reinforced in 14 more alternate landing sites, including outside the territory THE USSR. An-225 "Mriya" was created especially for transportation from alternate airfields. A special detachment of cosmonauts was trained, who were to pilot the Buran.
According to the plan of the developers, Buran was to carry out another 1-2 flights in automatic mode, after which its operation in a manned version would begin.
but Mikhail Gorbachev considered the project too expensive, and in 1990 ordered the suspension of work on the program. In 1993, after the collapse of the USSR, the Energy-Buran program was completely closed.
"Buran" died, "Storm" and "Baikal" remained
It should be clarified: the ship that adventure lovers penetrate is not Buran.
The real "Buran", flying into space, was completely destroyed on May 12, 2002 during the collapse of the roof of the assembly and test building of the cosmodrome. Under the rubble, 8 workers were killed repairing the roof. The remains of the Buran were cut into pieces by the workers of the cosmodrome and subsequently sold as scrap metal.
The ship, standing in the assembly and refueling building (or on site 112 A), which the bloggers removed, is the so-called “product 1.02”, that is, the second flight copy of the Soviet reusable ship. The “product” also had a proper name: “Storm”.
The fate of the "Storm" is no less sad. The ship was about 95 percent complete and was scheduled to take off in 1992. But the closure of the program put an end to these plans.
The ship has changed ownership several times, and the current owner of the Tempest is unknown. The hangar where it is located is periodically raided by non-ferrous metal hunters.
"Product 2.01" (ship "Baikal") by the time the program was closed, it was about 50 percent ready. Until 2004, the ship was in the workshops of the Tushino Machine-Building Plant, then changed its “registration” several times, in 2011 reaching Zhukovsky near Moscow, where it was supposed to become an exhibit of the air show after reconstruction.
Two more copies, laid down at the plant in Tushino, were dismantled there after the program was closed.
What is at VDNKh?
In addition, within the framework of the Buran program, several mock-ups were created for dynamic, electrical, airfield and other tests. Many people still take these models for real ships.
BTS-002 OK-GLI or "product 0.02", which was used for atmospheric testing and testing in real conditions of the most critical flight sections, after long wanderings around the world in 2008, was purchased by the owner of a private Technical Museum for 10 million euros Herman Lair and is on display in the German city of Speyer.
BTS-001 OK-ML-1 or "product 0.01" after the closure of the program for many years was an attraction in Moscow's Gorky Park. In 2014, he changed his residence permit and was transferred to VDNKh, where he is now.
One of the mock-ups, OK-MT, is the "neighbor" of the "Storm" in the hangar, which bloggers love to penetrate.
Model of the spacecraft "Buran" on the territory of VDNKh. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexey Kudenko
Is there a future for the great past
In 2016, it became known that Roscosmos decided to create a department for reusable launch vehicles at one of the enterprises. Veterans of the Energy-Buran project were brought together to the team of the department. This time, the tasks before the developers are not so ambitious: we are talking about creating a flight model of the returnable first stage of the launch vehicle, which should provide a significant reduction in the cost of domestic space programs.
As for large-scale projects like the Energy-Buran program, they are a matter of the future.
205 minutes of flight of the Buran spacecraft became a deafening sensation. And most importantly - landing. For the first time in the world, a Soviet shuttle landed in automatic mode. The American shuttles never learned this: they landed only in manual mode.
Why was the triumphant start the only one? What has the country lost? And is there any hope that the Russian shuttle will still fly to the stars? On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Buran flight, the RG correspondent talks with one of its creators, in the past - the head of the NPO Energia department, and now - Professor of the Moscow Aviation Institute, Doctor of Technical Sciences Valery Burdakov.
Valery Pavlovich, they say that the Buran spacecraft has become the most complex machine ever created by mankind.
Valery Burdakov: Undoubtedly. Before him, the American Space Shuttle was the leader.
Is it true that "Buran" could fly up to a satellite in space, capture it with a manipulator and send it to its "womb"?
Valery Burdakov: Yes, like the American Space Shuttle. But Buran's capabilities were much wider: both in terms of the mass of cargo delivered to Earth (20-30 tons instead of 14.5), and in terms of their center of gravity ranges. We could de-orbit the Mir station and turn it into a museum piece!
Are the Americans afraid?
Valery Burdakov: Vakhtang Vachnadze, who at one time headed NPO Energia, said: under the SDI program, the United States wanted to send 460 military vehicles into space, at the first stage - about 30. Having learned about the successful flight of Buran, they abandoned this idea.
"Buran" became our answer to the Americans. Why were they convinced we couldn't build anything like a shuttle?
Valery Burdakov: Yes, the Americans seriously made such statements. The fact is that in the mid-1970s, our lagging behind the United States was estimated at 15 years. We did not have enough experience in working with large masses of liquid hydrogen, we did not have reusable liquid rocket engines, winged spacecraft. Not to mention the absence of such an analogue as the X-15 in the United States, as well as the Boeing-747 class aircraft.
And yet Buran turned out to be literally crammed with, as they say today, innovations?
The flight of the Buran spacecraft became a world sensation in 1988. Photo: Igor Kurashov / RG.
Valery Burdakov: Quite right. Unmanned landing, lack of toxic fuel, horizontal flight tests, air transport of rocket tanks on the back of a specially built aircraft ... Everything was super.
Many people remember a stunning photo: the spacecraft "saddled" the Mriya plane. Was the winged giant born precisely under the "Buran"?
Valery Burdakov: And not only Mriya. After all, the huge tanks of the Energia rocket, 8 meters in diameter, had to be delivered to Baikonur. How? We considered several options, and even this one: to dig a canal from the Volga to Baikonur! But they all cost 10 billion rubles, or 17 billion dollars. What to do? There is no such money. There is no time for such construction - more than 10 years.
Our department has prepared a report: transportation should be by air, i.e. airplanes. What started here! .. I was accused of fantasy. But Myasishchev's 3M-T plane (later named after him VM-T), the Ruslan plane, and the Mriya plane, for which we together with the representative of the Air Force made technical specifications, took off.
And why were there so many opponents of Buran even among the designers? Feoktistov said bluntly: reusability is just another bluff, and Academician Mishin even called Buran nothing more than Buryan.
Valery Burdakov: They were undeservedly offended by being removed from the reusable topics.
Who was the first to think about the project of the orbital ship of the aircraft scheme and aircraft landing capabilities on the runway?
Valery Burdakov: Queens! Here is what I heard from Sergei Pavlovich himself. In 1929, he is 23 years old and already a famous soaring glider pilot. Korolev hatched the idea: to lift the glider 6 km, and then, with a pressurized cabin, into the stratosphere. He decided to go to Kaluga to Tsiolkovsky in order to sign a letter on the expediency of such a high-altitude flight.
Tsiolkovsky signed?
Valery Burdakov: No. He criticized the idea. He said that without a liquid-propellant rocket engine, a glider at high altitude would be uncontrollable and, having accelerated during a fall, would break. He gave me the book "Space Rocket Trains" and advised me to think about using liquid propellant rocket engines for flights not into the stratosphere, but even higher, into "ethereal space."
I wonder how Korolev reacted?
Valery Burdakov: He did not hide his annoyance. He even refused an autograph! Even though I read the book. Korolev's friend, aircraft designer Oleg Antonov, told me how at the glider rallies in Koktebel after 1929, many whispered: did Seryoga stagger in his mind? Like, he flies on a tailless glider and says that it is best suited for installing a rocket engine on it. He knocked out the pilot Anokhin on purpose to break the glider in the air during the "flutter test" ...
Did Korolev himself design some kind of heavy-duty glider?
Valery Burdakov: Yes, Red Star. Pilot Stepanchenok for the first time in the world made several "dead loops" on this glider. And the glider didn't break! Curious fact. When the first five cosmonauts entered the Zhukovsky Academy, they were offered diploma topics on the Vostok spacecraft. But Korolev categorically objected: "Only an orbital ship of an aircraft scheme! This is our future! Let them understand what's what using the example of a small space ship with wings."
And what kind of incident happened then with German Titov?
Valery Burdakov: He naively thought that he really understood everything, and asked the Queen to accept him. “We,” he says, “fly on bad ships. Large overloads, when descending, it shakes like on a cobblestone pavement. We need a ship of an aircraft scheme, and we have already designed it!” Korolev smiled: "Have you already received an engineering degree?" "Not yet," Herman replied. "That's when you get it, then come - we'll talk on an equal footing."
When did you start doing Buran?
Valery Burdakov: Back in 1962, with the support of Sergei Pavlovich, I received my first copyright certificate for a reusable space carrier. When the hype around the American shuttle arose, the question of whether or not we should do the same with us has not yet been resolved. However, the so-called "service N 16" in NPO "Energia" under the leadership of Igor Sadovsky was formed in 1974. There were two design departments in it - mine for aircraft affairs and Efrem Dubinsky - for the carrier.
Assembling the model of the Buran ship for the MAKS-2011 air show in Zhukovsky. Photo: RIA Novosti www.ria.ru
We were engaged in translations, scientific analysis, editing and publication of "primers" on the shuttle. And they themselves, without much fuss, developed their own version of the ship and the carrier for it.
But after all, Glushko, who, after the removal of Mishin, headed Energia, also did not support reusable topics?
Valery Burdakov: He kept repeating everywhere that he would not engage in the shuttle. Therefore, when Glushko was once summoned to the Central Committee to see Ustinov, he did not go himself. Sent me. There was a flurry of questions: why do we need a reusable space system, what it can be, and so on. After this visit, I signed with Glushko the Technical Information - the main provisions on the topic "Buran". Ustinov prepared a decision as soon as possible, which was approved by Brezhnev. But it took dozens more meetings with swearing and accusations of incompetence until a consensus was reached.
And what was the position of your main aviation subcontractor - the chief designer of NPO Molniya Gleb Evgenievich Lozino-Lozinsky?
Valery Burdakov: Unlike Aviation Minister Dementiev, Lozino-Lozinsky was always on our side, even though at first he offered his own options. The man was wise. Here, for example, is how he put an end to talk about the impossibility of an unmanned landing. He told the managers that he would not contact them anymore, but would ask them to make an automatic landing system ... pioneers from the Tushino airfield, since he had repeatedly observed the accuracy with which their radio-controlled models land. And the incident was settled to the displeasure of his superiors.
The astronauts were also unhappy. They thought that Dementiev's position would prevail. They wrote a letter to the Central Committee: they do not need an automatic landing, they want to control the Buran themselves.
They say that Buran got its name just before the start?
Valery Burdakov: Yes. Glushko suggested calling the ship "Energy", Lozino-Lozinsky - "Lightning". There was a consensus - "Baikal". And "Buran" was suggested by General Kerimov. The inscription was barely scraped off before the start and a new one was applied.
The accuracy of the Buran landing struck everyone on the spot...
Valery Burdakov: When the ship had already appeared from behind the clouds, one of the chiefs, as if delirious, repeated: "It will crash right now, it will crash right now!" True, he used a different word. Everyone gasped when the Buran began to turn across the runway. But in fact, this maneuver was incorporated into the program. But that chief of this nuance, apparently, did not know or forgot. The ship was right on the runway. Lateral deviation from the center line - only 3 meters! This is the highest precision. 205 minutes of Buran's flight, like all flights of aircraft with oversized cargo, passed without a single comment to the designers.
What did you feel after such a triumph?
Valery Burdakov: This is beyond words. But ahead of us was waiting for another "sensation": a successful innovative project was closed. 15 billion rubles - were spent in vain.
Will the scientific and technical backlog of Buran ever be used?
Valery Burdakov:"Buran", like the shuttle, was unprofitable to use because of the expensive and clumsy launch system. But unique technical solutions can be developed in Buran-M. The new, modified with the latest achievements, the ship can become a very fast, reliable and convenient means for intercontinental aerospace transportation of goods, just passengers and tourists. But for this it is necessary to create a reusable single-stage all-azimuth environmentally friendly carrier MOVEN. It will replace the Soyuz rocket. Moreover, it will not need such a cumbersome launch, so it will be able to launch from the Vostochny cosmodrome.
Backlogs on "Buran" have not disappeared. Automatic aircraft landing gave life to fifth-generation fighters and numerous drones. It's just that we, as it was with the artificial satellite of the Earth, were the first.
You worked for Korolev in the 3rd department, which determines the prospects for the development of astronautics. What are the prospects for the current cosmonautics?
Valery Burdakov: The era of nuclear and solar energy is coming to replace hydrocarbon energy, which is unthinkable without the widespread use of a wide variety of space facilities. To create space solar power plants that supply energy to terrestrial consumers, carriers for a payload of 250 tons will be required. They will be created on the basis of MOVEN. And if we talk about cosmonautics as a whole, then it will provide for all the needs of mankind, and not just information, as it is now.
by the way
In total, five flight copies of the Buran spacecraft were built.
Ship 1.01 "Buran" - made the only flight. It was stored in the assembly and test building at Baikonur. In May 2002, it was destroyed in a roof collapse.
Ship 1.02 - was supposed to make a second flight and dock with the Mir orbital station. Now an exhibit of the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum.
Ship 2.01 - was ready for 30 - 50%. He was at the Tushino Machine-Building Plant, then at the pier of the Khimki Reservoir. In 2011, it was transported for restoration to the LII in Zhukovsky.
Ship 2.02 - was ready for 10 - 20%. Dismantled on the stocks of the plant.
Ship 2.03 - the backlog was destroyed and taken to a landfill.
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