Dnepr

Function	Orbital carrier rocket
Manufacturer	Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (design) Yuzhmash (manufacturing) Khartron (control system)
Country of origin	Soviet Union (original build), Ukraine (commercial launches after 1999)
Cost per launch	US$29 million
Size
Height	34.3 m (113 ft)
Diameter	3 m (9.8 ft)
Mass	211,000 kg (465,000 lb)
Stages	3
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass	4,500 kilograms (9,900 lb)
Payload to the ISS
Mass	3,200 kilograms (7,100 lb)
Payload to SSO
Mass	2,300 kilograms (5,100 lb)
Payload to TLI
Mass	550 kilograms (1,210 lb) (with ST-1)
Associated rockets
Based on	R-36M
Launch history
Status	Retired[1]
Launch sites	Site 109/95, Baikonur LC-13, Yasny
Total launches	22
Success(es)	21
Failure(s)	1
First flight	21 April 1999
Last flight	25 March 2015
First stage
Powered by	1 RD-264 module (four RD-263 engines)
Maximum thrust	4,520 kN (1,020,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	318 s (3.12 km/s)
Burn time	130 seconds
Propellant	N2O4 / UDMH
Second stage
Powered by	1 RD-0255 module (one RD-0256 main engine and one RD-0257 vernier)
Maximum thrust	755 kN (170,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	340 s (3.3 km/s)
Burn time	190 seconds
Propellant	N2O4 / UDMH
Third stage
Powered by	1 RD-864
Maximum thrust	20.2 kN (4,500 lbf)
Specific impulse	309 s (3.03 km/s)
Burn time	1,000 seconds
Propellant	N2O4 / UDMH

The Dnepr rocket (Russian: Днепр, romanized: Dnepr; Ukrainian: Дніпро, romanized: Dnipró) was a space launch vehicle named after the Dnieper River. It was a converted ICBM used for launching artificial satellites into orbit, operated by launch service provider ISC Kosmotras. The first launch, on April 21, 1999, successfully placed UoSAT-12, a 350 kg demonstration mini-satellite, into a 650 km circular Low Earth orbit.^[2][3]

History

The Dnepr was based on the R-36MUTTH Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) – called the SS-18 Satan by NATO – designed in the 1970s by the Yuzhnoe Design Bureau in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR.

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 The launch vehicles used for satellite launches have been withdrawn from ballistic missile service with the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces and stored for commercial use.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

In February 2015, following a year of strained relations including the Euromaidan and the Russo-Ukrainian war, Russia announced that it would sever its "joint program with Ukraine to launch Dnepr rockets and [was] no longer interested in buying Ukrainian Zenit boosters, deepening problems for [Ukraine's] space program and its struggling Yuzhmash factory."^[4] However ISC Kosmotras reported that they would continue to fulfill their obligations for three Dnepr launches in 2015,^[5] of which only one took place.^[6]

By the end of 2016, no further launch had materialized and the remaining customers had switched to alternative launch providers.^[7][8][9][1]

Business magnate Elon Musk tried to purchase refurbished Dnepr rockets for a low price from Russia but returned empty-handed after failing to find any that were affordable. This led him to the creation of a successful private rocket launch company called SpaceX.^[10][11]

Performance

The Dnepr launch vehicle had only a small number of modifications compared to the R-36M ICBM in service. The main difference was the payload adapter located in the space head module and modified flight-control unit. This baseline version could lift 3,600 kg into a 300 km low Earth orbit at an inclination of 50.6°, or 2,300 kg to a 300 km Sun-synchronous orbit at an inclination of 98.0°. On a typical mission the Dnepr deployed a larger main payload and a secondary payload of Miniaturized satellites and CubeSats.

Launch history

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

The Dnepr has at two points held the record for the most satellites orbited in a single launch; the April 2007 launch with 14 payloads held the record until 20 November 2013, when an American Minotaur I placed 29 satellites and two experiment packages into orbit.^[12] The next day a Dnepr re-took the record, placing 32 satellites and an experiment package bolted to the upper stage into low Earth orbit.^[13] This record was broken by an Antares launch in January 2014 which carried 34 spacecraft.

See also

• Comparison of orbital launchers families
• Dnipro (anti-air missile)
• Minotaur (rocket family), US launch vehicles made from converted ICBMs

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dnepr (rocket).

• "Kosmotras launch service provider".
• "DNEPR User's guide" (PDF). MIT. November 2001.
• "Astronautix entry - R-36M2". Archived from the original on 2006-07-11.
• "Space Calendar (JPL)". NASA.
• "Riding the strangest rocket in the world". BBC. March 2010.