Cosmos-3M

Cosmos-1 (65С3)

The creation of a middle-class launch vehicle became necessary after the 63C1 lightweight launch vehicle (then not yet known as the Cosmos) was added to the Voskhod heavy carrier (at that time). The development of the carrier, as in the case of the 63С1 rocket, was entrusted to engineers of the OKB-586 (now the GKB Yuzhnoye ). The preliminary design of the carrier, which received the internal index of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau 65С3 , for launching small and medium spacecraft weighing from 100 to 1500 kg into circular (altitude from 200 km to 2000 km) and elliptical orbits was developed by April 1961 on the basis of a single-stage ballistic missile medium range R-14 (8K65) and approved by the Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 984-425 of October 30, 1961 and the Commission of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of July 12, 1962 .

OKB-586 developed and issued design documentation for the rocket until the fall of 1962. Then, in connection with the workload (this happened on the eve of the Caribbean crisis ) on the creation of R-36 and R-56 missiles, and since this work fell out of the main direction of the enterprise’s activities (creation of ballistic combat missiles), the general designer of OKB-586 Mikhail Yangel proposed to transfer the production of 65С3 rocket to OKB-10 (now OJSC "Information Satellite Systems" ) under the leadership of Mikhail Reshetnev . The first 14 carriers were manufactured at a pilot production with the participation of Krasmashzavod . In 1966, their manufacture was completely transferred to Krasmashzavod, and since 1971 the production of rockets was transferred to PO Polet (Omsk) ^[1] .

In total, 8 launches of the Cosmos launch vehicle were completed, one of which was unsuccessful.

Cosmos-3 (11K65)

The development of the third generation missile system was carried out in two stages. On the first, the 11K65 Cosmos-3 carrier was created. On the second - 11K65M Cosmos-3M.

Design documentation for the new 11K65 product was released by OKB-10 in 1962. Flight design tests were started on August 18, 1964 with launcher No. 15 of platform No. 41 of the 5th NIIP ( Baikonur ) with an adapted launch (developer - KB NKMZ ). The experimental development and manufacture of 10 flight rockets that received the 11K65 index (Cosmos-3 LV) was carried out jointly with OKB-10 with the main role of OKB-586. As part of the 11K65 project, the 8D514 engine for the R-14 rocket was modified and received the 11D614 index. The production of the 11D614 engine was carried out at the Yuzhmash plant ( Dnepropetrovsk , Ukraine). At the second stage of the carrier was installed multifunctional rocket engine 11D47 developed by OKB-2 , tested at Krasmash.

The transformation of a military missile into a launch vehicle was carried out by installing a newly developed second stage on a partially modified first stage. The steps are connected in series through a cylindrical transition compartment. The fuel compartment of the second stage is a single one with an intermediate bottom dividing it into the Oxidizer and Fuel cavities. The engine of the II stage is attached directly to the lower conical bottom of the fuel compartment. The instrument compartment is located above the fuel compartment. A frame for a payload and a head fairing discharged at an altitude of 75 km are supported on it ^[3] .

For the first time in the USSR, OKB-10 engineers proposed an original technical solution that allowed launching satellites into circular orbits by introducing a “dotted” section of a stabilized flight. To implement the idea, a two-pulse scheme for turning on the marching engine of the second stage was adopted: the first pulse forms an elliptical trajectory, at the apogee of which, by the second inclusion, the device is transferred into a circular orbit. The three-mode engine (two starts at nominal thrust and throttle operation) 11D49 was developed at OKB-2 (now MKB Fakel) , and it was manufactured at Krasmash, which produced LRE up to 1992. OKB-10 developed a low-thrust system that ensured a stable flight between two marching rocket engines. The fuel for this system was located in two special tanks suspended on the outer surface of the main tank of the second stage. The operation order of the engine of the second stage looked like this:

1. the main one . In this mode, the engine in flight can work twice. When the satellite enters a high circular orbit, the first engine start forms the trajectory of the intermediate orbit at the apogee. The second inclusion of the engine transfers the second stage of the rocket from the satellite to a circular orbit.
2. mode of operation of steering cameras . Used to stabilize the flight of a rocket before, during and after engine operation in the first mode.
3. low traction mode . It is used to orient the rocket and create minor accelerations, providing the ability to restart the engine to the main mode.

For the first time, electronic control and solving devices have been used in the LV control system, which provide a more accurate launch of the spacecraft into predetermined orbits [~ 40 km in altitude, ~ 30 s in the orbital period]. The launch vehicle could launch up to eight spacecraft at a time.

In total, from 1966 to 1968, 6 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome were carried out, 2 of which were unsuccessful. In particular, the Vertical Space Probe was successfully launched ^[4] .

In parallel with 11K65, PO Flight (Omsk) was developing design documentation for a modernized version of the carrier. The missile received the index 11K65M ("Cosmos-3M") . On May 15, 1967, the RN 11K65M, successfully launched from launch vehicle No. 2 of platform No. 132 of the 53rd NIIP ( Plesetsk ), launched the Cosmos-158 satellite into orbit. In 1968, the documentation and copyright for 11K65M rocket production were transferred to Polet software, which immediately began mass production of the rocket. Normal operation has been carried out since 1970 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome. The launch on January 26, 1973 from launcher No. 1 of platform No. 107 was the first launch of the 11K65M rocket from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome, where a stationary launch with mobile service towers developed by KBTM (SC Voskhod) was built. By Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 949-321 dated December 30, 1971, the 11K65M launch vehicle was adopted as part of the Voskhod special-purpose space complex. In 1972, the development of 11K65M was awarded the USSR State Prize in the field of science and technology.

Cosmos-3M (index 11K65M) is one of the most commonly used launch vehicles for launching Russian military satellites. This versatile lightweight liquid rocket is designed to launch automatic spacecraft for various purposes weighing up to 1,500 kg into circular, elliptical and sun-synchronous orbits up to 1,700 km high. The length of the rocket is 32.4 meters, the diameter is 2.5 meters, and the launch weight is 109,000 kg.

The first stage of this launch vehicle is equipped with an 11D614 (RD-216M) mid-flight engine, consisting of two 11D613 (RD-215M) two twin-chamber liquid-propellant rocket engines. The length of the first stage is 22.48 m, the diameter is 2.5 m, the mass without fuel is 5340 kg, and the starting mass is 86 500 kg. II stage is equipped with a liquid rocket engine 11D49 . The length of the step is 4.2 m, the diameter is 2.5 m, the mass without fuel is 1720 kg, the starting weight is 18 900 kg. The spacecraft are launched by the Cosmos-3M launch vehicle from the Plesetsk cosmodrome and the Kapustin Yar test site. On both its stages, open-cycle marching liquid propellant rocket engines (LREs) with a turbopump supply of long-term self-igniting fuel (oxidizer - 27% solution of nitrogen tetroxide in nitric acid ( AK-27I ), fuel - asymmetric dimethylhydrazine ( NDMH )) are installed . The control system is inertial. Management at the site of the first stage of the launch vehicle is carried out with the help of four graphite gas rudders, at the site of the work of the second stage with the help of four small thrust engines having autonomous tanks with a fuel displacement system ^[3] .

The Cosmos-3M launch vehicle (the name Cosmos-3M was first announced in April 1994) is by far the only Cosmos rocket family that is currently used to launch spacecraft. The last launch of the Cosmos-3M rocket took place on April 27, 2010 , when the rocket launched the Russian military satellite Cosmos-2463 into orbit. The production of Cosmos-3M launch vehicles operating on toxic fuel in Russia was discontinued. It is planned that the stock of these carriers, which is about ten units, will be used until 2012.

Up to this day ^{[ when? ]} more than 420 launches of the Cosmos-3M LV were carried out. Of these, 397 were successful, 5 partially successful, 4 emergency launches with the launch of the spacecraft into orbit, and 18 emergency launches. More than 400 spacecraft for various purposes were launched: the Nadezhda series, the COSPAS-SARSAT international rescue system, geodetic, navigation-connected and other military spacecraft, Indian satellites Aryabhata, Bhaskara and Bhaskara 2, the French spacecraft Signe-3, Swedish Astrid and Astrid 2, American FAISat and FAISat-2V, Mexican Unamsat-2, Italian MegSat-0 and MITA, German Tubsat B, Abrixas and CHAMP, British SNAP-1, Chinese Tsing Hua 1.

On September 11, 2007, the Cosmos-3M launch vehicle was launched, which delivered the Russian Cosmos-2429 military satellite into orbit.

March 27, 2008 at 20:15 Moscow time, from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome , the Space Forces and representatives of the Russian space industry launched the Cosmos-3M launch vehicle with the SAR-Lupe spacecraft launched into orbit. ^[5]

On April 27, 2010 at 05:05 Moscow time, the Cosmos-3M rocket launched the Cosmos-2463 military satellite into orbit from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome .

The final launch date for the Cosmos-3M LV is 2013 , after which the two remaining LVs will be disposed of ^[6] .

Launch vehicle “Cosmos” is mounted on a pedestal:

• in Omsk, as a monument in honor of the 70th anniversary of the founding of PO Polet;
• in Krasnoyarsk on Kotelnikov Square in front of the Siberian State Aerospace University .
• in the Leningrad Region at the training center of the A. F. Mozhaisky Military Space Academy

• Space (booster)
• Cosmos-2 (launch vehicle)

• Website Flight, Omsk
• Site of JSC "ISS" named after Academician M. F. Reshetnev ", Zheleznogorsk
• Cosmos-3M

• Rockets and spacecrafts of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau / A. N. Mashchenko, V. N. Pappo-Korystin, V. A. Pashchenko, etc. Under the general editorship of the General Designer S. N. Konyukhov. - Dnepropetrovsk: State Clinical Hospital "South" them. M.K. Yangelya, 2000. - ISBN 966-7482-00-6
• The Arms of Russia Catalog, Volume IV. Armament and rocket technology of the Strategic Missile Forces / V. Ageykin, Yu. Antipov, Yu. Babushkin and others. Under the general editorship of Army General Igor Sergeyev. - M.: Military Parade CJSC, 1997. - ISBN 5-7734-0002-2