Rokot

Not to be confused with Rokot Airport.
Rockot (Rokot)
Function Orbital carrier rocket
Manufacturer Eurockot Launch Services
Country of origin Soviet Union
Size
Height 29 metres (95 ft)
Diameter 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in)
Mass 107,000 kilograms (236,000 lb)
Stages 3
Capacity
Payload to LEO 1,950 kilograms (4,300 lb)
Payload to SSO 1,200 kilograms (2,600 lb)
Launch history
Status Active
Launch sites Baikonur 175/1 (inactive)
Plesetsk 133/3
Total launches 30
Successes 27
Failures 2
Partial failures 1
First flight 20 November 1990
26 December 1994 (orbital)
First stage
Diameter 2.5 m (8.2 ft)[1]
Engines 3 RD-0233 (15D95)
1 RD-0234(15D96)[2][3]
Thrust 2,080 kN (470,000 lbf)[4][5]
Specific impulse 310s[4]
Burn time 120 seconds
Fuel N2O4/UDMH
Second stage
Diameter 2.5 m (8.2 ft)[1]
Engines 1 RD-0235 (15D113)
1 RD-0236 (15D114)[2][3]
Thrust 255.76 kN (57,500 lbf)[6][7]
Specific impulse 310s[6]
Burn time 180 seconds
Fuel N2O4/UDMH
Third stage - Briz-KM
Engines 1 S5.98M
Thrust 19.6 kilonewtons (4,400 lbf)
Specific impulse 325 sec
Burn time 3,000 seconds
Fuel N2O4/UDMH

The Rokot (Russian: Рокот meaning Rumble), also transliterated Rockot, is a Russian space launch vehicle that can launch a payload of 1,950 kilograms into a 200 kilometre high Earth orbit with 63° inclination. It is a derivative of the UR-100N (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), supplied and operated by Eurockot Launch Services. The first launches started in the 1990s from Baikonur Cosmodrome out of a silo. Later commercial launches commenced from Plesetsk Cosmodrome using a launch ramp specially rebuilt from one for the Kosmos-3M rocket. The cost of the launcher itself was about 15 million in 1999;[8][9] Eurockot contract with ESA for launching Swarm in September 2013 was worth €27.1 million ($36 million).[10]

Specifications

Rokot's total mass is 107 tonnes, its length 29 metres and its maximum diameter 2.5 metres. The liquid-fueled rocket comprises three stages. The lower two are based on the Soviet UR-100N ICBM; the first stage uses an RD-0244 engine, while the second stage uses an RD-0235. The third stage is a Briz-KM (Russian: Бриз-КМ meaning Breeze-KM), which has a mass of about 6 tonnes when fuelled, and is capable of flying for 7 hours and reigniting its engine six times during flight, allowing different satellites to be placed into different orbits. All stages use UDMH (unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine) as fuel and dinitrogen tetroxide as oxidiser. The Strela is a similar rocket, also based on the SS-19.[8]

History

The first suborbital test launch succeeded on 20 November 1990 in Baikonur Cosmodrome. On 26 December 1994 Rokot brought its first satellite into Earth orbit. In 1995, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center formed a company with German DaimlerBenz Aerospace to market Rokot launches for commercial use. Later, the company was renamed to Eurockot Launch Services. Eurockot bought 45 Rokots from the Russian strategic missile forces to build its inventory. In 2000, Eurokot was partly bought by the German company Astrium GmbH, a shareholder of Arianespace. Astrium now holds 51% of Eurockot's shares, while Khrunichev holds 49%.[8]

Although there are several silos in Baikonour capable of launching Rokots, it was decided to build an open, non-siloed launch pad at Plesetsk Cosmodrome instead. This is because of concerns that the amount of noise generated during a silo-based launch would damage satellites. In the new pad, Rokot is wheeled up to the structure in a vertical position, and then embraced by its launch tower. The payload is lifted by a crane and placed on top of the bottom two stages. The procedure is in contrast to other Russian launchers, which had traditionally been assembled horizontally and then transferred to the launch site via railways. The first launch from Plesetsk took place on 16 May 2000.[8]

After 6 entirely successful launches, a launch failure occurred on 8 October 2005, leading to the loss of the European Space Agency's CryoSat spacecraft. The launch vehicle 2nd stage main engine was not shut down properly, resulting in a catastrophic failure and automatic termination of the launch mission by the on-board computer. The payload was lost. After the failed CryoSat launch, all Rokot launches were suspended until the failure was identified. The root cause was unambiguously identified; it was a failure in programming of the Briz-KM (which was contracted to the company JSC "Khartron"). The failure of this high-profile mission led to major reforms in Khrunichev: the director of the company Alexander Medvedev was dismissed, new launch procedures were introduced, the lines of management were straightened out to catch errors and the new Khrunichev chief, Viktor Nesterov, was required to report directly to the head of the Russian Space Agency, Anatoli Perminov.[8] Corrective measures for Rokot's return-to-flight were implemented for the South Korean Kompsat-2 earth observation satellite launch which took place successfully on 28 July 2006. The Korean side reportedly praised the level of service they received, encouraging the Rokot team to rebuild its order book.[8]

Another launch failure occurred in February 2011, when a Briz-KM malfunction[11] resulted in the Geo-IK-2 No.11 satellite being placed into a lower orbit than planned.

Launch table

Date (UTC) Type Launch site Payload Payload type Notes
20 November 1990, 04:00 Rokot/Briz-K Ba LC131  – experimental payload Suborbital, success
20 December 1991, 21:31 Rokot/Briz-K Ba LC175/1  – experimental payload Suborbital, success
26 December 1994, 03:01 Rokot/Briz-K Ba LC175/1 Radio-ROSTO Amateur radio satellite success, first orbital mission
22 December 1999 Rokot/Briz-K Pl LC133 RSVN-40 experimental payload no launch, rocket irreparably damaged during preparation
16 May 2000, 08:27 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133 SimSat-1 and 2 Iridium-mock-ups success
17 March 2002, 09:21 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133 GRACE-1 and 2 research satellite success
20 June 2002, 09:33 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133 Iridium-97 and 98 communication satellites success
30 June 2003, 14:15 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133 MIMOSA, DTUsat, MOST, Cute-I, QuakeSat, AAU CubeSat, CanX-1, Cubesat XI-IV, Monitor-E mockup NLS satellites and Monitor-E-Mockup success
30 October 2003, 13:43 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133 SERVIS-1 Japanese test satellite success
26 August 2005, 18:34 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133 Monitor-E1 earth observation satellite success
8 October 2005, 15:02 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133 CryoSat earth observation satellite failure, launch terminated after 2nd stage main engine was not shut down correctly, resulting in an explosion, causing the vehicle to exceed its flight envelope limit and thereby causing the automatic termination of the launch and the re-entry of the combined Rokot 2nd stage/3rd stage/CryoSat spacecraft stack
28 July 2006, 07:05 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 KOMPSAT 2 earth observation satellite success
23 May 2008, 15:20 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Kosmos 2437
Kosmos 2438
Kosmos 2439
(3X Strela-3)
Yubileiny[12] 		Communications and amateur radio satellites success
17 March 2009, 14:21 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 GOCE[13] ESA earth observation satellite success
6 July 2009, 01:26 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Kosmos 2451
Kosmos 2452
Kosmos 2453
(3X Strela-3) 		Communications satellites success
2 November 2009, 01:50 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 SMOS, PROBA-2[14] SMOS: ESA earth-observation satellite; PROBA-2: sun-observation satellite testing a new spacecraft platform success
2 June 2010, 01:59 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 SERVIS-2 Japanese test satellite success
8 September 2010, 03:30 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Gonets-M-2
Kosmos 2467
Kosmos 2468
(2X Strela-3) 		Communications satellites success
1 February 2011, 14:00 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Geo-IK-2 No.11 Geodesy satellite failure, upper stage malfunction,[11] reached lower orbit than planned.
28 July 2012, 01:35 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Gonets-M-3
Gonets-M-4
Kosmos 2481 (Strela-3)
MiR 		Communications and amateur radio satellites success
15 January 2013, 16:25 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Kosmos 2482
Kosmos 2483
Kosmos 2484
(3X Strela-3M) 		Communications satellites partial success, Briz-KM failed around the time of spacecraft separation, resulting in the loss of one satellite
11 September 2013, 23:23 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Gonets-M-5
Gonets-M-6
Gonets-M-7 		Communications satellites success
22 November 2013, 12:02 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Swarm A/B/C Magnetosphere research satellites success
25 December 2013, 00:31 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Kosmos 2488
Kosmos 2489
Kosmos 2490
(3X Strela-3M) 		Communications satellites success
23 May 2014, 05:27 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Kosmos 2496
Kosmos 2497
Kosmos 2498
(3X Strela-3M) 		Communications satellites success
3 July 2014, 12:43 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Gonets-M-8
Gonets-M-9
Gonets-M-10 		Communications satellites success
31 March 2015, 13:47 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Gonets-M-11
Gonets-M-12
Gonets-M-13 		Communications satellites success
23 September 2015, 22:00 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Kosmos 2507
Kosmos 2508
Kosmos 2509
(3X Strela-3M)[15] 		Communications satellites success
16 February 2016, 17:57 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Sentinel-3A[16] ESA earth observation satellite success
4 June 2016, 14:00 Rokot/Briz-KM Pl LC133/3 Kosmos 2517 (Geo-IK-2 No.12) Geodesy satellite success[17]

Planned launches

Date (UTC) Type Launch site Payload Payload type Notes
Early 2017 Rokot / Briz-KM Plesetsk Site 133/3 Sentinel-5 Precursor Earth observation satellite
April 2017 Rokot / Briz-KM Plesetsk Site 133/3 Sentinel-2B Earth observation satellite

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Zak, Anatoly. "UR-100N Family". RussianSpaceWeb.com. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
  2. 1 2 "RD-0233, RD-0234, RD-0235, RD-0236, RD-0237. Intercontinental ballistic missiles RS-18". KBKhA. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
  3. 1 2 "Rockot Launch Vehicle". Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
  4. 1 2 "RD-0233". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
  5. ↑ "RD-0234". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
  6. 1 2 "RD-0235". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
  7. ↑ "RD-0236". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2015-06-19.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Harvey, Brian (2007). "Launchers and engines". The Rebirth of the Russian Space Program (1st ed.). Germany: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-71354-0.
  9. ↑ "Rokot". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  10. ↑ Stephen Clark (12 September 2013). "Rockot launch clears way for long-delayed ESA mission". SpaceFlightNow.com. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  11. 1 2 Военный спутник, запущенный на "Рокоте", скорее всего, утрачен (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 1 February 2011. Archived from the original on 1 February 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  12. ↑ "Russia launches relay craft, commemorative satellite". Spaceflight Now.
  13. ↑ "ESA launches Earth Explorer mission GOCE". ESA. 17 March 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  14. ↑ Eurockot Launch Service Provider
  15. ↑ "Russia's Rokot launches with three Rodnik satellites". Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  16. ↑ "Third Sentinel satellite launched for Copernicus". ESA. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  17. ↑ Graham, William; Bergin, Chris (4 June 2016). "Russian Rokot launches Geo-IK-2 – annoys environmentalists". NASASpaceflight.com.
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