Energia (rocket)

Energia
Энергия
Energia perspective free render with multiple angles and human (1.76 m) for scale.
FunctionHuman-rated multi-purpose super heavy-lift launch vehicle
ManufacturerNPO "Energia"
Country of originSoviet Union
Size
Height58.765 m (192.80 ft)[1]
Diameter17.65 m (57.9 ft)[1]
Mass2,400,000 kg (5,300,000 lb)
Stages2
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass100,000 kg (220,000 lb)[2]
Payload to GSO
Mass20,000 kg (44,000 lb)[2]
Payload to TLI
Mass32,000 kg (71,000 lb)[2]
Launch history
StatusRetired
Launch sitesBaikonur
Total launches2
Success(es)2
Failure(s)0
First flight15 May 1987
Last flight15 November 1988
Boosters – Zenit
No. boosters4
Height39.46 m (129.5 ft)[1]
Diameter3.92 m (12.9 ft)[1]
Powered by1 RD-170
Maximum thrust29,000 kN (6,500,000 lbf) sea level
32,000 kN (7,200,000 lbf) vacuum
Specific impulse309 s (3.03 km/s) at sea level
338 s (3.31 km/s) in vacuum
Burn time156 s
PropellantRP-1/LOX
Core stage
Height58.765 m (192.80 ft)[1]
Diameter7.75 m (25.4 ft)[1]
Powered by4 RD-0120
Maximum thrust5,800 kN (1,300,000 lbf) sea level
7,500 kN (1,700,000 lbf) vacuum
Specific impulse359 s (3.52 km/s) at sea level
454 s (4.45 km/s) in vacuum
Burn time480–500 s
PropellantLH2/LOX

Energia (Russian: Энергия, romanizedEnergiya, lit.'Energy'; GRAU 11K25) was a 1980s super-heavy lift launch vehicle. It was designed by NPO Energia of the Soviet Union as part of the Buran program for a variety of payloads including the Buran spacecraft. Control system main developer enterprise was the Khartron NPO "Electropribor".[3][4] The Energia used four strap-on boosters each powered by a four-chamber RD-170 engine burning kerosene/LOX, and a central core stage with four single-chamber RD-0120 (11D122) engines fueled by liquid hydrogen/LOX.[5]

The launch vehicle had two functionally different operational variants: Energia-Polyus, the initial test configuration, in which the Polyus system was used as a final stage intended to put the payload into orbit, and Energia-Buran,[6] in which the Buran orbiter was the payload and the source of the orbit insertion impulse.

The launch vehicle had the capacity to place about 100 tonnes in Low Earth orbit, up to 20 tonnes to geostationary orbit and up to 32 tonnes by translunar trajectory into lunar orbit.[2]

The launch vehicle made just two flights before being discontinued.[7][6] Since 2016, there have been attempts to revive the launch vehicle, reusing an updated version of its booster engine in the Soyuz-5 rocket.

  1. ^ a b c d e f Energia Characteristics
  2. ^ a b c d Launch vehicle "Energia" Official Site
  3. ^ Krivonosov, Khartron: Computers for rocket guidance systems
  4. ^ Control systems for intercontinental ballistic missiles and launch vehicles Archived 2010-02-05 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Russian Space Web, Energia page. Accessed 21 September 2010
  6. ^ a b Bart Hendrickx; Bert Vis (2007). Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-0-387-73984-7.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference JBIS-2002 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).