Energy is a Soviet super-heavy launch vehicle. It was one of the three most powerful rockets of the same class ever built - Saturn V, as well as the ill-fated N-1 rocket, which it was supposed to replace. Another main purpose of the rocket was to put into orbit the Soviet space shuttle, which distinguished it from the American, taking off with its own engines, powered by a large external fuel tank. Although in 1987-1988, Energia traveled to space twice, after that launches were no longer carried out, despite the fact that in the Soviet Union it was to become the main means of delivering goods into orbit of the 21st century.
Lunar bridgehead
After Valentin Glushko headed the TsKBEM (former OKB-1), replacing the disgraced Vasily Mishin, he worked for 20 months to create a lunar base based on a modification of the Proton rocket designed by Vladimir Chelomey, which used Glushko’s self-igniting engines.
By the beginning of 1976, however, the Soviet leadership had decided to stop the lunar program and focus on the Soviet reusable spacecraft, since the American shuttle was seen as a military threat from the United States. Although ultimately the Buran will be very similar to its competitor, Glushko made one significant change that allowed him to maintain his lunar program.
Soviet shuttle
In the American shuttle Space Shuttle, two solid rocket boosters accelerated the ship to a height of 46 km for two minutes. After their separation, the ship used engines located in its aft. In other words, the shuttle, at least partially, had its own rocket launcher, and the large external fuel tank to which it was attached was not a rocket. It was only intended to transport fuel for the main engines of the space shuttle.
Glushko decided to build a Buran without any engines at all. It was a glider designed to return to Earth, which was launched into orbit by engines that looked like an American shuttle's fuel tank. In fact, it was an Energy booster. In other words, the chief designer of the Soviet Union hid a Saturn V-class booster module in the space shuttle system, which could potentially become the basis for his beloved lunar base.
Third generation
What is an Energy booster? Its development began when Glushko headed the Central Design Bureau (in fact, the name “Energy” was used in the name of the recently reorganized department of NGOs long before the creation of the rocket) and brought with it a new design of the rocket aircraft. In the early 1970s, the Soviet Union had at least three missiles - modifications N-1 – R-7, Cyclone and Proton. All of them were structurally different from each other, so the cost of their maintenance was relatively high. For the third generation of Soviet spacecraft, it was necessary to create light, medium, heavy and superheavy launch vehicles, consisting of one common set of components, and Glushko’s radar was suitable for this role.
The RLA series was lost to the Zeniths of the Yangel Design Bureau, but this bureau did not have heavy launch vehicles, which made it possible to promote Energia. Glushko took his design of the RLA-135, which consisted of a large main overclocking module and detachable accelerators, and again offered it along with the modular Zenith version as accelerators and the main new rocket developed at his bureau. The proposal was accepted - this is how the Energia launch vehicle was born.
Korolev was right
But Glushko had to take another blow to his pride. For many years, the Soviet space program was inhibited for the reason that he did not agree with Sergei Korolev, who believed that liquid oxygen and hydrogen were the best fuels for a large rocket. Therefore, in N-1 there were engines built by a much less experienced designer Nikolai Kuznetsov, and Glushko focused on nitric acid and dimethylhydrazine.
Although this fuel had advantages such as density and storage, it was less energy intensive and more toxic, which was a big problem in the event of an accident. In addition, the Soviet leadership was interested in catching up with the United States - the USSR did not have large engines using liquid oxygen and hydrogen, while in the second and third stages of Saturn V they were used, as well as in the main engine Space shuttle". Partly voluntarily, partly due to this political pressure, but Glushko had to yield in his dispute with Korolev, who had been dead for eight years.
10 years of development
Over the next ten years (this is a long, but not too long: it took seven years to develop Saturn V) NPO Energia developed a massive main stage. The side boosters were relatively lighter, smaller, and used liquid oxygen and kerosene engines, which the USSR had great experience in creating, so the entire rocket was ready for its first flight in October 1986.
Unfortunately, there was no payload for her. Although some problems arose during the development of Energy, the situation with the Shuttle Shuttle was much worse - it was not even close to completion. Up to this point, the name “Energy” has been used for a launch vehicle and a space plane. Here the Glushko trick came in handy. The missile did not have to wait until the other half was ready. In the last year of its creation, it was decided to launch without the “Buran”.
"Pole" arms race
Between the fall of 1985 and the fall of 1986, a new Pole payload was created. It was one of the functional cargo blocks of Vladimir Chelomey, redesigned from the space station module and closely connected with the ISS Zarya module. The Pole was intended for a wide range of experiments, but its main task was to test a 1-MW carbon dioxide laser, a weapon that had been developed in the USSR since 1983. In fact, everything was not as sinister as it seems, since the USSR criticized the United States for its strategic defense initiative, and Mikhail Gorbachev did not want to risk the fact that the Americans could learn about the military confrontation. The Reykjavik summit ended in October 1986 and the countries were close to a radical reduction in nuclear weapons, and in December 1987 they were about to conclude an agreement on the reduction of medium-range missiles. Various laser components were deliberately not used, there was only the opportunity to track targets, and even Gorbachev forbade testing, visiting Baikonur a few days before the start. However, the visit of Gorbachev led to the appearance of the formal name of the rocket (in contrast to the proposed shuttle): the inscription "Energy" appeared on its body shortly before the arrival of the General Secretary.
Program error
The first launch of the Energia launch vehicle took place on May 15, 1987. During the first few seconds of the flight, before the ship left the launch pad, it bent over noticeably, but then itself adjusted its position after launching the rocket orientation control system. After that, the Energy flew beautifully, accompanied by a single MiG, and quickly disappeared into low clouds. The accelerators separated correctly (although for this and the next flight they were not equipped with parachutes that would allow their reuse), and then the main stage left the visibility zone. After burning out, the launch vehicle separated from the Pole and, as planned, fell into the Pacific Ocean.
The Pole weighed 80 tons, and in order to reach orbit, it had to start its own rocket engine. To do this, it was necessary to complete a revolution of 180 degrees, but due to a program error after launch, the module continued to rotate, and, instead of moving to a higher orbit, it sank lower. The cargo module also crashed in the Pacific.
Success?
Although the launch failed, the rocket itself was a complete success. Work on the Buran continued, and the mostly completed shuttle (ready to fly, but capable of generating enough power for only one day in orbit) was connected to a second missile to launch an unmanned mission on November 15, 1988. Once again, the Energia launch vehicle was launched flawlessly (with a change in the software that prevented a dangerous tilt during launch), and this time its payload also failed: the Buran landed automatically on Baikonur, making two turns around the earth, three hours and twenty-five minutes later.
Thus, by the beginning of 1989, the Soviet Union had the most powerful missile, still not surpassed by anyone. It could launch a shuttle with a payload similar to that of American orbital vehicles, and by itself it could put 88 tons of cargo into low Earth orbit or deliver 32 tons to the Moon (compared to 118 tons and 45 tons for Saturn V and 92, 7 t and 23.5 t at H-1). It was planned to further increase this figure to 100 tons, and work was underway to create a special cargo compartment instead of the adapted Pole. A smaller version of the rocket, called "Energy-M", with one engine and two accelerators, was also in the final stages of development, and was able to display payloads weighing up to 34 tons.
Expensive pleasure
The collapse of the Soviet Union was the main reason for the failure of the project. He was just starting to get on his feet, but the need to protect the security interests of the superpower disappeared, as did the money needed for large-scale scientific missions. Another problem was that Zenit boosters were manufactured by a company located in independent Ukraine.
True, even before that, the Energia launch vehicle had become little in demand - if there was no need to fly to the moon, then lifting 100 tons of cargo into orbit was unnecessary. The shuttles, for which it was primarily developed, had the same drawbacks as the American shuttles, but the rocket did not have the advantage of a monopoly position, as it was in the USA before the Challenger explosion in 1986.
Scream of despair
The despair of NPO Energia can be traced to the missions proposed by it:
- Introducing massive lasers into orbit to restore the ozone layer over several decades.
- Construction of a base on the moon for the extraction of helium-3, used in thermonuclear reactors developed by an international consortium, which will be ready by 2050.
- Launch of spent nuclear fuel in the "burial grounds" in heliocentric orbit.
In the end, it came to the question of what the rocket was capable of, which smaller, cheaper spaceships could not do - each launch of Energia cost $ 240 million, even with an overvalued ruble against the dollar in the late 80s. If launches were made only when necessary, the maintenance of a rocket factory would be a luxury that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia could afford.
Pyrrhic victory
If we agree with the theory that the Soviet Union collapsed primarily because of financial difficulties, then we can also reasonably say that Energia-Buran was one of the main reasons for this collapse. This project was an example of uncontrolled expenses that destroyed the USSR, and the condition for its continued existence was to refrain from implementing such projects.
On the other hand, it can reasonably be argued that the greatest damage to the superpower was caused by Mikhail Gorbachev’s reaction to the financial situation of the country, and the USSR could have survived to this day if the Politburo followed someone else headed by Konstantin Chernenko .
Possible perspectives
Apart from the fantastic ideas mentioned above, Energia could be used to put into orbit one or more large modules of the space station, which would then be completed by modules displayed using the Energy-Buran combination: at the end of 1991, the station “ Mir-2 ”was reconstructed using 30-ton modules.
It was also possible to build a smaller shuttle, which would not be located on the side, but in front of the rocket.
Glushko’s bet that the Soviet space program, as happened earlier, will go through an era of change, turned out to be true. Although it is more efficient to develop spacecraft and launch vehicles for a specific mission, history shows that after their creation new ways of using them arise. Glushko died on January 10, 1989, less than two months after the second and last flight of Energia.
The Zenith of Glory
To date, "Energy" has no successors. The Zeniths used as its accelerators are the cheapest carrier rockets in the world ($ 2,500–3,600 per kilogram). In 2010, NPO Energia bought out a stake in the Sea Launch consortium and is now responsible for launches from the ocean platform, as well as from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The RD-170 engine, designed for Zenith and Energy, also proved to be one of the best rocket engines. Its modifications include the South Korean Naro-1, the Russian Angara launch vehicle and the American Atlas V, which were not only used to carry out scientific tasks, such as the delivery of the Curiosity rover and the launch of the New Horizons probe to Pluto but also by the US military. That is the difference between 1988 and today.