Dnepr (rocket)

File:Dnepr 2013.ogv

The Dnepr was based on the R-36MUTTH Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM){{spaced ndash}}called the SS-18 Satan by NATO{{spaced ndash}}designed in the 1970s by the Yuzhnoe Design Bureau in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR. among the outstanding authors of the project there are people like Boris Gubanov, Sergey Sopov.{{Cite web |last=Казанский национальный исследовательский технический университет имени А. Н. Туполева - КАИ |first=Казанский национальный исследовательский технический университет имени А. Н. Туполева - КАИ |date=2024-04-02 |title=Первый заместитель генерального конструктора Научно-производственного объединения "Энергия", ведущий конструктор ракетно-космического комплекса "Энергия-Буран" |url=https://kai.ru/web/en/boris-ivanovich-gubanov |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=kai.ru}}

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 The launch vehicles used for satellite launches have been withdrawn from ballistic missile service with the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces and stored for commercial use.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."{{cite news |last1=Messier |first1=Doug |title=Russia Severing Ties With Ukraine on Dnepr, Zenit Launch Programs |url=http://www.parabolicarc.com/2015/02/06/russia-severing-ties-ukraine-dnepr-zenit-launch-programs/ |access-date=8 February 2015 |work=Parabolic Arc |date=6 February 2015 |archive-date=15 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215052356/http://www.parabolicarc.com/2015/02/06/russia-severing-ties-ukraine-dnepr-zenit-launch-programs/ |url-status=dead }} However ISC Kosmotras reported that they would continue to fulfill their obligations for three Dnepr launches in 2015,

{{cite news |last1=Clark|first1=Stephen |title=Customers assured of Dnepr rocket's near-term availability |url=http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/02/06/customers-assured-of-dnepr-rockets-nearterm-availability/ |access-date=8 February 2015 |work=Spaceflight Now |date=6 February 2015 }} of which only one took place.{{cite web |last1=McDowell |first1=Jonathan |title=General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects - R-36 |url=https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/data/launch/R-36.html |website=planet4589.org |access-date=18 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418115205/https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/data/launch/R-36.html |archive-date=18 April 2022 |date=18 April 2022 |url-status=live}}

By the end of 2016, no further launch had materialized and the remaining customers had switched to alternative launch providers.{{cite web |url=http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/iridium-next.htm |title=Iridium-NEXT |work=Gunter's Space Page |first=Gunter |last=Krebs |access-date=30 December 2016 |quote= Kosmotras has received a contract to provide supplemental launch services on Dnepr launch vehicles. Dnepr can carry two satellites on each launch. One Dnepr launch, carrying the first two satellites, was planned, but it was delayed and finally canceled due to bureaucratic hurdles.}}{{cite web |url=http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/grace-fo.htm |title= GRACE-FO |work=Gunter's Space Page |first=Gunter |last=Krebs |access-date=30 December 2016 |quote= Originally a launch on a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur in 2017 was planned, but with Dnepr becoming unavailable, the launch was switched to a Falcon-9 v1.2 subcontracted from Iridium, flying together with five Iridium-NEXT satellites in December 2017.}}{{cite web |url=http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/paz.htm |title=Paz |work=Gunter's Space Page |first=Gunter |last=Krebs |access-date=30 December 2016 |quote= Originally Kosmotras was contracted to provide the Dnepr launch vehicle for a launch from Dombarovsky (Yasny) in 2015. After an 18 months delay, Hisdesat canceled the launch contract in July 2016. Launch on a not yet disclosed vehicle is planned for 2017.}}

ISC Kosmotras proposed using a Dnepr rocket to launch a modified version of the Soyuz spacecraft with no orbital module and reduced service module, intended as a recoverable microgravity laboratory or an emergency vehicle for cosmonaut rescue.{{cite web |url=https://danielmarin.naukas.com/2010/07/01/una-soyuz-en-un-misil/ |title= Una Soyuz en un misil |access-date=22 February 2025}}{{Better source needed|date=February 2025}}

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 now known as SpaceX.{{Cite web|date=2017-02-23|title=Is SpaceX Changing the Rocket Equation? {{!}} Space {{!}} Air & Space Magazine|url=http://www.airspacemag.com/space/is-spacex-changing-the-rocket-equation-132285884/?no-ist|access-date=2022-01-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223105751/http://www.airspacemag.com/space/is-spacex-changing-the-rocket-equation-132285884/?no-ist|archive-date=2017-02-23}}{{Cite news|title=Elon Musk's Space Dream Almost Killed Tesla |date=14 May 2015 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-elon-musk-spacex/|access-date=2022-01-07|work=Bloomberg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326155146/https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-elon-musk-spacex/ | archive-date=2022-03-26 |url-status=live |first1=Ashlee |last1=Vance |author-link=Ashlee Vance }}

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.

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/11/orbital-minotaur-1-multitude-payloads/|title=Orbital's Minotaur I successfully lofts multitude of payloads|first=William|last=Graham|publisher=NASASpaceflight.com|date=20 November 2013|access-date=22 November 2013}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/11/russian-dnepr-record-breaking-32-satellite-haul/|title=Russian Dnepr conducts record-breaking 32 satellite haul|first=William|last=Graham|publisher=NASASpaceflight.com|date=21 November 2013|access-date=22 November 2013}} This record was broken by an Antares launch in January 2014 which carried 34 spacecraft.

|-

| 20{{cite web |url=http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/06/russian-dnepr-rocket-record-launch-37-satellites/ |title=Russian Dnepr rocket lofts record haul of 37 satellites

|author=Stephen Clark |website=Spaceflight Now |date=19 June 2014

|access-date=19 June 2014}} || June 19, 2014
19:11 || {{hlist |style=font-size:90%;

| Deimos-2

| KazEOSat 2

| UniSat 6

| SaudiSat-4

| AprizeSat-9/10

| Hodoyoshi 3 / Hodoyoshi 4

| BRITE CA-1/2

| TabletSat-Aurora

| BugSat 1

| Perseus-M 1/2

| QB50 P1/P2

| NanoSatC-Br 1

| DTUSat 2

| POPSAT-HIP 1

| PolyITAN 1

| PACE

| Duchifat-1

| Flock-1c 1-11

| AeroCube 6

| Lemur-1

| ANTELSAT

| Tigrisat

}} || LEO || Yasny

|-

| 21{{cite web |url=http://spaceflightnow.com/2014/11/06/japanese-satellites-launched-on-sovietera-missile/ |title=Japanese satellites launched on Soviet-era missile

|date=6 November 2014 |author=Stephen Clark |website=Spaceflight Now |access-date=7 November 2014}} || November 6, 2014
07:35 || {{hlist |style=font-size:90%;

| ASNARO 1

| Hodoyoshi 1

| ChubuSat 1

| TSUBAME

| QSAT-EOS

}} || LEO || Yasny

|-

| 22{{cite web |url=http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/03/russias-dnepr-rocket-kompsat-3a-mission/|title=Russia's Dnepr rocket launches Kompsat-3A mission |author= William Graham and Chris Bergin |publisher= NASASpaceflight.com|date=2015-03-25}} || March 25, 2015
22:08 || KOMPSat-3A || LEO || Yasny

|}

The committee investigating the failed launch on July 26, 2006, concluded that the failure was caused by a malfunctioning of the pumping hydraulic drive of combustion chamber #4. The control malfunctioning brought about the disturbances, which led to the roll instability, excessive dispersions of the yaw and pitch angles. Thrust termination occurred at 74 seconds after lift-off. The crash site was located 150 km from the launch pad in an unpopulated area of Kazakhstan. Toxic propellants polluted the crash site, forcing Russia to pay US$1.1m in compensation.{{cite web|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/03/news/AS_GEN_Kazakhstan_Russia_Space.php|title=Russia to pay Kazakhstan over US$1 million in compensation for damage from rocket crash|publisher=International Herald Tribune|date=2006-10-03}} The rocket used for this launch was more than twenty years old. Procedures for launch have been changed to prevent future malfunctions of this kind.

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

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• {{cite web|url=http://www.kosmotras.ru/|title=Kosmotras launch service provider}}
• {{cite web|url=http://snebulos.mit.edu/projects/reference/launch_vehicles/DNEPR/Dnepr_User_Guide.pdf|title=DNEPR User's guide|publisher=MIT|date=November 2001}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/r36m2.htm|title=Astronautix entry - R-36M2|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060711163222/http://astronautix.com/lvs/r36m2.htm|archive-date=2006-07-11}}
• {{cite web|url=http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/calendar/|title=Space Calendar (JPL)|publisher=NASA}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/legacy/thereporters/jonathanamos/2010/03/riding-the-strangest-rocket-in.shtml?postid=93817103|title=Riding the strangest rocket in the world|publisher=BBC|date=March 2010}}

{{Russian launch vehicles}}

{{Ukrainian launch vehicles}}

{{Orbital launch systems}}

Category:Yuzhmash space launch vehicles