Zenit Launch Vehicle

Zenit Launch Vehicle is an expendable rocket manufactured in Ukraine by NPO Yuznoye. It was derived from the Energia Launch Vehicles strap-ons. It is currently in use at Baikonour Cosmodrome and is also utilized by the Sea Launch consortium.

Specifications:

The rocket engines for both stage 1 and 2 were developed by NPO Energomash.

Stage 1:

This first stage uses the four-chamber RD-171 rocket engine which utilizes kerosene and liquid oxygen as propellants.

Stage 2:

The second stage is uses a single RD-120 engine which also utilizes kerosene and liquid oxygen as propellants. From Baikonur the two stage Zenit is able to deliver about 15-ton payload into the low orbit.

Stage 3: Sea Launch (Zenit 3SL).

A three stage Zenit is used to launch satellites from the Sea Launch Platform. The third stage uses the RD-58 (11D-58) rocket engine.

History:

Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Dnipropetrovsk began development in December 1974. On March 16, 1976, the Soviet government issued an official decree to develop a two-stage vehicle 11K77, which later became known as Zenit-2. The first stage of the Zenit Rocket was used as strap-on boosters for the now abandoned Energia launch vehicle.

Developing the four-chamber RD-171 rocket engine was challenging. It had of 804,000 kg for the first stage. It took about 15 years and 900 firing tests for NPO Energomash in Moscow to develop this ecologically clean propulsion unit. Between 1981-1983 after a chain of failures during bench test of RD-171, it was proposed to equip Zenit with a cluster of four NK-33 engines developed in the '60s for N-1 Moon rocket. The idea was abandoned after Energomash was eventually able to eliminate high frequency pressure oscillations plaguing RD-171.

Transport Machine Building Design Bureau in Moscow developed highly-automated launch complex for the booster. Officially, Zenit can be readied for launch in unprecedented 21 hours on the pad. The vehicle itself can be assembled in 10 work days. The first launch complex for Zenit was built in the eastern "wing" of the Baikonur space port. It includes an assembly building for horizontal integration of the vehicle, railway lines leading to two launch pads, transporter-erector moving Zenit into vertical position on the launch pad, and movable service tower for vertical preparation of the launcher on the pad. Since the '80s the second launch complex for Zenit has been under construction in Plesetsk with the first launch targeted for 1996 as of spring 1993. However, economic problems in the former Soviet Union have repeatedly delayed this date.

The Zenit Rocket is the second most powerful booster among serially produced Russian launchers today.

Reference and links:

http://www.russianspace.com/zenit.html

Zenit Rocket - Ukraine and Space Transportation Systems

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