Energia

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(Redirected from Energiya)

The Energia (or Energiya, Энергия in Russian, meaning Energy) rocket was a Soviet rocket that was designed by NPO Energia to serve as a heavy-lift expendable launch system as well as a booster for the Buran Space Shuttle. It had the capacity to place around 100 metric tons in Low Earth orbit (LEO), although it could have been (but never was) upgraded for heavier payloads comparable to (or even greater than) the LEO capacity of the Saturn V. It was first test-launched in 1987 with the Polyus spacecraft (UKSS military payload), where the Energia itself functioned well, but the Polyus failed to reach orbit due to a malfunction of its own attitude control system after separation from Energia. The only other flight to orbit has been the successful mission in which the unmanned Buran orbiter (space shuttle) was brought to orbit, in 1988. Both the Energia and Buran programs were designed as part of the backbone itself of the maintenance of strategic parity between the two superpowers.

Work on the Energia/Buran system began in 1976 after the decision was made to cancel the unsuccessful N1 rocket. The cancelled N1 rocket-based Manned Lunar Launch Facilities and Infrastructure were used for Energia (notably the huge horizontal assembly building). Energia also replaced the "Vulkan" concept, which was a design based on the Proton rocket and using the same toxic hypergolic fuels, but much larger and more powerful.

Three major variants were planned after the original configuration, each with vastly different payloads. The Energia M was the smallest design configuration. The number of Zenit boosters was reduced from four to two, and instead of four RD-0120 engines in the core, it had only one. It was designed to replace the Proton rocket, but lost the 1993 competition to the Angara rocket. The Energia-2 was designed to be completely reusable. While the Zenit boosters were always designed to be reused, the core would be expended in each launch. With the Energia-2, the core would be capable of re-entering and gliding to a landing, presumably using technology developed for the Buran. The final unflown configuration was also the largest. With eight Zenit booster rockets and an Energia-M core as an upper stage, the "Vulkan" (which was interestingly the same name of another Soviet heavy lift rocket that was cancelled years earlier) or "Hercules" configuration could have launched a stunning 175 tonnes into orbit.

The Energia rocket only flew twice, the first on May 15 1987, with the Polyus military payload, and the second on November 15 1988, with the Buran Shuttle. Production of Energia rockets ended with the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Buran shuttle project. Ever since, there have been persistent rumors of the renewal of production, but given the current market realities, that is highly unlikely.

1 Comparisons between Energia and Saturn V
2 Present status
3 See also
4 External links

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Comparisons between Energia and Saturn V

There is much debate in the space enthusiast community about which was the better or more powerful booster, the Energia or the Saturn V. In its most powerful configuration, the Energia was equipped with eight Zenit strap-on boosters and a high energy H2 upper stage; this configuration exceeded the LEO payload capability (175 metric tons vs. 120 metric tons) of the Saturn V, although it never flew. In the configuration it did fly in (four Zenit strap-ons, single core) the Energia LEO payload was only 80 metric tons, though this is still far and away the only vehicle comparable to the Saturn V to have also actually successfully launched. Both vehicles had a reliability of 100%, though the Energia only flew twice.

It is assumable that if the eight Zenit heavy lift booster Energia had flown, it would have worked perfectly. When considering “what ifs” of that nature, it would have also been interesting to see how good the Saturn V would have become over time with additions such as uprated F1A and J2S engines. Indeed, the Energia perhaps never would have happened at all had not the USA abandoned the Saturn to pursue the STS system, given the reactionary behavior of the Soviet regime in response which led to the Energia/Buran in the first place

One thing is quite beyond speculation however; the Energia and Saturn V vehicles are easily the most powerful and reliable large boosters that ever successfully flew. In all categories: takeoff thrust, launch mass, payload mass, etc. the Saturn V and the Energia are at the top of the list in some order, and every other launch system (with the possible exception of the STS) being a distant third. Had either launch system been maintained in production and had the space agencies enough money to pay for these launchers, the modern state of human affairs in space could be considerably different. It is interesting to note that both vehicles were developed using tremendous resources and effort to make them as good as they were, only to be abandoned shortly after the considerable capital investment made in them. This makes the Energia and Saturn V co-title holders in a more ignominious category: The most expensive and impressive vehicles to have been abandoned so rapidly after proving they worked so well.

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Present status

The grounding of the US space shuttles has caused many to wonder aloud whether or not the Russian Energia launcher or Buran shuttle could have been brought back into service. However, the reality of the situation is that all the equipment for Energia and Buran, including the vehicles themselves, have either rotted away or been repurposed since falling into disuse with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Energia lives on, in a sense. The four strap-on liquid-fuel boosters, which burned kerosene and liquid oxygen, were the basis of the Zenit rocket which used the same engines. The engine is the RD-170: a powerful, modern, and efficient design. It is still used on the Baikonur-launched Zenit and on the Sea Launch floating launch platform system, which is built around the Zenit. A half sized derivative of the engine, the RD-180, powers Lockheed Martin's Atlas V, one of the two new U.S. EELV rockets (the other being the Boeing Delta IV).

The company S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia is still in business.

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