The Tsyklon (Ukrainian :Циклон,"Cyclone",also known as Tsiklon),GRAU index 11K67,was a Soviet-designed expendable launch system,primarily used to put Kosmos satellites into low Earth orbit in the late-1960s. It is based on the R-36 intercontinental ballistic missile designed by Mikhail Yangel and made eight launches,with seven successes and one failure. All of its launches were conducted from LC-90 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It is sometimes designated Tsyklon-2A,not to be confused with the later Tsyklon-2 rocket. It was introduced in 1967 and was derived from the R-36 ICBM (NATO designation SS-9 Scarp). It was retired in 1969.
It made its maiden flight on 27 October 1967. The booster's design was kept secret and no images or film clips of the complete vehicle were released to the public until after the collapse of the Soviet Union,in part because of being used exclusively for military payloads and also because it was derived from an actively serving missile system. After 1991,the plant where the R-36/Tsyklon were manufactured ended up in newly independent Ukraine.
Tsyklon was designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and manufactured by Yuzhmash (both in Dnipropetrovsk,Ukraine). Control system was designed at NPO "Electropribor" [1] (Kharkiv,Ukraine). The last flown derivative,the Tsyklon-3 was retired in January 2009. [2] Another derivative,the Tsyklon-4,continued to be developed after the retirement of Tsyklon-3,but the Tsyklon-4 project was cancelled in 2015 due to financial concerns. Tsyklon-4 never reached launch pad. However,yet another derivative,the Cyclone-4M,a development of Tsyklon-4,continued to be developed and is still currently (2021) under development.
Two rockets were derived from the Tsyklon:the Tsyklon-2 and Tsyklon-3,known respectively as the SL-11 and SL-14 by the United States DoD. [3]
The two stage Tsyklon-2 was first launched 6 August 1977 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Tsyklon-2 was 39.7 metres (130 ft) long with a fueled mass of 182 tonnes. The Tsyklon-2 made its final flight in 2006. [2]
The Tsyklon-3,which featured a restartable third stage,first launched on 24 June 1977 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The Tsyklon-3 is 39.27 metres (128.8 ft) long with a fueled mass of 186 to 190 tonnes. It was partially the result of an effort to reduce the number of Soviet launch vehicles in use,replacing the small R-12 derived Kosmos booster and some R-7 variants.
On 27 December 2000,a Tsyklon-3 failed in its attempt to carry six Russian satellites into orbit,plummeting to the earth. An electrical failure in the rocket's third stage was the suspected cause.
The Tsyklon-3 was retired after launching the Koronas-Foton satellite on 30 January 2009. [2]
The Tsyklon-4 was under development as an evolution of the Tsyklon-3,but was eventually abandoned due to economic and market concerns. A derivative,the Cyclone-4M,is under development as of 2019 [update] for Canadian service provider Maritime Launch Services;however the Cyclone-4M does not share any booster stage derived from the original Tsyklon series. [4]
Proton is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965. Modern versions of the launch system are still in use as of 2023,making it one of the most successful heavy boosters in the history of spaceflight. The components of all Protons are manufactured in the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center factory in Moscow and Chemical Automatics Design Bureau in Voronezh,then transported to the Baikonur Cosmodrome,where they are assembled at Site 91 to form the launch vehicle. Following payload integration,the rocket is then brought to the launch pad horizontally by rail,and raised into vertical position for launch.
The R-7 Semyorka,officially the GRAU index 8K71,was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War,and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961. A derivative,the R-7A,was operational from 1960 to 1968. To the West it was unknown until its launch. In modified form,it launched Sputnik 1,the first artificial satellite,into orbit,and became the basis for the R-7 family which includes Sputnik,Luna,Molniya,Vostok,and Voskhod space launchers,as well as later Soyuz variants. Various modifications are still in use and it has become the world's most reliable space launcher.
The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur,it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian crewed spaceflights are launched from Baikonur.
Plesetsk Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny,Arkhangelsk Oblast,about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk. As of 2024,it is Europe's only operational orbital spaceport and the northernmost spaceport in the world. Originally developed as an ICBM site for the R-7 missile,it has also served for numerous satellite launches using the R-7 and other rockets. Its high latitude makes it useful only for certain types of launches,especially the Molniya orbits,so for much of the site's history it functioned as a secondary location,with most orbital launches taking place from Baikonur,in the Kazakh SSR. With the end of the Soviet Union,Baikonur became a foreign territory,and Kazakhstan charged $115 million usage fees annually. Consequently,Plesetsk has seen considerably more activity since the 2000s.
Pivdenne Design Office,located in Dnipro,Ukraine,is a designer of satellites and rockets,and formerly of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs),established by Mikhail Yangel. During the Soviet era,the bureau's OKB designation was OKB-586.
Zenit was a family of space launch vehicles designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau in Dnipro,Ukraine,which was then part of the Soviet Union. Zenit was originally built in the 1980s for two purposes:as a liquid rocket booster for the Energia rocket and,equipped with a second stage,as a stand-alone middle-weight launcher with a payload greater than the 7 tonnes of the Soyuz but smaller than the 20 tonnes payload of the Proton. The last rocket family developed in the USSR,the Zenit was intended as an eventual replacement for the dated Soyuz and Proton families,and it would employ propellants which were safer and less toxic than the Proton's nitrogen tetroxide/UDMH mix. Zenit was planned to take over crewed spaceship launches from Soyuz,but these plans were abandoned after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The Angara rocket family is a family of launch vehicles being developed by the Moscow-based Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. The launch vehicles are to put between 3,800 kg (8,400 lb) and 24,500 kg (54,000 lb) into low Earth orbit and are intended,along with Soyuz-2 variants,to replace several existing launch vehicles.
The R-36 is a family of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and space launch vehicles (Tsyklon) designed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The original R-36 was deployed under the GRAU index 8K67 and was given the NATO reporting name SS-9 Scarp. It was able to carry three warheads and was the first Soviet MRV missile. The later version,the R-36M, also known as RS20, was produced under the GRAU designations 15A14 and 15A18 and was given the NATO reporting name SS-18 Satan. This missile was viewed by certain United States analysts as giving the Soviet Union first strike advantage over the U.S.,particularly because of its rapid silo-reload ability,very heavy throw weight and extremely large number of re-entry vehicles. Some versions of the R-36M were deployed with 10 warheads and up to 40 penetration aids and the missile's high throw-weight made it theoretically capable of carrying more warheads or penetration aids. Contemporary U.S. missiles,such as the Minuteman III,carried up to three warheads at most.
The State Space Agency of Ukraine is the Ukrainian government agency responsible for space policy and programs. It was formed on 29 February 1992,and was based on the Soviet space program infrastructure that remained in Ukraine following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It was called the National Space Agency of Ukraine until 9 December 2010.
The State Factory "Production Union Southern Machine-Building Plant named after O.M. Makarov",officially abbreviated as Pivdenmash and previously as Yuzhmash,is a Ukrainian state-owned aerospace manufacturer. Prior to 1991,it was a Soviet state-owned factory.
The Kosmos rockets were a series of Soviet and subsequently Russian rockets,derived from the R-12 and R-14 missiles,the best known of which is the Kosmos-3M,which has made over 440 launches. The Kosmos family contained a number of rockets,both carrier rockets and sounding rockets,for orbital and sub-orbital spaceflight respectively. The first variant,the Kosmos,first flew on 27 October 1961. Over 700 Kosmos rockets have been launched overall.
The RT-20P was an experimental intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed but not deployed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The control system for it was designed at NPO "Electropribor". It was assigned the NATO reporting name SS-15 Scrooge and carried the GRAU index 8K99. The RT-20 was the first mobile ICBM designed by the Soviet Union. Its launch platform was based on the T-10 tank.
The Tsyklon-2,also known as Tsiklon-2 and Tsyklon-M,GRAU index 11K69,was a Soviet,later Ukrainian,orbital carrier rocket used from the 1960s to the late 2000s. The rocket had 106 launches,one suborbital and 105 orbital,with only one failure and 92 consecutive successful launches,from 27 December 1973 with the launch of Kosmos 626 to 25 June 2006 with the final flight of the Tsyklon-2,which makes this launcher most reliable within rocket launched more than 100 times.
The Tsyklon-3,also known as Tsiklon-3 and Cyclone-3,GRAU index 11K68,was a Soviet,and subsequently Ukrainian orbital carrier rocket. Tsyklon 3 rocket body debris accounts for more than 500 pieces of space debris.
The R-7 family of rockets is a series of rockets,derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka,the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). More R-7 rockets have been launched than any other family of large rockets.
The Tsyklon-4,also known as Tsiklon-4 and Cyclone-4,was a Ukrainian carrier rocket which was being developed for commercial satellite launches. Derived from the Tsyklon-3,it had a new third stage,a larger payload fairing,and a modernised flight control system compared to its predecessor. The control system had been developed by JSC Khartron.
The Soyuz 2.1v,GRAU index 14A15,known early in development as the Soyuz 1,is a expendable Russian medium-lift launch vehicle. It is derivative of the Soyuz 2 but utilizing a single core stage built around the powerful NK-33 engine,50-year-old refurbished remnants from the Soviet N1 moon rocket. It is a member of the R-7 family of rockets built by Progress in Samara. Launches have been conducted from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwest Russia,and are expected to be conducted in the future from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in eastern Russia,and the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The Zenit 3SLB or Zenit-3M was a Ukrainian expendable carrier rocket derived from the Zenit-2SB. It was a member of the Zenit family of rockets,which were designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Office. Produced at Yuzhmash,the rocket was a modified version of the Zenit-3SL,designed to be launched from a conventional launch pad rather than the Sea Launch Ocean Odyssey platform. Most of components of the rocket were produced in Russia. The Ukrainian space industry was highly integrated with that of Russia due to its Soviet heritage,but that cooperation was interrupted by the Russo-Ukrainian War beginning in 2014,which effectively led to a hiatus in the Zenit program. The subsequent Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 saw damage to its manufacturing facilities due to Russian missile strikes,and what survived those strikes pivoted to producing military weapons.
The Cyclone-4M is a Ukrainian carrier rocket which is being developed for commercial satellite launches.
Sich-1M was a Ukrainian spacecraft,constructed for remote sensing of Earth.
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