Dnepr (rocket)
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| Function | Orbital carrier rocket |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | |
| Country of origin |
Soviet Union (original build), Ukraine (commercial launches after 1999) |
| Size | |
| Height | 34.3 metres (113 ft) |
| Diameter | 3 metres (9.8 ft) |
| Mass | 211,000 kilograms (465,000 lb) |
| Stages | 3 |
| Capacity | |
| Payload to LEO | 4,500 kilograms (9,900 lb) |
| Payload to the ISS | 3,200 kilograms (7,100 lb) |
| Payload to SSO | 2,300 kilograms (5,100 lb) |
| Payload to TLI | 550 kilograms (1,210 lb) (with ST-1) |
| Launch history | |
| Status | Retired |
| Launch sites |
Site 109/95, Baikonur LC-13, Yasny |
| Total launches | 22 |
| Successes | 21 |
| Failures | 1 |
| First flight | 21 April 1999 |
| Last flight | 25 March 2015 |
| First stage | |
| Engines | 1 RD-264 module (four RD-263 engines) |
| Thrust | 4,520 kN (1,020,000 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 318 s (3.12 km/s) |
| Burn time | 130 seconds |
| Fuel | N2O4 / UDMH |
| Second stage | |
| Engines | 1 RD-0255 module (one RD-0256 main engine and one RD-0257 vernier) |
| Thrust | 755 kN (170,000 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 340 s (3.3 km/s) |
| Burn time | 190 seconds |
| Fuel | N2O4 / UDMH |
| Third stage | |
| Engines | 1 RD-864 |
| Thrust | 20.2 kN (4,500 lbf) |
| Specific impulse | 309 s (3.03 km/s) |
| Burn time | 1,000 seconds |
| Fuel | N2O4 / UDMH |
The Dnepr rocket (Ukrainian: Дніпро, Dnipró; Russian: Днепр, Dnepr) is a space launch vehicle named after the Dnieper River. It is a converted ICBM used for launching artificial satellites into orbit, operated by launch service provider ISC Kosmotras. The first launch, on April 21, 1999, successfully placed UoSAT-12, a 350 kg demonstration mini-satellite, into a 650 km circular Low Earth orbit.
The Dnepr is based on the R-36MUTTH Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) – called the SS-18 Satan by NATO – designed in the 1970s by the Yuzhnoe Design Bureau in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, which was then a part of the USSR.
The Dnepr control system was developed and produced by the JSC "Khartron", Kharkiv. The Dnepr is 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 The launch vehicles used for satellite launches have been withdrawn from ballistic missile service with the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces and stored for commercial use.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 is launched from the Russian-controlled Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and the Dombarovsky launch base, near Yasny, in the Orenburg region of Russia.
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Wikipedia