Zenit ( uk, Зеніт, russian: Зени́т; meaning ''Zenith'') is a family of space
launch vehicle
A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload ( spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and ...
s designed by the
Yuzhnoye Design Bureau
Pivdenne Design Office ( uk, Державне конструкторське бюро «Південне» ім. М. К. Янгеля , lit=State design bureau "Southern", named after M. K. Yangel, translit=Derzhavne konstruktors ...
in Dnipro,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, which was then part of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. Zenit was originally built in the 1980s for two purposes: as a
liquid rocket booster
A liquid rocket booster (LRB) uses liquid fuel and oxidizer to give a liquid-propellant or hybrid rocket an extra boost at take-off, and/or increase the total payload that can be carried. It is attached to the side of a rocket. Unlike solid rock ...
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 Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...
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.
Zenit-3SL was launched by the
Sea Launch
Sea Launch was a multinational—Norway, Russia, Ukraine, United States—spacecraft launch company founded in 1995 that provided orbital launch services from 1999–2014. The company used a mobile maritime launch platform for equatorial lau ...
consortium's floating launch platform in the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
and Zenit-2 is launched from
Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
.
RD-171M
The RD-170 ( rus, РД-170, Ракетный Двигатель-170, Raketnyy Dvigatel-170) is the world's most powerful and heaviest liquid-fuel rocket engine. It was designed and produced in the Soviet Union by NPO Energomash for use with the ...
engines of the Zenit's first and second stages as well as the upper stage of the Zenit-3SL rocket are supplied by Russia. An improved Zenit-3SLB rocket was used for commercial launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome beginning in April 2008, marketed as
Land Launch
Land Launch refers to a service product of Sea Launch SA. There is no entity or company called Land Launch. Sea Launch created the Land Launch offering to address lighter satellites directly into geosynchronous orbit or into geosynchronous transfe ...
.
Zenit-3SL has launched 36 times with 32 successes, one partial success, and three failures. The first failure, the launch of a
Hughes
Hughes may refer to:
People
* Hughes (surname)
* Hughes (given name)
Places Antarctica
* Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency
* Mount Hughes, Oates Land
* Hughes Basin, Oates Land
* Hughes Bay, Graham Land
* Hughes Bluff, Victoria La ...
-built communications satellite owned by
ICO Global Communications Pendrell Corporation (formerly NASDAQ:PCO, delisted Nov 2017) is an intellectual property (IP) investment, advisory services and asset management firm. The company develops and implements strategies to acquire, commercialize, manage, divest and li ...
, occurred during the second commercial launch on March 12, 2000, and was blamed on a software error that failed to close a valve in the second stage of the rocket. The second failure occurred on January 30, 2007, when the rocket exploded on the
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...
launch platform, seconds after engine ignition. The
NSS-8 communication satellite on board was destroyed.
On September 24, 2011
Zenit-3SL
The Zenit-3SL is an expendable carrier rocket operated by Sea Launch. First flown in 1999, it has been launched 36 times, with three failures and one partial failure. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets, and is built by the Yuzhnoye ...
launched successfully from the
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...
launch platform under a renewed
Sea Launch
Sea Launch was a multinational—Norway, Russia, Ukraine, United States—spacecraft launch company founded in 1995 that provided orbital launch services from 1999–2014. The company used a mobile maritime launch platform for equatorial lau ...
project with
RSC Energia
PAO S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia (russian: Ракетно-космическая корпорация «Энергия» им. С. П. Королёва, Raketno-kosmicheskaya korporatsiya "Energiya" im. S. P. Korolyov ...
as the majority stakeholder. The rocket delivered the European communication satellite Atlantic Bird 7 to its planned orbit. On February 1, 2013, another Zenit-3SL failed while launching the
Intelsat 27
Intelsat 27 was an American communications satellite which was to have been operated by Intelsat. Intended as a replacement for Intelsat 805, it was destroyed after the rocket carrying it to orbit fell into the Pacific Ocean 56 seconds after la ...
satellite.
History
The Zenit-2 was the first Zenit to be designed for use as an orbital carrier rocket. It consists of two stages. The first uses an
RD-171
The RD-170 ( rus, РД-170, Ракетный Двигатель-170, Raketnyy Dvigatel-170) is the world's most powerful and heaviest liquid-fuel rocket engine. It was designed and produced in the Soviet Union by NPO Energomash for use with the ...
engine, and an
RD-120
The RD-120 (GRAU Index 11D123) is a liquid upper stage rocket engine burning RG-1 (refined kerosene) and LOX in an oxidizer rich staged combustion cycle with an O/F ratio of 2.6. It is used in the second stage of the Zenit family of launch ve ...
engine powers the second stage. It first flew on 13 April 1985, two years before the Energia, due to delays relating to the Energia's development. Zenit-2 would be certified for crewed launches and placed in specially built
launch pad
A launch pad is an above-ground facility from which a rocket-powered missile or space vehicle is vertically launched. The term ''launch pad'' can be used to describe just the central launch platform ( mobile launcher platform), or the entir ...
at
Baykonur spaceport, carrying the new crewed partially reusable
Zarya spacecraft that developed in end of the 1980s but was canceled. Also in the 1980s
Vladimir Chelomey
Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey or Chelomei (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Челоме́й; 30 June 1914 – 8 December 1984) was a Soviet engineer of Ukrainian ethnicity and designer in missile program of the former Sovie ...
's firm proposed never realised 15-ton
Uragan spaceplane launched by Zenit-2.
Two launch facilities were constructed for the Zenit at Baikonour, however the second was only ever used twice. On October 4, 1990, an attempted launch of a Tselina-2 naval reconnaissance satellite ended in disaster as the booster suffered a first stage engine failure seconds into launch and fell back onto the pad, which was severely damaged in the ensuing explosion. The failure was traced to a leak in a LOX line that caused a fire in the thrust section of the booster. Estimated repair costs were about 45 million rubles, but the collapse of the Soviet Union meant that there were no funds available, so the pad was abandoned.
Following two failures in 1991-92 both caused by the second stage, the Zenit was on the verge of being cancelled entirely, but a successful flight in November 1992 saved the program.
The rate of Zenit launches slowed to a trickle during the 1990s due to the severely cash-strapped Russian Federation, and also because of Russia's reluctance to fly military payloads on a booster manufactured in now-independent Ukraine. On May 20, 1997, a launch of a Tselina-2 satellite failed when the first stage shut down 48 seconds into launch. The booster crashed downrange.
During the 2000s, Zenit would find a new lease on life as the basis of the international Sea Launch project whereby commercial flights would be undertaken from an offshore launch platform. The basic Zenit booster received several upgrades to the propulsion and avionics systems for Sea Launch as well as a third stage, and the first test with a dummy payload was carried out on March 27, 1999. In October, a Direct TV 1-R satellite was orbited successfully. An ICO F-1 comsat was lost in March 2000 due to a second stage guidance malfunction. There followed eight consecutive successful launches until Apstar 5 in 2004 suffered a premature third stage shutdown that left it in an incorrect orbit, but the satellite's onboard engines corrected it.
After nine successful launches, the Zenit produced a repeat performance of the 1990 disaster when on January 30, 2007, the first stage lost thrust and exploded. The flame deflector on the Sea Launch platform broke off and sunk into the water. Loose debris had gotten sucked into a turbopump, resulting in engine failure.
By the late 2000s, the Zenit program at Baikonour was reviving and would see considerable success.
On February 1, 2013, an Intelsat satellite launched from the Sea Launch Odyssey platform in the equatorial Pacific. The nighttime launch performed nominally for about 20 seconds when the first stage abruptly lost thrust. Approximately 40 seconds after liftoff, all telemetry data ceased. Subsequent investigation showed that the Zenit had begun deviating from its flight path when the pitch and roll maneuver started. The onboard computer sensed an abnormal situation and sent an automatic shutdown command to the first stage at T+23 seconds, and impact with the ocean occurred about one minute after liftoff. Ultimately, the failure was traced to a defective hydraulic pump that controlled gimbaling of the first stage engines. This resulted in the booster starting an uncontrolled rolling motion which caused the computer system to terminate all thrust. Although anomalous conditions began around T+11 seconds, the Zenit's flight computer was "locked" to prevent engine shutdown until at least 20 seconds after liftoff so the booster would not come down on or near the launch complex. Impact occurred about two miles downrange, but attempts to recover booster debris were unsuccessful.
In February 2015, following a year of strained relations as a result of a
Russian military intervention into Ukraine, Russia announced that it would discontinue its "joint program with Ukraine to launch
Dnepr rocket
The Dnepr rocket (russian: Днепр, translit=Dnepr; uk, Дніпро, translit=Dnipró) was a space launch vehicle named after the Dnieper River. It was a converted ICBM used for launching artificial satellites into orbit, operated by launch ...
s and
asno longer interested in buying Ukrainian Zenit boosters, deepening problems for
kraine'sspace program and its struggling
Yuzhmash
The State Factory «Production Union Pivdennyi Machine-Building Plant named after O.M. Makarov», PA Pivdenmash or formerly, PA Yuzhmash (Ukrainian: Державне підприємство «Виробниче об'єднання Півде ...
factory."
[
]
Strained relations between Ukraine and Russia after 2014 have led to
Russian Federal Space Agency
The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...
intending to purchase no more of the Zenit first-stage boosters made by Yuzhmash (powered by Russian engines). However 2 Zenit rockets that have been delivered to Russia for
Russian Federal Space Agency
The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...
missions will still be used; another Zenit rocket for launching a Ukrainian satellite has been completed but without engines due to lack of funding for payments. The world market for Zenit launch vehicles has shriveled since Sea Launch suspended operations, and the future of Zenit is uncertain.
Despite the ongoing conflict between the two governments, a Zenit rocket was launched in December 2017, after a two-year hiatus, to deliver
AngoSat 1.
Production
The first and the second stages of the Zenit were designed by Yuzhnoye and are manufactured by
Yuzhmash
The State Factory «Production Union Pivdennyi Machine-Building Plant named after O.M. Makarov», PA Pivdenmash or formerly, PA Yuzhmash (Ukrainian: Державне підприємство «Виробниче об'єднання Півде ...
.
Variants
Zenit-2
The Zenit-2 was the first member of the rocket family. It consists of two stages. The first uses an
RD-171
The RD-170 ( rus, РД-170, Ракетный Двигатель-170, Raketnyy Dvigatel-170) is the world's most powerful and heaviest liquid-fuel rocket engine. It was designed and produced in the Soviet Union by NPO Energomash for use with the ...
engine, and an
RD-120
The RD-120 (GRAU Index 11D123) is a liquid upper stage rocket engine burning RG-1 (refined kerosene) and LOX in an oxidizer rich staged combustion cycle with an O/F ratio of 2.6. It is used in the second stage of the Zenit family of launch ve ...
engine powers the second stage. It first flew on 13 April 1985, carrying a
Tselina-2
Tselina () is a Russian military space-based radio surveillance system, originally developed in the former Soviet Union. It is capable of determining the exact location of radio-emitting objects and also their type, modes of operation, and how ...
mass simulator. However the test flight was unsuccessful. The first successful flight occurred on 22 October 1985.
Energia booster
The Zenit first stage was used as a strap-on booster rocket for the
Energia carrier rocket. Four Zenit first stages were attached to the core vehicle to produce extra thrust at lift-off, in the same way that
Solid Rocket Boosters
A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a large solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and space shuttle, have used SRBs to giv ...
were used on the US
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...
. Energia made two flights (1987 and 1988) before the programme was abandoned.
Zenit 2M and 2SLB
Zenit 2M is a new version of the Zenit 2 with an upgraded control system and modernized engines. The first Zenit 2M was launched on June 29, 2007, carrying a classified Russian military
Tselina-2
Tselina () is a Russian military space-based radio surveillance system, originally developed in the former Soviet Union. It is capable of determining the exact location of radio-emitting objects and also their type, modes of operation, and how ...
satellite. The Zenit-2SLB designation applies to commercial launches through the
Land Launch
Land Launch refers to a service product of Sea Launch SA. There is no entity or company called Land Launch. Sea Launch created the Land Launch offering to address lighter satellites directly into geosynchronous orbit or into geosynchronous transfe ...
subsidiary of Sea Launch, which began satellite launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome in 2008.
Zenit-3SL
Zenit-3SL is a three-stage
carrier rocket
A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syste ...
developed for and used by the Sea Launch consortium.
It combines:
* two-stage Zenit-2S built by
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
's SDO
Yuzhnoye/PO
Yuzhmash
The State Factory «Production Union Pivdennyi Machine-Building Plant named after O.M. Makarov», PA Pivdenmash or formerly, PA Yuzhmash (Ukrainian: Державне підприємство «Виробниче об'єднання Півде ...
*
Block DM-SL
Blok D (russian: Блок Д meaning Block D) is an upper stage used on Soviet and later Russian expendable launch systems, including the N1, Proton-K and Zenit.
The stage (and its derivatives) has been included in more than 320 launched ro ...
upper stage, provided by Russia's
Energia
* nose-cone enclosure for protection of payload during launch, provided by
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
.
Rockets used by Sea Launch are assembled in
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
. Launches occur from the ''Ocean Odyssey'' offshore launch platform, situated at the equator. ''Ocean Odyssey'' is also used to transport rockets to the launch site. The
most recent launch of a Zenit-3SL occurred on 11 December 2015. The RD-171 engine of the Zenit-3SL first stage, and most of the control system of -3SL missiles were made in Russia. However, according to the same source, it is not clear if Russia's component suppliers are still working together with Yuzhmash as of this date.
Zenit 3M and 3SLB
The Zenit-3M is a Zenit-2M with the
Block-DM upper stage used on the Zenit-3SL. It is launched from Baikonur. The maiden flight was launched on 28 April 2008.
Land Launch
Land Launch refers to a service product of Sea Launch SA. There is no entity or company called Land Launch. Sea Launch created the Land Launch offering to address lighter satellites directly into geosynchronous orbit or into geosynchronous transfe ...
commercially market the Zenit-3M under the designation Zenit 3SLB.
[
]
Zenit-3F
The Zenit-3F, also known as the Zenit-2SB/Fregat, is a 3-stage derivative of the Zenit-2M, using a Fregat
Fregat (russian: Фрегат, ''frigate'') is an upper stage developed by NPO Lavochkin in the 1990s, which is used in some Soyuz and Zenit launch vehicles, but is universal and can be used as a part of a medium and heavy class launch vehic ...
upper stage, as already used on the Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...
, to propel spacecraft to higher orbits. It made its maiden flight in January 2011, with the Elektro-L No.1 spacecraft for the Russian government. Later the same year, another launch carried Spektr-R, a space telescope
A space telescope or space observatory is a telescope in outer space used to observe astronomical objects. Suggested by Lyman Spitzer in 1946, the first operational telescopes were the American Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, OAO-2 launch ...
, into an orbit with a perigee
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion.
General description
There are two apsides in any ell ...
of and an apogee
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion.
General description
There are two apsides in any ell ...
of . The most recent launch occurred on 26 December 2017 from Baikonur Cosmodrome when the rocket lifted off with the Angolian Angosat 1 spacecraft.
Specifications
Overview
Payload capacities
Two stage version (Zenit-2)
Three stage version (Zenit-3SL)
Launches
See also
* Comparison of orbital launcher families
* Tsyklon-4
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 fl ...
* State Space Agency of Ukraine
The State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU; uk, Державне космічне агентство України, ''Derzhavne kosmichne ahentstvo Ukrayiny'', ДКАУ, ''DKAU'') is the Ukrainian government agency responsible for space policy an ...
References
External links
Zenit Family
Information at National Space Agency of Ukraine
Information at Buran web site
Information at Orbital Report News Agency
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zenit (Rocket Family)
Rocket families