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Zenit-2

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Zenit-2 at Site 45/1
FunctionCarrier rocket
ManufacturerYuzhnoye
Country of originSoviet Union
(Ukraine)
Size
Height57 metres (187 ft)[1]
Diameter3.9 metres (13 ft)[1]
Mass460,000 kilograms (1,010,000 lb)[1]
StagesTwo
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass13,740 kilograms (30,290 lb)
11,420 kilograms (25,180 lb) (ISS orbit)[1]
Payload to SSO
Mass5,000 kilograms (11,000 lb)
Associated rockets
FamilyZenit
Derivative workZenit-2M
Zenit-3SL
Launch history
StatusRetired
Launch sitesBaikonur Site 45
Total launches36[2]
Success(es)28
Failure(s)7
Partial failure(s)1
First flight13 April 1985
Last flight10 June 2004
First stage
Powered by1 RD-171
Maximum thrust8,180 kilonewtons (1,840,000 lbf)
Specific impulse337 sec
Burn time150 seconds
PropellantRP-1/LOX
Second stage
Powered by1 RD-120
1 RD-8
Maximum thrust912 kilonewtons (205,000 lbf)
79.5 kilonewtons (17,900 lbf)
Specific impulse349 sec
Burn time315 seconds
PropellantRP-1/LOX

The Zenit-2 is a Ukrainian, previously Soviet, expendable carrier rocket. First flown in 1985, it has been launched 37 times, with six failures. It is a member of the Zenit family of rockets, and was designed by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau.

With 13-15 ton payload in LEO it was intended as up-middle class launcher greater than 7-ton payload middle Soyuz and smaller than 20-ton payload heavy Proton. Zenit-2 would be certified for manned launches and placed in specially built launch pad at Baykonur spaceport, carrying the new manned partially reusable Zarya spacecraft that developed in end of the 1980s but was canceled. Also in the 1980s Vladimir Chelomey's firm proposed never realised 15-ton Uragan spaceplane launched by Zenit-2.

A modified version, the Zenit-2S, is used as the first two stages of the Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket.[3] Launches of Zenit-2 rockets are conducted from Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 45/1. A second pad, 45/2, was also constructed, but was only used for two launches before being destroyed in an explosion.[4] A third pad, Site 35 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome was never completed, and work was abandoned after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[5]

The Zenit-2 had its last flight in 2004; it has been superseded by the Zenit-2M, which incorporates enhancements made during the development of the Zenit-3SL. The Zenit-2 has a fairly low flight rate as the Russian government usually avoids flying national security payloads on Ukrainian rockets. Zenit-2M itself flew only twice, in 2007 and 2011.

During the late 1990s, the Zenit-2 was marketed for commercial launches. Only one such launch was conducted, with a group of Globalstar satellites, which ended in failure after a computer error resulted in the premature cutoff of the second stage.

Launch history

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Zenit-2". Roscosmos (in Russian). Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  2. ^ Krebs, Gunter. "Zenit-2". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
  3. ^ "The Rocket – Zenit-3SL". Sea Launch. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  4. ^ Wade, Mark. "Zenit". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
  5. ^ Wade, Mark. "Plesetsk". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-04-14.