Volna
Wolna [ vɔlna ] ( Russian Волна 'wave' ) is the name of the civilian Soviet ICBM R-29 or SS-N-18 , since with their civilian suborbital flights and satellite launches are carried out. The missile is launched from a submerged submarine . The two lower stages of the rocket are powered by dinitrogen tetroxide and UDMH (asymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine ), while the third stage, which is only used for orbital missions, runs on solid fuel. From an equatorial launch position, the rocket can mathematically bring up to 115 kg into a low earth orbit. However, due to the necessary ground control after launch, the rockets could only be launched in the Barents Sea , which reduces the payload to around 50 kg in orbit.
The Volna had its first orbital launch on June 21, 2005 with the Cosmos 1 satellite. According to reports from the Russian Navy, the engine of the first stage switched off prematurely in the 83rd second of the flight after the turbo pump of the main engine failed. According to other reports from the Planetary Society , the satellite entered an unscheduled, low orbit. However, these reports could not be confirmed at first and later turned out to be misinterpretations, so that a failure of the first rocket stage is now considered the cause of the error.
The missile was designed by the Makeyev State Missile Center .
Start list
This is a complete launch list for the Volna missile.
Serial No. | Date ( UTC ) | Type | Launch site | payload | Type of payload | Payload in kg (gross 1 ) | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | June 7, 1995 | Volna | Barents Sea, K-44 Ryazan | TCM | ? | ? | success |
2 | July 20, 2001 | Volna | Barents Sea, K-496 Borisoglebsk | Cosmos 1 test, IRDT | Space sailor , re-entry technology | ? | Partial success ( suborbital; payload did not separate from the final rocket stage ) |
3 | July 12, 2002 | Volna | Barents Sea, K-44 Ryazan | IRDT 2 | Re-entry technology | 146 kg | Success ( suborbital; payload could not be found after landing ) |
4th | June 21, 2005 | Wolna-O | Barents Sea, K-496 Borisoglebsk | Cosmos 1 | Space sailor | 40 kg | Failure ( first orbital start; due to a fault in the turbo pump of the main engine, the 1st stage switches off prematurely in the 83rd second of the flight. ) |
5 | October 7, 2005 | Volna | Barents Sea, K-496 Borisoglebsk | IRDT 2R | Re-entry technology | 146 kg | Success ( suborbital; payload could not be found after landing ) |