Proton Booster Family

Proton

Proton Booster Drawings (16K)

The Proton (SL-9, Type-D) booster was developed in early 1960s by the Chelomey Design Bureau as an ICBM to launch 'city buster' 100 megaton Hydrogen bombs. Salyut KB designer Polukhin, then a engineer for the Chelomey OKB-23, said that the Proton later "broke off" the ICBM developments at the OKB. Development of the Proton booster was started in 1961.

Yefremov, the general designer of NPO Mashinostroyeniya in 1990 explained that "based on a future line of development, the sequential development of a series of launch vehicles was called for-standard rockets with an increasing lift capacity of 3-4 tons (UR-200), 20 tons (UR-500) [Proton] and 150-230 tons (UR-700)." This closely matched Korolev's plan to build a N-1 and N-2 rockets.

"...work on the UR-700 was limited to the design and the mock-ups of certain sections of the rocket. That couldn't result in any sort of appreciable expenditures." Engineer Sergei Khrushchev also confrmed that the UR-700 was never constructed in any fashion, except for a small table top model used buy Chelomey to try to sell the project to the leadership.

The Soviets later announced that the booster would be used for unmanned lunar and planetary missions and to launch improved manned spacecraft (the Zond). The booster was named Proton because the first satellite it launched was Proton 1 in July, 1965. Design features of the Proton remained secret from the general public for 20 years. Fortunately, the details are now well know for modern versions of the booster.

The first stage consisted of a center tank for nitrogen tetroxide, and six surrounding tanks (long thought to be strap-on boosters) containing UDMH with six RD-253 staged combustion cycle rocket engines at their base.

The RD-253 engine, burned the propellant turbines exhaust in the thrust chamber instead of dumping it overboard like the earlier RD-107. Each engine on the first stage could swivel outward, and the six together provide full steering for the stage. The first stage produced 1,002,000 kg. thrust. The first stage shut down and separated 2.17 minutes after launch.

The Proton second stage weighed 13,180 kg. and had four RD-253 engines for a total thrust of 244,000 kg.. During the second stage burn, six minutes after launch, the launch shroud is jettisoned at an altitude of 145 km.. The UR500 (D-1 type) booster consisted of only first and second stages. The Proton suffered a significant number of failures from its first flight to the late 1960s. This lead the Soviets to fly a booster on a diagnostic flight in August, 1970.

Interestingly, the design of the Proton first stage is not very different from the U.S. Saturn 1 first stage, which also used clustered tanks and multiple engines. The Soviets may also have been rushed during the development of the Proton, as the United States was in developing the Saturn 1, and apparently both countries ended up using the same design philosophy to build relatively big boosters quickly. Another major reason for the culster design was the fact that they did not want to do major assembly at the launch site and the booster had to be transported in preices smaller than 4.5 meters in diameter.

The three stage version of the Proton is the UR500K (D-1h). The same first and second stages were used with a third stage that weighed 5610 kg.. In flight, the third stage normally shut down about 10 minutes after launch and 2500 km. down range. During a normal Salyut launch using a UR500K, the maximum acceleration reached five gravities. Around 1980, the weight of the third stage was reduced to 4400 kg.. Both versions of the stage had one RD-253 rocket engine and four steerable 30 Kg. thrust vernier engines, and a total thrust of 61,000 kg.. The UR500K booster was 44.3 meters long and 7.4 meters wide at the base of the first stage.

The SL-12 (D-1e) was used to launch probes to high Earth orbit or beyond using a UR500K booster with a fourth stage. The original fourth stage used was the Block-D. After separation from the third stage, the fourth stage drifts in orbit and orients itself for a maneuver to lift the payload out of low Earth orbit.

The Block-D was 5.5 meters long and 3.1 meters wide. The Block-D rested on an interstage which was cone on cylinder shaped, four meters wide at the base and 1.1 meters long. The interstage was jettisoned after separation from the third stage. The weight of the Block-D including the LOX and Kerosene propellants was 17,300 kg.. The empty or dry structure weighed 1,800 kg.. The stage produced about 8700 kg. thrust using an unidentified engine, with a total burn time capability of 600 seconds and that could be restarted twice.

The Block-D used UDMH-nitrogen tetroxide ullage motors to maintain the stages orientation and propellant stability for restarts. The stage also relied on the payload satellite for communications of telemetry and commands from the ground. The Block-D could be fitted with different launch shrouds depending on the payload. The Block-D stage was used from 1967 to 1976. A version of the fourth stage was developed in 1976 containing18,700 kg propellants. The length was about 65 meters and 10 meters wide at the base.

The Proton assembly and testing building has three bays for integration of up to three Proton boosters with their payloads. The Salyut was prepared for launch in the Proton assembly building in both the vertical and horizontal positions and then slipped horizontally into its launch shroud before being mated to the booster. Near the building are three static test stands for testing Proton third stages. The assembled booster and spacecraft are usually sent to the launch pad seven to ten days before the launch.

There are two pairs of Proton launch pads. Each of the pads at both complexes are about 600 meters apart and are connected by rail tracks to the Proton assembly building about 12 km. away. By 1987, only one pair of the launch pads was operational, but in 1989 plans were underway to referbish the two old pads to allow the other pads to be taken out of service and rebuilt. Flight rates were falling for the Proton and only two pads were needed. The old pads were expected to be online by 1990-91.

The boosters are produced at the Khrunichev Machine Building Plant at Fili. After 6 months of testing at the plant, the boosters are disassembled into the major components and shipped by rail to Baykonur.

The booster is erected on a pad over a flame trench. A service tower is then rolled over on the rail tracks to surround the booster. The service towers platforms then fold out encircling the booster providing working space for technicians. The booster's fueling gantry is turned 180 degrees on a small turntable, to face the booster for fueling operations, and to face away during launch. The propellant is brought to the pad by rail car. Each launch pad has an underground control room under it or next to it. There is also a main control center that is used to command all launch pads. The launch pads are surrounded by tall lightning and towers. The total number of launches, for all versions of the Proton, numbered over 180 launches by 1990.

Further modifications and replacing the second stage with a LH-LOX stage will increase payload to low Earth orbit to 31,500 kg. and GEO to 6000 kg.. For interplanetary and geostationary launches the Breeze upper stage from the may also be used. The booster will also be equipped with propellant venting valves so after use no residue will remain to fall back to Earth. This modification will cost 1 Billion Roubles less than other options. In competition with the Mini-Energia booster (Energia-M), the Proton-M came out the winner. Energia launch facility yearly maintance cost is more than modernizing the Proton-M.

The Proton-M is itself intended to be a stop gap until the Angara booster is developed in the 2000-2005 timeframe.

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