Designing
of compound ballistic rockets and artificial
Earth satellites (Research Institute -4, 1947-1957) I.K.Bazhinov In post-war years the design office (DO) headed by S.P.Korolev
together with cooperating enterprises were completely preoccupied with assimilation
of German rocket engineering, with V-2 rockets testing, and creating its
domestic analogue - R-1 rocket. The R-1 activities
were controlled by I.V.Stalin and the Government and performed at a
"furious" pace. Despite hard work, in 1947 DO started
designing R-2 rocket which was capable of delivering a military payload over
the distance of up to In
1946 Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov
was transfered to RI-4 (later it became RI-4 of
Ministry of Defense) and appointed Deputy Director of the Institute together
with a group of P.I.Ivanov, N.G.Chernyshev,
V.N.Galkovsky, G.M.Moskalenko,
etc. On the basis of this group a department was set headed by P.I.Ivanov. In 1947 the
department was joined by the military geodesist Igor Marjanovich Yatsunsky. Knowing
about the development of ballistic rockets in S.P.Korolev's
DO and about K.E.Tsiolkovsky's works who put forward
the idea of The
rocket package is a sheaf of parallel located rockets, all engines of which are
activated at the start and work simultaneously. All rockets of the package are
divided into two-three (or more) parts. The fuel lines of all rockets are
interconnected. First, the fuel of the first part of rockets is spent, then
after empty rockets separation, the fuel of the second part of rockets is utilized,
etc. The last part of the package gives the greatest speed to the payload. Such
packages we call the fuel transfusion packages. M.K.Tikhonravov charged I.M.Yatsunsky to
study the opportunities of such packages. Igor Marjanovich
developed the appropriate technique, and at the beginning of 1948 received some
interesting results. It appeared, for example, that the package of five R-1 rockets
delivered a military payload over the distance of The
calculations showed the principal opportunity of getting any flight distance
for military payloads, and even injecting satellites into orbit using the
packages of rockets developed in DO-1 by 1948. The received data were highly
estimated by M.K.Tikhonravov. He reported them to S.P.Korolev, who understood the importance of these results
and supported the intention of M.K.Tikhonravov to
make a presentation of this issue at the Academic Council of RI-4. The
presentation at RI-4 took place at the beginning of summer 1948. However, the
basic value of the received results was not comprehended by the overwhelming
majority of the meeting participants. There were many rough and negative
opinions, sometimes even venomous and offensive for Mikhail Klavdievich.
Minor issues were particularly criticized which by then, naturally, had been
poorly worked out. So, the critics specified the constructional complexities of
the rockets assembly into a package and the difficulty of the package control;
affirmed, that the higher air resistance during the package flight in
atmosphere "would diminish" all advantages of the package, and so
forth. Despite the negative attitude,
M.K.Tikhonravov repeated the presentation on The major part of
military-engineering specialists in 1948 apprehended the data presented in M.K.Tikhonravov's reports as too fantastic and unreal.
However, the novelty of ideas, the received results, and the reality of the
input design parameters stirred up scientific engineering thinking and
compelled to consider the problems of compound rockets creation much wider and
in more details. And such works soon began advancing vigorously, especially in S.P.Korolev's DO. One of
the consequences of M.K.Tikhonravov's presentations
was abandonment of P.I.Ivanov's department as dealing
with irrelevant problems, and M.K.Tikhonravov himself
was moved from the position of Deputy Director of the institute to the position
of scientific adviser. Only by M.K.Tikhonravov's
desperate request I.M.Yatsunsky alone was left responsible
for researches on compound rockets. More
extended activities on compound rockets
and, in particular, on artificial Earth satellites were strictly forbidden in RI-4. DO- In 1949 S.P.Korolev
on the basis of data from M.K.Tikhonravov's report made
the Government of the USSR an offer on opening a research program studying the
feasibility of rockets delivering military payload over 5000-10000 km. In 1950
this offer was approved of by the Government and N-3 program was launched,
which provided a wide front of works on intercontinental rockets. After liquidation of P.I.Ivanov's department, S.P.Korolev
supporting M.K.Tikhonravov and in the framework of N-3
program gave out an official order to RI-4 for further researches of compound
ballistic rockets, and Mikhail Klavdievich again got
the opportunity to hire more specialists and to resume works on compound rockets.
In December 1949 the group was joined by young engineers G.U.Maximov,
L.N.Soldatova, A.V.Brykov
and Ya.I.Koltunov. In 1950 the group again invited G.M.Moskalenko, and then - B.S.Razumikhin.
In the same year young graduates of Moscow Aviation Institute O.V.Gurko and I.K.Bazhinov were
directed to the group for the preparation of graduation works and subsequent
work. In 1953 V.N.Galkovsky also came back to the
team. The mentioned specialists formed the stamina of M.K.Tikhonravov's
task group in RI-4 conducting researches on S.P.Korolev's
order and then on grounding the possibility of artificial Earth satellites
development. M.K.Tikhonravov decided within the
limits of the order to widen the researches and to consider the packages of various
rockets on the basis of experience collected in DO-1, the compound rockets of
sequential action and the combined schemes (for example - the first and second
stages constituted the package scheme, the third stage activated after the
first two discharged stages separation). There were also considered simple
two-stage packages consisting of the central rocket, serving as a second stage,
and two or four attached side rockets, without the rockets' fuel lines interconnection
in such package. The effect of a compound rocket is gained by a greater
overload on the side rockets than that on the central one, the side rockets
working like accelerators for the central rocket in this case. Different
overloads are made by reduction of propellant margin on the side rockets and increase
of that on the central rocket, assuming all rockets being equipped with
identical engines. Optimizing the propellant margins on the central and side rockets
it is possible to achieve the greatest efficiency of such package. M.K.Tikhonravov's team studied a
number of problems of compound rockets design. So, there were developed the
technology of approximate calculation of compound rockets weight
characteristics and possible configurations of compound rockets of different
types (G.M.Moskalenko). Possible schemes and means of
connecting the stages of compound rockets were considered, parameters of
corresponding devices were estimated, the design of
experimental package of three R-2 rockets was worked out (A.V.Brykov,
L.N.Soldatova). The results of weight analysis
of compound rockets were used for the specified ballistic calculations,
purposed at defining optimal parameters of compound rockets, and the
characteristics of elementary packages in particular (I.M.Yatsunsky,
I.K.Bazhinov). Theoretically the problem of elementary
package optimization was solved a little later by D.E.Okhotsimsky,
a researcher at Applied Mathematics Department of Steklov's
Institute. The issues under study
included stability of a rocket package flight in the atmosphere where the possibility was proved of statically
unstable packages stabilization by
changing-over the stabilization automat (B.S.Razumikhin,
G.U.Maximov, L.N.Soldatova). The
researches investigated the problem of intercontinental rockets heads protection against aerodynamic heating on
the descending trajectory proving the opportunity of a significant reduction of
such heating by the flow boundary layer structure reorganization with injection
of a liquid or gaseous substance from the surface of the body (I.M.Yatsunsky, O.V.Gurko). Possibility
was also studied of providing the required accuracy of flight trajectory in
case of rockets engines and
orientation systems malfunction; various methods were considered of the rocket and its engines cutoff control aimed at military reduction
of payload falling points deviations using both ground measuring radio systems
and onboard gyroscopic devices. The ways of acceptable accuracy of target
hitting achievement at intercontinental flight distances were shown (G.U.Maximov, I.K.Bazhinov). Various schemes of launching
complexes for compound rockets and requirements to them were studied (Ya.I.Koltunov). But in 1951 this subject headed by Ya.I.Koltunov together with Koltunov
himself were transferred to another division of RI-4. The results of researches were
arranged as scientific and technical reports and on a regular basis sent to S.P.Korolev's DO. It is little known, that at the beginning
of the 50th the group prepared and presented to the USSR Government
two memoranda with the reasonable evidence of possibility of intercontinental
compound ballistic rockets development in the nearest future. In March
a scientific-technical conference on rocket engineering took place the program of
which included M.K.Tikhonravov's report <Rocket packages and prospects of their development>. In
this report Mikhail Klavdievich expanded the ideas
stated in the previous presentations, added new results and for the first time
directly spoke about the near-term outlook of the Earth artificial satellites
creation. Following the performance specification set by S.P.Korolev
the team considered a two-level package of three newly developed R-3 rockets. There were scrutinized the basic constructional
improvements of R-3 necessary for their connection into a package, as well as
its power characteristics. As a result it was shown that such a package can not
only carry a heavy military payload over any distance but also put a satellite
into orbit. S.P.Korolev included these studies in R-3
conceptual design. M.K.Tikhonravov's report was
listened to very attentively but mistrustful opinions still prevailed. The conference
was attended by S.P.Korolev and V.P.Mishin. Certainly, M.K.Tikhonravov's
presentations in 1948 and the subsequent works of his colleagues did not fully
define the design shape of R-7 rocket; this task required a huge work of the
whole DO-1 and its partner enterprises. However, the possibility of compound rockets
creation was proved and directions of some basic solutions were shown. The
field of rational values of basic characteristics and possible configurations
of compound rockets was outlined. These results in the very beginning of design
activities helped S.P.Korolev to adopt a number of
key decisions, such as the choice of compound ballistic rockets, instead of the
cruise rockets, for the payload delivery over intercontinental range, the batch
scheme of a compound rocket for further consideration and so on. The design and
construction activities in DO-1 on R-7 rocket are described in many published
articles and monographs and are not covered by the present paper. Expansion of works on R-7 rocket
caused the problem of building a test range for its flight tests. Decisive role
in design and construction of such range belongs to RI-4. However the creation
of this range is a large independent issue and deserves special attention. At the beginning of Within Project 72 it was
planned to investigate the basic problems of artificial satellite creation and
to define directions of their solution. First, trajectories of an
artificial satellite injection into different orbits were investigated. Methods
of compound rockets trajectories calculation, developed before by I.M.Yatsunsky and I.K.Bazhinov
were adapted to an artificial satellite launch, and they served as the basis
for the estimations of satellites weight to be launched by R-7 rockets. Secondly,
R-7 control system performance accuracy at the satellite injection into orbit
had to be evaluated. G.Yu.Maximov studied the
influence of possible errors at continuous work of rocket engines. I.K.Bazhinov made the same work with
reference to an "explosive" part of injection path that could take place
at the launch of a satellite into orbit with the altitude of over Further, it was necessary to
analyze the influence of basic disturbances on the orbit at long flights of the
satellite. G.Yu.Maximov studied the influence of
eccentricity of the Earth gravitation fields due to its ellipticity,
attractions from the Sun and the Moon, and also the Earth atmosphere residua; I.M.Yatsunsky considered the influence of upper harmonics
of the Earth gravitation field on the orbit. As a result the sizes of the orbit
deviations were defined due to these distortions as well as their
permissibility. Already at that initial stage
we were concerned with the problem of satellites meeting in orbit. The
preliminary study of this problem M.K.Tikhonravov
charged to me. My work resulted in proving the opportunity of satellites approach
in orbit and their docking. The problem of satellite control was also analyzed
at this point. It is important to monitor the
satellite orbit during its flight. I.M.Yatsunsky and G.Yu.Maximov in 1953 developed the method which basically
used the laws of orbital movement and a statistical method of the least squares
with the following measured parameters: distances from the satellite, direction
angles and range rates measured by radio or optical means located at different
points of the Earth surface, the accuracy of orbit definition by such
measurements. The similar method in RI-4 later was modified and computerized by
P.E.Eliasberg and V.D.Yastrebov
and used in RI-4 to control the real movement of satellites. For majority of satellite
types it is necessary to define and stabilize their axes position in space and to
execute necessary turns. It is required to provide the planned observations,
the performance of maneuvers by the satellite in orbit. G.Yu.Maximov
considered the possibility of satellite orientation by on-board observations of
the Sun, the Moon, the Earth and bright stars, and studied the requirements to
devices making such observations. Gyroscopic systems allowing to
remember basic directions and to provide the assigned rotation of the satellite
were also investigated (with participation of the author of this paper). The
research resulted in definition of a possible outline of orientation and
navigation system of the satellite and estimation of its basic features. A satellite during its flight is
to be supplied with electric power. This problem was studied by L.N.Soldatova. She considered various ways of generating
electric power on the satellite, and following Mikhail Klavdievich's
recommendation, consulted with authoritative Soviet physicists. The main
efforts were focused on photo cells. The outline of power source and its basic characteristics
were estimated. But it was still ambiguous
where and how to dissipate the heat generated by various satellite units and
received from the Sun and the Earth radiation. This problem was under control
of I.M.Yatsunsky and O.V.Gurko.
They investigated conditions of the satellite surface absorption of the
Sun/Earth and internal space heat radiation, studied the balance of received
and radiated heat, and developed the system of special coatings of satellite
surface fitting the required conditions. There was developed a louver system
opening and closing of which allowed controlling thermal mode inside the
satellite. The satellite is subject to
fine and larger meteoric particles. Thus A.V.Brykov
estimated the probability of the satellite collision with meteorites of
different sizes and velocities and showed that the probability of dangerous
collisions was insignificant. The group gave great
importance to the problem of manned and unmanned satellites return to the
Earth. I.M.Yatsunsky and O.V.Gurko
on the basis of their researches on overheat protection of intercontinental rockets
heads developed a possible solution and a design procedure of satellites
shielding during their flight in atmosphere at their returning. They made
estimations of heat-shielding system. I.K.Bazhinov
investigated trajectories of satellites return to the Earth. Finally the
trajectories were defined which met the requirements to heating and overloads
for the considered types of satellites. Possible deviations of the
satellites landing points during ballistic descent were also estimated. G.Yu.Maximov studied the influence of the jet brake impulse
mistakes occurred at the satellite descent from the orbit. I.K.Bazhinov
scrutinized the influence of mistakes in known aerodynamic coefficients of
returning spacecraft and fluctuations of atmospheric density relative to
calculated values. Later these estimations were used by RI-4 for design of the
ground control complex for "Vostok"-type spacecrafts
with regard to the choice of locations and sizes of landing areas for these
spacecrafts. Satellites should be equipped
with onboard communication systems for earth telemetric control of onboard
systems, trajectory measurements, interaction with ground command radio systems.
At that time in RI-4 such devices were studied in corresponding divisions with
reference to R-7 rockets. Possible characteristics of such onboard units for
satellites were estimated on basis of consultations with experts from corresponding
RI-4 divisions. The works carried out under Project
72 allowed to estimate mass-geometrical and power characteristics of the key
units and systems of artificial satellite. On basis of these data the group
estimated configurations of two variants of automatic satellites. The first
variant was an undirected satellite. Such satellite got the index "Object D"
and its configuration was developed by A.V.Brykov and
L.N.Soldatova. The second variant was a guided
satellite capable of turning in space according to the commands from Earth. It
had the index "Object OD", and its configuration was under responsibility of V.N.Galkovsky. Performed works allowed to
define a possible outline of the first automatic satellites as a whole and
their basic features, to show the opportunity and ways of solution of the main
problems of satellites build up and to confirm the possibility of such satellites
launch by R-7 rockets. Results received in RI-4 were
on a regular basis sent to the Project customer - Principal Artillery
Administration of Defense Ministry and S.P.Korolev's
DO-1. Later the basic results of M.K.Tikhonravov's
group were published in monograph, articles, etc. Works on satellites were
conducted very intensively and already in 1954 the main solutions and possible
parameters of the future artificial satellites were defined. On the basis of
these materials Mikhail Klavdievich asked the group
to prepare the report In In RI-4 on the remainders of M.K.Tikhonravov's group a new Laboratory 14 was set headed
by P.E.Eljasberg. It was reinforced by new employees
from neighboring divisions of the institute: T.D.Ageeva,
G.R.Uspensky. There came V.D.Yastrebov,
G.A.Collegov, B.L.Zhurin, and
young officers A.V.Tsepelev, P.Ya.Apichkov,
E.P.Veselkov etc. who had recently graduated from
high military schools. The Laboratory was charged with researches in space
ballistics and navigation problems, and also with development of practical
ballistic-navigation instruments for the forthcoming flights of space vehicles. Among the major works on
preparation and support of artificial satellite flights performed by RI-4, was
the development of the ground mission control complex for automatic and manned
spacecraft missions. |
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