Energia - Buran Space Transportation System

[publiusr]

Readiness for the first flight of the second ship (1.02) was estimated at 95%

I'm going to be sick...

 

[Incarn]

That thread is dynamite. So the turbofans had little moving doors to protect them - I presume from the inferno of reentry, the deadly superheated plasma coming from the nose and from below ?
Which brings me to a question. Clearly Buran AL-31F would have been exposed to the vacuum of space. I'm wondering what kind of damage would vacuum do to a vanilla turbofan ?

There was no harm in open vacuum conditions to the turbojet engine on the Buran - the engine nacelle was a sealed capsule maintaining a comfortable temperature, which was opened during the descent into the atmosphere after passing hypersonic speed

 

[Incarn]

I'm going to be sick...

I feel bad already...

 

[Willythekid]

And meanwhile, in an alternate universe...
Source: buran.ru

 

[Incarn]

And meanwhile, in an alternate universe...
Source: buran.ru

View attachment 747366

View attachment 747367

In the bottom picture the background is an original photo of cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov from the International Space Station.
And in the top illustration there is a 360-degree panorama in 4K format

 

[Willythekid]

In the bottom picture the background is an original photo of cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov from the International Space Station.
And in the top illustration there is a 360-degree panorama in 4K format

Great job Vadim, thanks for sharing!
On another note, November 15 (a new anniversary of the Buran flight) is not far away. I hope that by that day the RGANTD (Russian State Archive of Scientific and Engenering Documentation) will continue to declassify material about the Buran program. Something tells me that there is still tons of information archived!

Here below I publish one more photo for our collection, from an anonymous author.

 

[Incarn]

Great job Vadim, thanks for sharing!
On another note, November 15 (a new anniversary of the Buran flight) is not far away. I hope that by that day the RGANTD (Russian State Archive of Scientific and Engenering Documentation) will continue to declassify material about the Buran program. Something tells me that there is still tons of information archived!

Here below I publish one more photo for our collection, from an anonymous author.

View attachment 747419

This is a photograph of Albert Pushkarev, and the TASS archives have his color version of this photo

 

[Incarn]

360-degree panorama of the upper command compartment of the Buran through the eyes of the crew commander (from the left seat)

 

[publiusr]

Didn’t MPC/Start make 1/288 models of these? Any die-casts?

 

[Incarn]

Didn’t MPC/Start make 1/288 models of these? Any die-casts?

Didn’t MPC/Start make 1/288 models of these? Any die-casts?

Now Start no longer works. Nowadays, models are made using the illustrations of the site buran.ru using 3D printing, of poor quality and in violation of my copyright))
But my 3D computer models are much more accurate and detailed.
For example, a variant of the Buran layout with a maximum crew size - this is not on buran.ru, you are the first to see it:

 

[Gwalker18]

Now Start no longer works. Nowadays, models are made using the illustrations of the site buran.ru using 3D printing, of poor quality and in violation of my copyright))
But my 3D computer models are much more accurate and detailed.
For example, a variant of the Buran layout with a maximum crew size - this is not on buran.ru, you are the first to see it: View attachment 747512

This would be great for a future episode of For All Mankind.

 

[Gwalker18]

Я исправил эту картинку

A Caspian Sea Voyage.

 

[publiusr]

I read (in an article in the Journal of Rockets) about a proposal to fly Columbia type orbiters "heads up."

Was that Buran's flight profile?

 

[Incarn]

I read (in an article in the Journal of Rockets) about a proposal to fly Columbia type orbiters "heads up."

Was that Buran's flight profile?

Buran's final injection into orbit and braking impulse for deorbiting were upside down.
Orientation during a planned flight in orbit - left wing towards the Earth

14 years ago we made a Screensaver that contains the entire first flight of Buran, with all dynamic operations - take it and watch http://www.buran.ru/htm/scr_en.htm

 

[Byeman]

I read (in an article in the Journal of Rockets) about a proposal to fly Columbia type orbiters "heads up."

The Space Shuttle was flown heads up during the latter half of the program.
There was only one Columbia type orbiter. Others were different. There were 4/5 types of US Orbiters (depending whether you group OV-105 with OV-103/104.

 

[Archibald]

OV-99 Challenger
...
OV-102 Columbia
...
OV-103 Discovery
OV-104 Atlantis
...
OV-105 Endeavor

 

[Byeman]

OV-99 Challenger
...
OV-102 Columbia
...
OV-103 Discovery
OV-104 Atlantis
...
OV-105 Endeavor

Should have said 5 or 6, OV-101 is another one.

 

[Archibald]

OV-99 was a test article (ground based ?)
...
OV-101 was kinda half an orbiter (atmosphere yes, orbit no)
...
OV-102 was the first full-blown orbiter
...
OV-103 &
OV-104 were twins, the closest from a production "line" there ever was, "optimized", compared to OV-102 (less conservative, lighter)
...
OV-105 had a few further improvements, being build almost a decade after the others

 

[Willythekid]

November 15, 1988. The Buran rests majestically on the runway of the Baikonur Cosmodrome after its first space flight.
As fate would have it, that inaugural flight would also be the last...
36 years after Buran's flight, I publish a series of known photos, but which I have tried to improve. I hope you enjoy them!

Source: buran.ru

 

[Incarn]

I’ll add something that is not on www.buran.ru, and that no one has seen yet))

 

[Michel Van]

Side note:

ESA consider for a time those ejection seats and suits for Hermes as escape system,
near the end of program in 1991.

 

[Willythekid]

I’ll add something that is not on www.buran.ru, and that no one has seen yet))

Cool...!! Thanks Vadim!

 

[Willythekid]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1857386266976801063

View: https://x.com/WDequid/status/1857386266976801063
​

 

[Incarn]

Side note:

ESA consider for a time those ejection seats and suits for Hermes as escape system,
near the end of program in 1991.

...and NPO Molniya is designing not only the Hermes thermal protection, but also winged reusable first-stage blocks for the Ariane-5 rocket

 

[TheKutKu]

Yeah, Bargouzin (2000s project) was a CNES-TSNIIMASH project with NPO Molniya and Dassault involvment..

 

[Michel Van]

...and NPO Molniya is designing not only the Hermes thermal protection, but also winged reusable first-stage blocks for the Ariane-5 rocket

could that this project ?

 

[Archibald]

At least Energiya-M was overpowered enough to face any morbid weight growth by Hermes. By 1991 it weighed 24.5 mt and poor Ariane 5 had difficulty catching up. No such issue with Energiya-M, which could lift 35 tons or more.

 

[Incarn]

could that this project ?

No.
Here is this project - with much more interesting aerodynamics:

 

[galopujacy_jez]

Another Buran launch anniversary, so here's a quick supercut of footage from the launch and landing. Footage via buran․ru, RGANTD, Vmeste-RF. Note: footage with the hydrogen burn-off igniters and water deluge is from a test firing of an Energia test article. The three shots of Energia where the orbiter is not visible are from the Polyus launch.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1857507604550807958

View: https://x.com/11K25_Energia/status/1857507604550807958

 

[martinbayer]

Yeah, Bargouzin (2000s project) was a CNES-TSNIIMASH project with NPO Molniya and Dassault involvment..

See https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10.2514/6.IAC-06-D2.P.2.09

 

[Michel Van]

No.
Here is this project - with much more interesting aerodynamics:

WOW a Aerodynamic cover for Ariane 5 Core reuse !
Had this jet engines for return to Launch site ?

and let me guess, ESA and ArianeSpace consider this reuse as waste of Time ?

 

[Willythekid]

Three more images for our collection!
Source: ?

 

[_Del_]

No.
Here is this project - with much more interesting aerodynamics:

Wow. Completely new for me. Thank you!

 

[Incarn]

WOW a Aerodynamic cover for Ariane 5 Core reuse !
Had this jet engines for return to Launch site ?

and let me guess, ESA and ArianeSpace consider this reuse as waste of Time ?

There is little information - only the appearance of the reusable lower central block (as a result of the work). Gliding landing, no engines

 

[Incarn]

Three more images for our collection!
Source: ?

View attachment 748134

In the lower right corner - an early version of the An-124KT carrier aircraft.
I show you the final version (the tail fin is 6 meters higher):

 

[NMaude]

If the Buran had became operational would it have been better than the Space Shuttle?

 

[Incarn]

If the Buran had became operational would it have been better than the Space Shuttle?

Yes, in terms of functionality Buran is better than the shuttle

 

[NMaude]

Yes, in terms of functionality Buran is better than the shuttle

How was it better?

 

[Michel Van]

There is little information - only the appearance of the reusable lower central block (as a result of the work). Gliding landing, no engines

Once the Ariane 5 core stage has MECO its 500 km away from launch site, at altitude of 250 km.
The core stage impact then 6100 km away from CSG, in front of African coast for GTO mission.
As Glider it could reach the coast of Gabon, but need landing strip build for this and infrastructure.
That for only GTO mission
But for Polar mission it south of Greenland at reentry
it need large cross range for landing in Afrika or Canada, similar to Shuttle

i guess it would use automatic landing system of Buran.

 

[Michel Van]

How was it better?

no solid booster
better heat shield
Crew Escape system
could fly unmanned
its Energia booster could be used to launch heavy payload unmanned.