Energia - Buran Space Transportation System

[buran.energia]

New home for 3K at the UMMC Museum in Pyshma:

 

[Willythekid]

New home for 3K at the UMMC Museum in Pyshma:

 

[Willythekid]

A mockup of a project for an autonomous «Technological Production Module» was seen in the Khrunichev Center's Museum.
This module had an orbital mass of 88 tons, of which 25 tons were technological equipment and consumables, with an electrical power supply capacity of up to 57 kW, visited by Buran 1-2 times a year (apparently, judging by the APAS docking units).

 

[galopujacy_jez]

scans from Zemlya i Vselennaya 2/1992

 

[Willythekid]

A mockup of a project for an autonomous «Technological Production Module» was seen in the Khrunichev Center's Museum.
This module had an orbital mass of 88 tons, of which 25 tons were technological equipment and consumables, with an electrical power supply capacity of up to 57 kW, visited by Buran 1-2 times a year (apparently, judging by the APAS docking units).

More information and images about this module in this link. The note is in Spanish, but it can be translated almost perfectly.

 

[Byeman]

Production of what?

 

[galopujacy_jez]

Production of what?

"semiconductor materials and crystals with a geometrically perfect crystal lattice" in Krater-type furnaces

 

[NMaude]

Amy Shira Teitel from Vintage Space posted this video eight years ago about the Buran:

After NASA announced its space shuttle program, the Soviet Union responded with its own, nearly identical version. The Soviet Buran space shuttle and NASA's own shuttle look pretty similar, in large part because the Soviet version copied the American one. But why? And why didn't the Soviet shuttle program take off like the American one did?

For more on Buran and the shuttle program that barely got off the ground, check out the latest post on VintageSpace: http://www.popsci.com/why-soviet-spac...

 

[Foo Fighter]

Buran The end

The end of a great space adventure, after the end of the Bourane and Energia tests and development the project is abandoned even though it was finished.

www.buran-energia.com

 

[publiusr]

Production of what?

Substances only possible in microgravity

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576525000098

 

[Willythekid]

The Buran and its people

Ivan Andreevich Bychkov was an outstanding and decorated Soviet military officer, with 30 years of service in the military space forces of the former USSR. In the last years of his service he was the head of the military representative office at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which controlled the quality of assembly, ground and full-scale tests of the reusable Buran spacecraft and side blocks of the Energia launch vehicle.

 

[Byeman]

Substances only possible in microgravity

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576525000098

That article is irrelevant to this thread. I was asking about the specific payload on Buran. Neither would have allowed production of material in space to be profitable.

 

[flateric]

I was asking about the specific payload on Buran.

You was asking about production onboard TPM which never was a payload for Buran. Planned nomenclature is listed at the last picture at @Willythekid post on TPM.

 

[Byeman]

You was asking about production onboard TPM which never was a payload for Buran. Planned nomenclature is listed at the last picture at @Willythekid post on TPM.

Meh, Buran or Energia, it doesn't change what I said. It was to be launched by the Buran's launch vehicle and to be serviced by Buran. And the article is about recent launch systems.

 

[Willythekid]

A simulator of the Buran cockpit, fortunately in good condition, is in the museum of the "Central House of Aviation and Cosmonautics DOSAAF of Russia", Moscow.

 

[Empire]

Hi All,
I am interested in the number 3 design in the chart a shuttle based on the BOR/spiral data collected.
Anyone have the stats for a shuttle based on the BOR test bed.

 

[Willythekid]

Hi All,
I am interested in the number 3 design in the chart a shuttle based on the BOR/spiral data collected.
Anyone have the stats for a shuttle based on the BOR test bed.

Hello! The following link may help you find what you are looking for.

https://buran.ru/htm/bors.htm

The note is in Russian, but it can be easily translated into English.

As an example, I have translated a part of the text:

"But that's not all - after the first launch of the Energia LV on May 15, 1987, it became clear to foreign observers that the Uragan could be "created" not only for the Zenit LV, but also for the Energia LV, and therefore have much larger dimensions and mass. This point of view was clearly demonstrated by the Buran strike version with maneuvering warheads. Drawing by Andrey Makhankonemetsky magazine (GDR) "Freie Welt" in December 1987 (the author of the rightmost drawing and article is Klaus Huhndorf), having published the supposed appearance of the hypothetical reusable space system "Energia-Uragan". The most interesting thing is that our orbital ship "Buran" could have actually been exactly as the German artist imagined it, if the Council of Chief Designers headed by V.P. Glushko had accepted G.E. Lozino-Lozinsky's proposal at their meeting on June 11, 1975, to use as the basis for the Soviet reusable spacecraft the "305-1" project, which was being developed on the basis of the "Spiral" orbital aircraft (and, accordingly, "BORa-4") with the "lifting body" layout at the Molniya Scientific and Production Association (and the Myasishchev EMZ).

We will add that the concerns of the US Department of Defense were not in vain - on the basis of "BORa-4" maneuvering combat units of space basing were being developed, the main task of which was to bomb America from space with a minimum flight time to targets (5...7 minutes)"

​

 

[publiusr]

I thought that was an artist's conception from Der Spiegel...

At any rate--with main engines under the Energiya core...were there other winged test articles to go in Buran's place?

A waverider or other test object released from AN-225 for low speed tests...

 

[Byeman]

with main engines under the Energiya core...were there other winged test articles to go in Buran's place?

A waverider or other test object released from AN-225 for low speed tests...

no

 

[Willythekid]

Buran - An-225

 

[Willythekid]

The Museum Complex of Verkhnyaya Pyshma (Sverdlovsk Oblast) has started restoring the legendary Buran #3 or Izdeliye 2.01. In a year's time, it will become part of a large-scale exposition about Soviet cosmonautics.

✔ The hull is being scanned to recreate lost parts: engines, fairings and glazing.

✔ Drawings from the 1980s have been partially lost - restorers are working with archival data.

✔ A separate pavilion is being built for Buran with exhibits of the Energia-Buran program.

 

[Willythekid]

An-225 - Buran

 

[Aeria Gloria]

A simulator of the Buran cockpit, fortunately in good condition, is in the museum of the "Central House of Aviation and Cosmonautics DOSAAF of Russia", Moscow.

View attachment 759123

View attachment 759124

View attachment 759125

View attachment 759126

You have to really admire the Soviet re use of things for different purposes. That ADI is also used in Su-33, and modernized variants of IL-95, Su-27/30 and MiG-29.

The intake devices indicator of MiG-29/Su-27 is re used here. Radar altimeter is used in MiG-29 and Ka-27.

HSI is extremely common and from MiG-29/Su-27/30/33 and Ka-27 family/Ka-50.

Landing gear indicator looks identical to Su-27.

I’m sure those temperature gauges are from Su-27 and others. VVI are in many platforms as well I bet. I’m sure I’m missing many and have some wrong along specific models.

I’m sure many people would look down on this as cobbled together, but to me it says practicality and the ability to easily train both pilots and technicians for it.

 

[Willythekid]

You have to really admire the Soviet re use of things for different purposes. That ADI is also used in Su-33, and modernized variants of IL-95, Su-27/30 and MiG-29.

The intake devices indicator of MiG-29/Su-27 is re used here. Radar altimeter is used in MiG-29 and Ka-27.

HSI is extremely common and from MiG-29/Su-27/30/33 and Ka-27 family/Ka-50.

Landing gear indicator looks identical to Su-27.

I’m sure things like those temperature gauges, VVI are in many platforms as well. I’m sure I’m missing many and have some wrong along specific models.

I’m sure many people would look down on this as cobbled together, but to me it says practicality and the ability to easily train both pilots and technicians for it.

You can read about this in the excellent blog "Eureka":

"The operational cockpit of the Buran was quite advanced for the time, although its design was still relatively conservative and used many standard instruments in Soviet aviation at the time. The central panel was dominated by three cathode ray displays (VKU) to represent data from the on-board computer, which together with the fly-by-wire, made this aircraft a dream come true for Soviet pilots.

Although the Buran's cockpit may seem outdated by today's standards, it was not much different from the original American shuttle controls".

 

[Willythekid]

An-225 - Buran

 

[Willythekid]

Renault 4 - An-225 - Buran

 

[NMaude]

Renault 4 - An-225 - Buran

Why do you keep including the "Rolls Eyes" emoticon in your posts?

 

[Archibald]

Wondering the same.

 

[Empire]

Hi All,
My speculative 305-1 soviet shuttle based on BOR/Spiral data collected.

 

[publiusr]

I love that.

I hope Willy comes back—he had such great information.

 

[flateric]

«ЭНЕРГИЯ—БУРАН» Главная страница

energy-buran.kosmo-museum.ru

 

[galopujacy_jez]

keep in mind that this design uses the 1987 idea of how Energia looked, so the scale might be a bit off

 

[galopujacy_jez]

Hi All,
I am interested in the number 3 design in the chart a shuttle based on the BOR/spiral data collected.
Anyone have the stats for a shuttle based on the BOR test bed.

Stats are hard to come by, but here's a couple of resources that might be helpful - even if they don't cite numbers.

How the “Energiya – Buran” Project Was Born, Aviatsiya i kosmonavtika 2002 01 - online

From The Origins and Evolution of the Energiya Rocket Family by Bart Hendrickx:

"That very same month Yuriy Blokhin, the head of the Mikoyan bureau's space branch, wrote a report for the Central Committee stating that the 75 million rubles invested in Spiral were the only practical basis in the USSR for the creation of a reusable space transportation system. In the following weeks NPO Energiyaís delta-wing orbiter and a ìmodified versionî of Spiral were the subject of a comparative analysis carried out by NPO Energiya, NPO Molniya, TsAGI and TsNIIMash. There seems to have been division within the newly created NPO Molniya itself, with the former Mikoyan people strongly lobbying for the Spiral-based system (code-named 305-1) and the Myasishchev branch supporting the delta-wing orbiter (code-named 305-2). Little is known about the modified Spiral. Comparing it to Buran in one interview, Lozino-Lozinskiy said it had the same general outlines as Spiral (with folded wings) and had a 'larger useful volume'. If this is taken to mean that it could carry more payload than NPO Energiyaís orbiter, the vehicle could no longer have been a small air-launched spaceplane, but a much enlarged version of Spiral launched vertically, presumably by Energiya. After all, by this time the designers were bound by the payload requirements and mission goals for the MKS set out in the February 1976 government decree and the small air-launched Spiral was way below specifications. However, whatever it was that the former Mikoyan people exactly proposed, in the end it was considered safer to rely on the deltawing configuration of the US orbiter, even though that had not yet been proven in flight. The final decision came at a meeting of the Council of Chief Designers on 11 June 1976."

The “Quiet” Tragedy of EPOS, Krylya Rodiny 01/1991

 

[Empire]

Hi all,
Flateric kindly sent me the data he had on the number 3 design in the chart. Its what I based my picture on.

Regarding 2 and 3 iterations it only says

2 and 3. At the stage of the preliminary design (ED) the number of side blocks was increased to four. The side blocks were 38.1 m long and 3.9 m in diameter and were mounted on a cylindrical central block with an ogive warhead 53.6 m long and 8.8 m in diameter. The side blocks, mounted symmetrically relative to the horizontal plane, used conical nose parts pressed against the central block. Two variants of the aerodynamic layout of the OK of the aircraft and "lifting body" types were considered. The OK of the aircraft type had a fuselage length of 32.5 m, a wingspan of 22 m and a base trapezoid area of the wing equal to 208 m2. The OK of the "lifting body" type had a length of 28 m and a wing span of 27 m.

 

[C0de.R.E.A.M.]

«ЭНЕРГИЯ—БУРАН» Главная страница

energy-buran.kosmo-museum.ru

Really enjoyed reading through this! it's always fascinating to revisit how ahead of its time the program was. The fact that Buran pulled off a fully autonomous mission with such precision in 1988 is still impressive today IMO. It wasn’t just a Shuttle clone; the level of automation and systems integration seem like they set the stage for some major advancements in Soviet/Russian spaceflight like with the Antonov An-225. And the mention of using Automated Control System (ACS) to organize their reports is interesting! I didn’t know about that. Also interesting to read about Dyatlov’s recollection of going to Cape Canaveral to attend a NASA space launch only to be re-haunted by the Buran mission again.

Maybe there already is one in Russia but I think the Buran mission would be a great film or documentary to see in real-time everyone’s roles and all the effort it took to get Buran off the ground, similar to some of the US space films (except hopefully better). It would be a huge undertaking no doubt, but still interesting to watch given the depth of expertise Russia has in the space field. Bummer that the program and orbiters were cancelled during construction. The cancellation was from the dissolution of the Soviet Union yes? Or other monetary/geopolitical/industrial factors?

 

[Byeman]

Really enjoyed reading through this! it's always fascinating to revisit how ahead of its time the program was. The fact that Buran pulled off a fully autonomous mission with such precision in 1988 is still impressive today IMO. It wasn’t just a Shuttle clone; the level of automation and systems integration

Not really. The shuttle could have done similar. But much like Apollo vs Soyuz, the US preferred to have the crew more in the loop. For example, post Columbia all that was needed was for a cable to be installed and a Shuttle orbiter could undock from the ISS and remotely reenter and land.

The Buran landing was done with open loop guidance. They ran many simulations of the entry profile and even configured a MIG-25 to fly approaches to model the trajectory and then programmed the vehicle to fly it.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Why do you keep including the "Rolls Eyes" emoticon in your posts?

As a reaction to all that was lost, I suspect.

 

[C0de.R.E.A.M.]

Not really. The shuttle could have done similar. But much like Apollo vs Soyuz, the US preferred to have the crew more in the loop. For example, post Columbia all that was needed was for a cable to be installed and a Shuttle orbiter could undock from the ISS and remotely reenter and land.

The Buran landing was done with open loop guidance. They ran many simulations of the entry profile and even configured a MIG-25 to fly approaches to model the trajectory and then programmed the vehicle to fly it.

Oh, that's actually pretty cool!

 

[publiusr]

As a reaction to all that was lost, I suspect.

I hope he returns

 

[flateric]

MKB Mars
'Basics of Buran orbital spacecraft intelligent control system design on the atmospheric phase of flight.'