Giuseppe De Chiara
27 – 06 - 2012
All the drawings are copyright of the author Foreword
During the 80’s of XX Century the USSR had still its ambition in Astronautics. Thanks to the knowledge gained during the 70’s with the Salyut/Almaz space laboratories, the Russians were ready to take a “giant leap” with the upcoming Mir space station, a brand new Soyuz version (the TM) and the TKS spacecraft fully ready for use (even if it was always tested without any crew onboard), the Buran shuttle almost ready to fly and the Mir-2 design in progress.
In such complex scenario the Buran shuttle raised perplexity to Russians, it was conceived only to copy Americans but still without a real mission. Russian space authorities urged the Politbjuro to have a more flexible and cheap manned space system, better if derived by an existing space capsule. To fulfill such mission the RSC Energia group introduced, during 1986, a proposal about a reusable manned space capsule based upon a Soyuz reentry module, greater in size, with the TPS realized for Buran program and the Zenit 2 as launcher (it was initially designed as side booster for the Energia super-rocket).
The result of such proposal was one of the most intriguing and rational manned spacecraft ever designed, the Zarya (“Dawn” in Russian, to not mislead with actual ISS FGB) capsule. It was designed to carry a variable number of cosmonauts as also a relevant paylaod to LEO or to Mir/Mir-2 space station and it could be easily regarded as a Russian counterpart of the American Big Gemini of a decade earlier. The most important feature of Zarya was the capability to land without any parachute but only with a battery of liquid fueled-variable thrust retrorockets, something that is came back of actuality today with the DragonRider (manned Dragon CRS version) and PTK-NP (Soyuz substitute) projects.
“Zarya”
Giuseppe De Chiara © 2008-2012 2 Zenit 2 Launcher
Escape Tower
Second Stage (RD 120)
First Stage (RD 171)
“Zarya”
Giuseppe De Chiara © 2008-2012 3 RSC Energia Zarya (Article 14F70) 1/2
Top View
Front View
Left View
“Zarya”
Giuseppe De Chiara © 2008-2012 4 RSC Energia Zarya (Article 14F70) 2/2
Bottom View
Rear View
Right View
“Zarya”
Giuseppe De Chiara © 2008-2012 5 Zarya capsule main features
Command Module (VA): Crew: 3 (up to 12 in emergency) Length: 3,6 m Max diameter: 3,7 m Habitable volume: 15 m 3 Total mass: 12,000 kg Payload: 3,000 kg (with 3 cosmonauts) Re-entry
Propellants: O2/Kerosene module Power: Batteries Emergency System: Escape Tower/Ejection Seats
Service Module (NO): Length: 1,4 m Service Max diameter: 4,1 m Module Total mass: 3,000 kg Thrust: 2 x 300 kg/sp
Propellants: N2O4/UDMH Power: Batteries
“Zarya”
Giuseppe De Chiara © 2008-2012 6 Zarya capsule cross sections
Top View
Front View
Left View
“Zarya”
Giuseppe De Chiara © 2008-2012 7 Zarya’s evolution: the ACRV proposal
Top View
Left View
Front View
“Zarya”
Giuseppe De Chiara © 2008-2012 8 Zarya Launch
LEGEND
1. Launch (T = 00:00) 2. First Stage separation (T = 01:57) 3. Escape Tower jettison (T = 03:20) 4. Second Stage Separation (T = 08:37) 5. Zarya in orbit (T = 09:00)
“Zarya”
Giuseppe De Chiara © 2008-2012 9 Zarya De-orbit and Re-entry
LEGEND
1. Zarya gain the correct attitude for burn 2. De-orbit burn 3. Service Module separation 4. Zarya re-entry into atmosphere
“Zarya”
Giuseppe De Chiara © 2008-2012 10 Zarya Landing
LEGEND
1. Zarya entry into atmosphere 2. Pilot chute deployment 3. Pilot chute jettison 4. Liquid propellants retrorockets ignition 5. Pre-landing phase 6. Stabilization and hovering phase 7. Soft landing
“Zarya”
Giuseppe De Chiara © 2008-2012 11