The launch manager envisions a future for a shuttle that flies only once and even then, without cosmonauts
Avi Blizovsky
Pictured: A Russian plane carrying the Buran ferry in the XNUMXs. Looks like a replica of the American space shuttle
The Russians are planning to revive their space shuttle. This is thanks to business
Their boom in building proton launchers and the need to move more and more
Heavy payloads to the International Space Station Alpha.
The Buran, based on more advanced technologies than the ferry fleet,
But it flew once and was shut down in 1992 due to the financial distress of
Russian government. The vessel can carry a load of 100 tons, five times as much
The American space shuttles.
Leonid Goroshkin, the operation manager of the launch in Baikonur, explains
to New Scientist magazine that "there is a future for the program by increasing its length
of the Boran, we can carry even 200 tons. There is no alternative to Buran and I am not
I see someone else is going to offer such an alternative."
In 1988, Boran succeeded in circumnavigating the globe without a crew
Twice and it landed on a track about 5 kilometers long in Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The ferry was recently renovated and passed on to the examination of
Engineers tested it about a week ago for the Russian startup agency Energia
RSC that built Buran. Boran's mechanical systems remained
in Baikonur, and also has spare parts stock.
Russia plans to finance the development of the Buran through the sale of voyages
Tourists to the International Space Station as it did to Dennis Tito. dollars
Westerners are also used to pay for proton rocket launches, which have taken them into space
Recently 17 commercial satellites in a year and a half, and flowed 100 to Russia
$XNUMX million per launch.
Energy initially built two Buran shuttles and three main engines.
The program that was planned to employ 30 thousand people and operate for about 30 years survived
for a while through military budgets that were poured into it despite a collapse
Soviet Union. Boran seemed essential to the missile defense program.
The only imported component in Boran was the heat-resistant paint. Buran, which means
Snowstorm, requires only internal boosters for takeoff, and no tank is needed
The outer like the orange outer tank of the space shuttles. These engines
Boran is given more lifting power than the American shuttles.
In addition to this, the Boran uses accelerators with liquid rather than solid fuel.
This means that Boran's accelerators are throttleable and therefore
Theoretically they are safer &#;8211 they can operate under load
And they can be turned on and off to prevent tragic explosions like
in Challenger.
The Russian shuttle is assembled vertically and raised to a horizontal position on a pedestal
The launch, unlike the American shuttle, is mounted vertically.
Energy believes that the Buran's time has come due to the need to load cargo
Bigger ones for the International Space Station. "We dreamed about it a lot
time," Guroshkin told New Scientist.
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