TKS spacecraft
Encyclopedia
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| Description | ||
| Role: | Manned spacecraft Spacecraft A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo.... to supply the military Almaz Almaz The Almaz program was a series of military space stations launched by the Soviet Union under cover of the civilian Salyut DOS-17K program after 1971.... space station |
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| Crew: | three | |
| Dimensions | ||
| Height: | 43.31 ft | 13.2 m |
| Diameter: | 13.61 ft | 4.15 m |
| Volume: | 45.00 m3 | |
| Rocket engines | ||
| Main Engine (N2O4/UDMH): | 1763 lbf ea | 7840 N |
| Performance | ||
| Endurance: | 7 days | |
| Apogee: | 266 km | |
| Perigee: | 223 km | |
| Inclination: | 52 degrees | |
| Spacecraft delta v: | 2290 ft/s | 700 m/s |
| Cutaway of TKS vehicle | ||
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TKS spacecraft was a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
design in the late 1960s intended to supply the military Almaz
Almaz
The Almaz program was a series of military space stations launched by the Soviet Union under cover of the civilian Salyut DOS-17K program after 1971....
space station. The spacecraft was designed for manned or autonomous cargo resupply use. The design was used on four test missions but was never flown manned due to the abandonment of the Almaz program.
The TKS consisted of two main parts, the VA manned crew return capsule (now known as Merkur
Merkur (spacecraft)
The Vozvraschaemyi Apparat , or Merkur, GRAU index 11F74, was a Soviet manned spacecraft designed as the reentry capsule for the TKS spacecraft...
), and the Functional Cargo Block (FGB) which housed the on-orbit maneuvering engines, fuel, a large pressurized supply area, and a docking adaptor. The FGB could also be used alone as an unmanned cargo module. In either case, the FGB would have been used as the primary orbital maneuvering system for the TKS/Almaz, eliminating the need for fuel transfer.
Although several complete TKS systems were launched in tests, the system was not used operationally in its intended role. However, the FGB was later used as the basis of several other station components, including the Zarya
Zarya
Zarya , also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB , was the first module of the International Space Station to be launched. The FGB provided electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during the initial stage of assembly...
module on the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
. , Excalibur Almaz
Excalibur Almaz
Excalibur Almaz is a private spaceflight company which plans to provide orbital space tourism, and provide test beds for experiments in a microgravity environment., Excalibur hoped to begin flights by 2012 with revenue flights starting as early as 2013....
planned to use the VA as low-cost cargo return vehicles.
Design
The TKS spacecraft was designed by Vladimir ChelomeiVladimir Chelomei
Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey was a Soviet mechanics scientist and rocket engineer from Ukraine.-Early life:Chelomey was born in Siedlce, Russian Empire into a Ukrainian family...
as a manned spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
launched with Proton rocket
Proton rocket
Proton is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965 and the launch system is still in use as of 2011, which makes it one of the most successful heavy boosters in the history of spaceflight...
alternative to the Soyuz
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
spacecraft. Development began in 1965, but by the time the first flight articles were ready the Almaz programme had been abandoned.
The VA ("Vozvrashaemiy Apparat") capsule was flown separately on four test missions with two capsules on one booster to test the design, as well as one "all-up" test mission and three resupply missions. It was never flown manned, although in December 1978 formation of a special group of six cosmonauts was approved for manned missions on board the TKS spacecraft.
The project had further evolved with space station "Modulny" ("Modular") based on the TKS design outline, reworked to dock with Salyut 7
Salyut 7
Salyut 7 was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first manned in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last visited in June 1986, by Soyuz T-15. Various crew and modules were used over its lifetime, including a total of 12 manned and 15 unmanned launches...
, Mir
Mir
Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...
and ISS
ISS
The ISS is the International Space Station.ISS may also refer to:* I See Stars, an American electronic rock band* ISS A/S, a Danish service company* Idea Star Singer, a Malayalam music reality show by Asianet TV...
space stations. This development was designated FGB, or Functional Cargo Block.
The TKS spacecraft consisted of an 11F74 "Vozvraschaemyi Apparat" (or Return Vehicle commonly referred to as the VA), attached to an 11F77 "Transportniy Korabl Snabzheniya" (Functional/Cargo Block module or FGB).
TKS VA
The TKS VA was itself a very compact and efficient spacecraft. Typically it would reenter the atmosphere within 2 orbits, but could fly autonomously for up to 31 hours. The pressurized crew re-entry capsule was equipped with its own environmental control system, and topped with reaction control system, de-orbit braking engine, parachute system, and soft landing engines. Although extensively flight tested, it never flew with a crew on board (due to political rivalry).The VA design was derived from the planned capsule for the Chelomei's LK-1 manned circumlunar spacecraft of the 1960s. It was also the basis for Chelomei's LK-700 Lunar Lander crew capsule. The VA looked somewhat similar to the Apollo capsule
Apollo Command/Service Module
The Command/Service Module was one of two spacecraft, along with the Lunar Module, used for the United States Apollo program which landed astronauts on the Moon. It was built for NASA by North American Aviation...
, but was 30% smaller than its NASA counterpart.
TKS FGB
The FGB was entered from the VA capsule via a short tunnel. At the aft end a pilot station was equipped with controls and windows for manual docking with the AlmazAlmaz
The Almaz program was a series of military space stations launched by the Soviet Union under cover of the civilian Salyut DOS-17K program after 1971....
space station. The docking port was also located here. Operational TKS would have delivered KSI
KSI
* Knight Companion of the Order of the Star of India* Key Success Indicator, another name for a key performance indicator*Killed or Seriously Injured, used in the field of road safety*ksi , kilopound per square inch, a unit of stress or pressure...
film return capsules to Almaz stations. These would have been stored around the docking port for transfer to the film capsule airlock for loading.
Details
| Crew Size: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Design Life: | 7 days |
| Orbital Storage: | 200 days |
| Typical orbit: | 223 km x 266 km at 52 degrees inclination |
| Length: | 13.2 m (43.31 ft) |
| Maximum Diameter: | 4.15 m (13.61 ft) |
| Span: | 17.00 m (55.00 ft) |
| Habitable Volume: | 45.00 m3 |
| Mass: | 17,510 kg (38,600 lb) |
| Payload: | 12,600 kg (27,700 lb) |
| Main Engine Thrust: | 7.840 kN (1,763 lbf) |
| Main Engine Propellants: | N2O4/UDMH |
| Main Engine Propellants: | 3,822 kg (8,426 lb) |
| Main Engine Isp: | 291 sec |
| Spacecraft delta v: | 700 m/s (2,290 ft/s) |
| Electrical System: | Solar panels Photovoltaic module A solar panel is a packaged, connected assembly of solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells... 17 m span 40 m² |
| Electric System: | 2.40 average kW |
| Associated Launch Vehicle: | Proton 8K82K |
Cosmos 881 and Cosmos 882
Orbital test of a pair of two VA capsules in 1976-12-15 that started jointly and reentered on the same day.TKS-1 (Cosmos 929)
Lone flight of full TKS-1 with FGB and VA capsule. Launched 1977-07-17. The VA capsule returned to Earth 1977-08-16. The remainder of the spacecraft deorbited 1978-02-02.VA #009L/P and VA #009P/P
Launched on 1977-08-04. Launch vehicle failure forty seconds into the flight on a suborbital test of two VA capsules. VA #009L/P is destroyed in the resulting booster explosion, VA #009P/P is rescued by the Proton SAS abort system and is recovered safely.Cosmos 997 and Cosmos 998
On 1978-03-30 pair of two VA capsules that started jointly and reentered separatelyCosmos 1100 and Cosmos 1101
On 1979-05-23 pair of two VA capsules that started jointly and reentered separately TKS-2 (Cosmos 1267Cosmos 1267Kosmos 1267 was an unmanned TKS spacecraft which docked to the Soviet space station Salyut 6 as part of tests to attach scientific expansion modules to stations in Earth orbit. The module which docked to the station was the FGB component of a TKS vehicle launched on April 25, 1981. The...
)
On April 25, 1981, TKS-2 was launched unmanned as Cosmos 1267Cosmos 1267
Kosmos 1267 was an unmanned TKS spacecraft which docked to the Soviet space station Salyut 6 as part of tests to attach scientific expansion modules to stations in Earth orbit. The module which docked to the station was the FGB component of a TKS vehicle launched on April 25, 1981. The...
. The VA capsule was recovered on 24 May 1981. The FGB docked with Salyut 6
Salyut 6
Salyut 6 , DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth flown as part of the Salyut programme. Launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket, the station was the first of the 'second-generation' type of space station. Salyut 6 possessed several revolutionary advances over the earlier...
on June 19 after 57 days of autonomous flight. It remained attached to the station until both deorbited and were destroyed on 29 July 1982.
TKS-3 (Cosmos 1443)
On 2 March 1983, TKS-3 was launched unmanned as Cosmos 1443. This time, the VA remained attached and the TKS docked to Salyut 7Salyut 7
Salyut 7 was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first manned in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last visited in June 1986, by Soyuz T-15. Various crew and modules were used over its lifetime, including a total of 12 manned and 15 unmanned launches...
two days after launch. TKS-3 separated from the station on 14 August. The FGB and the VA re-entry capsule separated, and the FGB deorbited itself on 19 September 1983. The VA capsule continued in space for four more days demonstrating autonomous flight, before successfully re-entering on 23 August 1983, landing 100 km south-east of Arkalsk and returning 350 kg of material from the station.
TKS-4 (Cosmos 1686Cosmos 1686Kosmos 1686 was a heavily modified TKS spacecraft which docked unmanned to the Soviet space station Salyut 7 as part of tests to attach scientific expansion modules to stations in Earth orbit. The module which docked to the station was the FGB component of a TKS vehicle launched on 1985-09-27, and...
)
TKS-4 was launched unmanned as Cosmos 1686Cosmos 1686
Kosmos 1686 was a heavily modified TKS spacecraft which docked unmanned to the Soviet space station Salyut 7 as part of tests to attach scientific expansion modules to stations in Earth orbit. The module which docked to the station was the FGB component of a TKS vehicle launched on 1985-09-27, and...
on 27 September 1985. In the VA capsule landing systems, the ECS, seats, and manned controls were removed and replaced with a high-resolution photo apparatus and optical sensor experiments (infrared telescope
Infrared telescope
An infrared telescope is a telescope that uses infrared light to detect celestial bodies.Infrared light is one of several types of radiation present in the electromagnetic spectrum....
and Ozon
Ozon
Ozon may refer to:* François Ozon, a French film director and screenwriter* ozon.ru, the Russian analog of Amazon.com* Ozon Radio , various radio stations* Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego, a Polish political party...
spectrometer
Spectrometer
A spectrometer is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify materials. The variable measured is most often the light's intensity but could also, for instance, be the polarization...
). The TKS successfully docked with Salyut 7
Salyut 7
Salyut 7 was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first manned in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last visited in June 1986, by Soyuz T-15. Various crew and modules were used over its lifetime, including a total of 12 manned and 15 unmanned launches...
. After 21 November 1985, Salyut 7 was moved to a higher orbit while awaiting the second 'TKS' crew, but control of the station was lost. There were plans to return using the Buran shuttle for inspection, but the first flight of the spaceplane
Spaceplane
A spaceplane is a vehicle that operates as an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere, as well as a spacecraft when it is in space. It combines features of an aircraft and a spacecraft, which can be thought of as an aircraft that can endure and maneuver in the vacuum of space or likewise a spacecraft that...
was delayed. Salyut 7 and Cosmos 1686 burned up in the atmosphere together in a fiery show over Argentina on 7 February 1991.
Further usage
The TKS design, which has never been flown manned, has gone on to provide the basic structure for several space future space station components, such as:- Kvant-1Kvant-1Kvant-1 was the second module of the Soviet space station Mir. It was the first addition to the Mir base block and contained scientific instruments for astrophysical observations and materials science experiments....
tug - Kvant-2Kvant-2Kvant-2 was the third module and second major addition to the Mir space station. Its primary purpose was to deliver new science experiments, better life support systems, and an airlock to Mir. It was launched on November 26, 1989 on a Proton rocket. It docked to Mir on December 6...
Mir module - KristallKristallThe Kristall module was the fourth module and the third major addition to the Mir space station. As with previous modules, its configuration was based on the 77K module, and was originally named "Kvant 3". It was launched on May 31, 1990 on a Proton rocket...
Mir module - SpektrSpektrSpektr was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment...
Mir module - PrirodaPrirodaThe Priroda module was the seventh and final module of the Mir Space Station. Its primary purpose was to conduct Earth resource experiments through remote sensing and to develop and verify remote sensing methods...
Mir module - Polyus (FGB) spacecraft
- ZaryaZaryaZarya , also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB , was the first module of the International Space Station to be launched. The FGB provided electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during the initial stage of assembly...
(FGB-1) ISS module - Russian Research ModuleRussian Research ModuleThe Russian Research Module was to be a Russian component of the International Space Station that provided facilities for Russian science experiments and research...
(FGB-2) ISS module - Multipurpose Laboratory ModuleMultipurpose Laboratory ModuleNauka , also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module , , will be a component of the International Space Station , funded by the Russian Federal Space Agency. In the original ISS plans, Nauka was to use the location of the Docking and Stowage Module...
(FGB-2) ISS module
TKS/Almaz VA capsules are presently being modernized for commercial use, by the private spaceflight
Private spaceflight
Private spaceflight is flight above Earth altitude conducted by and paid for by an entity other than a government. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pioneered space technology augmented by collaboration with affiliated design...
company, Excalibur Almaz
Excalibur Almaz
Excalibur Almaz is a private spaceflight company which plans to provide orbital space tourism, and provide test beds for experiments in a microgravity environment., Excalibur hoped to begin flights by 2012 with revenue flights starting as early as 2013....
.
See also
- Big GeminiBig GeminiBig Gemini was proposed to NASA by McDonnell Douglas in August, 1969, as an advanced version of the Gemini spacecraft system...
- Planned U.S. equivalent to the TKS spacecraft - Manned Orbiting LaboratoryManned Orbiting LaboratoryThe Manned Orbiting Laboratory , originally referred to as the Manned Orbital Laboratory, was part of the United States Air Force's manned spaceflight program, a successor to the cancelled Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar military reconnaissance space plane project...
- U.S. Air Force equivalent to Almaz space station - Excalibur AlmazExcalibur AlmazExcalibur Almaz is a private spaceflight company which plans to provide orbital space tourism, and provide test beds for experiments in a microgravity environment., Excalibur hoped to begin flights by 2012 with revenue flights starting as early as 2013....
- Privatized version of the TKS spacecraft - TKS-based spacecraftTKS-Based SpacecraftIn March 2005, Khrunichev enterprise, Russia's major developer of rocket technology and spacecraft, unveiled plans for the country's participation in the exploration of the Moon...
Further reading
External links
- http://www.astronautix.com/craft/tks.htm
- http://www.russianspaceweb.com/tks.html