How the Russian orbiter scared the whole of AustraliaThe American company Sierra Space has begun assembling a reusable spaceship Dream Chaser, created using developments for the Soviet mini-shuttle BOR.
The US Transport Command and Sierra Space signed a cooperation agreement on September 8. Within its framework, it is planned to work out the concept of military cargo delivery using the Dream Chaser spacecraft and Shooting Star cargo modules.
The reusable Dream Chaser will be launched from the cosmodrome using a rocket, but land on the airfield as an airplane. "We plan to use these technologies to reach anywhere in the world within three hours," said Tom Weiss, CEO of Sierra Space.
Dream Chaser is being created by order of NASA and will also be used to deliver cargo to the ISS. Currently, Progress MS, Cygnus, Dragon and H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) ships are sending cargo to the ISS.
Why did the United States use a Soviet BORON (unmanned orbital rocket plane) for the prototype of this ship?
BOMBS AND MODELSThe emergence of new structural and heat-shielding materials, as well as more powerful launch vehicles, allowed us to put forward the idea of creating orbital aircraft with a characteristic feature – the ability to return significant loads from orbit using lift.
The creation of returnable spacecraft flying in the atmosphere and landing on the runway in an airplane manner required high reliability of aerodynamic, thermal and other initial data used in development. Flight experiments were needed to refine the data obtained on ground installations.
One of the ways of research at the suggestion of Doctor of Technical Sciences Vladimir Utkin was the method of large-scale flying models.
Research on them began to be conducted at the Gromov Flight Research Institute (LII) since the late 1940s, when the problem arose of mastering transonic flying bombs - heavy hulls equipped with small wings of various profiles. The research was conducted under the supervision of Ivan Ostoslavsky and Arseny Mironov. Bombs were dropped from an airplane and accelerated to sonic velocity under the influence of gravity.
In the 1950s, with the help of flying models, specific layouts of the chief designers Tupolev, Lavochkin, Myasishchev and Ilyushin were studied. The models were equipped with powder accelerators and accelerated already to M = 3-5, that is, three or five times the speed of sound.
Therefore, it is not surprising that when the idea of reusable space structures arose, scientists and engineers again turned to flying models. One of them was the experimental apparatus BORON. It was created to study supersonic flight speeds in the interests of the orbital spacecraft of the Spiral aviation space system, and later the Soviet shuttle Buran.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE "SPIRAL"Developed at the Mikoyan Design Bureau under the leadership of Chief designer Gleb Lozino-Lozinsky, the two-stage aerospace system consisted of a 52-ton air booster and a 10-ton experimental manned orbital aircraft (EPOS) with a length of 8 m and a wingspan of 7.4 m starting from its "back" (at an altitude of 30 km).
The subsonic analogue of the EPIC, created in the mid-1970s (product 105.11), resembled the "Buran", but in miniature. He, like any aircraft, had wings, tail, ailerons, rudder, balancing shield. And only the chassis looked unusual. It had four racks spaced in pairs along the fuselage, which housed not wheels, but metal skis, with which the analogue could land on any ground. It was flown by test pilots Igor Volk, Valery Menitsky, Alexander Fedotov and Aviard Fastovets.
To study the flight of the orbiter in the upper atmosphere and to assess the temperature conditions on its surface, BORES were designed – flying models on the scales of 1:3 and 1:2.
WOODEN ROCKET PLANEThe beginning of work on borons was laid at LII back in 1967.
It was necessary to make a device weighing up to 800 kg and about 3 m long, which, separated from the launch vehicle at a speed of 3.7 km / s at an altitude of 100 km, would make a planning flight in the atmosphere.
The problem of thermal protection of the model immediately arose. The nose part of it had to be heated to 1500-1600 Co. Experts in the field of aerodynamics expressed doubt about the possibility of balancing the device with such an unusual scheme: the bearing body at angles of attack reaching 45 degrees.
In two years, it was possible to design, manufacture and launch a rocket with a model of BORON together with rocket scientists. The test results showed that the load-bearing body is perfectly balanced at angles of attack exceeding 60o.
To gain time, the first model (BOR-1) was a dimensional and weight model made of wood with a filling of telemetry equipment. But it was she who gave the first scientific results, before the beginning of her burn at altitudes of 60-70 km.
Later, as a result of research in flight conditions on improved large-scale models of BORON-2 and BORON-3, balancing and longitudinal stability characteristics were refined, experimental data on the transition of a laminar boundary layer to a turbulent one were obtained, extensive studies of aerodynamic heating, heat exchange and thermal protection of various surface elements were carried out.
BORON – THE PREDECESSOR OF "BURAN"When creating a reusable Buran orbiter, it became necessary to obtain real data on aerodynamics, aerodynamic heating and the performance of new heat-shielding materials and structural elements.
The study of the problem has shown that it is impossible to solve these problems in the traditional way on a large-scale model of an experimental type. Therefore, the LII tried to experiment on two models.
One of them, the BOR-4, was a variant of the aerodynamic layout of the vehicle with a supporting body, on which real fragments of the front part of the fuselage were reproduced in size, shape and design. The model was intended for the study of aerodynamic heating, heat transfer and thermal protection of an orbiter in situations close to flight conditions in the atmosphere.
Studies of aerodynamic heating and thermal protection tests were carried out at altitudes from 120 to 30 km at a flight speed from 7500 to 1200 m / s. BOR-4 was launched into orbit from the Kapustin Yar cosmodrome by satellites of the Cosmos series.
In the manufacture of the BOR-4 model, fragile thermal protection caused a lot of worries. Even a light touch or tapping with a finger left dents on the tiles, and they had to be changed frequently. Here is what one of the oldest employees of the LII, Ildus Khanov, recalled about this experiment:
"Finally everything is ready. The BOR-4 is mounted on a launch vehicle that is already fueled. The launch will be at night – it is necessary that the device lands at dawn and there is maximum time left for its search and rescue. The output of the model to the trajectory and its separation from the carrier are normal.
The connection stops, but it seems to all of us that the "silence" has come early. Experienced testers reassure: this happens often on high trajectories. It remains to wait. But here comes a message from the head of the tests Vladychin about the restoration of communication – a model on the trajectory of entry into the atmosphere. All systems are normal!
Now comes the crucial stage – the flight in the atmosphere with the withdrawal to the landing area. The connection is interrupted again: the product is moving in plasma. The situation is tense. Finally, the parachute system is triggered, and the BORON lands safely, or rather, it lands. However, the landing coordinates differ from the calculated ones by almost 200 km. The "managers" are upset. General Leksin, who kept in touch with the control center, defused the situation: "Well, please give me other landing coordinates, is it a pity?" But here comes a message about the discovery of the product, and everyone sighs with relief."
UFOs IN AUSTRALIAMeanwhile, radar stations of the Australian Air Force spotted an unidentified flying object.
He was moving along a ballistic trajectory with hypersonic speed to the area of the Cocos Islands. On alert, the fighters on duty soared skyward, but they could not intercept the UFO: the object was rushing at great speed.
Before plunging into the waters of the Indian Ocean, an unknown object was captured with powerful photographic equipment. After the interceptors landed at the airbase, negatives were urgently shown. The photos became the property of the foreign public, which stated: The Russians are testing a new space weapon.
The ufologists called in were surprised to see a burnt-out aircraft resembling an airplane in the pictures. The mysterious inscription BOR was visible on board. It was assumed that this is a Slavic abbreviation. And so it turned out.
The experiment was a success thanks to the creation of a perfect model of the BOR-4, equipped with a control system capable of solving navigation problems and changing the position of the device in motion – both in space and during flight in the atmosphere. In essence, the flying model differed from the full-scale device only in size, the absence of target systems on board, and reduced requirements for reliability and ease of operation.
The BOR-4 were the first domestic aerospace aircraft capable of maneuvering in the atmosphere using the aerodynamic quality of the main body and had aerodynamic rudders.
The choice of a complex flight route of the BOR-4 to the Indian Ocean took into account three main requirements: ensuring maximum safety, the possibility of landing on water for the safety of thermal protection tiles and obtaining the necessary information about the trajectory and operation of on-board systems. After the first flights, when there was confidence in the reliability of the model, the landing area was moved to the Black Sea.
conclusionResearch with the help of HOGS has made a significant contribution to the development of the design of thermal protection of reusable spacecraft.
The efficiency of new heat-protective materials, elements and components of the carbon-carbon structure, multilayer tile and flexible thermal protection was evaluated. Considerable attention was paid to the study of gas ionization and the passage of radio waves through plasma.
Flight studies continued on a large-scale model of the BOR-5, and their results caused some changes in the layout of the Buran orbiter. In the late 1980s, it was planned to launch BOR-6 devices to study the passage of radio waves through plasma, but after funding cuts, the program was closed.
One of the HOGS became the prototype of the spaceplane, which is part of the reusable suborbital space system for tourists C-XXI. There are ideas about the application of BOROV's developments to create other reusable space systems.
In the process of creating the hogs, structural materials capable of operating at high temperatures were developed. Today, aluminum-lithium alloys created at the All-Russian Research Institute of Aviation Materials are actively used by Americans – in particular, on the analogue of the reusable Delta Clipper ship. He has already passed a series of tests.
The Japanese launch models and mock-ups of experimental orbital aircraft using rockets or balloons. Such devices usually have small dimensions: length 2-3 m, width 1.5 m and weight up to 200 kg. After separation from the carrier, the model flies several hundred kilometers in space at a speed of up to 4 M, descends in the atmosphere and falls into the ocean. All models look indecently like BURS, and the method of their testing is 90% the same as the Soviet one.
The results of the study of the flights of our mini-shuttles are still relevant. The case of the hog lives and will live for a long time.
Valery AgeevValery Vladimirovich Ageev is a historian of aviation and cosmonautics, a journalist.
