Other payloads

Bolstered by the success of the maiden Energiya launch in 1987, NPO Energiya worked out a series of ambitious plans for future use of the rocket. Taking into account the changing international climate, those missions focused not so much on national, but global needs. Some of these projects bordered on the realm of science fiction and were way beyond even the generous budgets of the Soviet days, which is why the Russians were clearly counting on international partners to join them. The following missions were studied in 1987-1993:

– A constellation of 30 to 40 satellites to restore the depleted ozone layer by aiming laser beams at the stratosphere, causing excited oxygen molecules to break up under the influence of solar radiation and to recombine into ozone molecules. Weighing 60 to 80 tons each, the satellites would have flown in Sun-synchronous orbits at an altitude of 1,600 km, using electric propulsion systems to maneuver from their initial insertion orbits. Using this satellite constellation, it would have taken an estimated 30 years to solve the ozone depletion problem.

– Containers with radioactive waste to be placed into heliocentric graveyard orbits between Earth and Mars at a distance of approximately 1.2 astro­nomical units from the Sun. Weighing 50 tons each, the hardened containers could house 6 to 9 tons of radioactive waste. It was estimated that 10 to 15 Energiya missions would be required annually to dispose of the 100 tons of high-level radioactive waste produced around the world each year. Each container was to be boosted to an 800 km parking orbit by a conventional upper stage before being sent on an escape trajectory by a nuclear electric propulsion system.

– A constellation of solar reflector satellites to illuminate the polar regions, provide energy from space, and improve crop yields by stimulating photo­synthesis. With each of the satellites weighing 5-6 tons, a single Energiya was capable of placing a cluster of 10 to 12 such satellites into a low parking orbit with the help of an upper stage. A reusable, solar electric interorbital space tug would have boosted the satellites to a 1,700 km polar orbit inclined 103° to the equator. Each satellite had a 10 year lifetime and would be usable 8 hours daily, illuminating a 17 km diameter circular area on the Earth’s surface.

– An Earth-to-Moon shuttle service to collect helium-3 on the lunar surface for use in nuclear fusion reactors.

– 20-ton environmental monitoring satellites in geostationary orbit. Using the same UKP platform as the Globis satellites, they would monitor the Earth with optical, infrared, and microwave remote-sensing instruments, study Sun-Earth relations with ultraviolet spectrometers and particle detectors, and relay data from low-orbiting satellites in radio and optical wavelengths.

– 30-ton UKP-based satellites in 600 km polar orbits to monitor observance of international disarmament treaties and perform remote-sensing tasks such as studies of natural resources and environmental monitoring. The 12-ton payload would have included a videospectrometer, optical electronic cameras, and phased-array antennas.

– Satellites to clear the geostationary belt of space debris. Equipped with an engine unit and grappling devices, they would each spend about half a year in 0° to 14° inclination orbits at geostationary altitude, moving defunct satellites and debris to graveyard orbits.

– A 27-ton space-based radio telescope to provide Very Long Baseline Inter­ferometry (VLBI) in concert with ground-based radio telescopes. Called IVS (International VLBI Satellite), this was a joint Soviet-European project put forward in response to a 1989 Call for Mission Proposals for the second medium-size mission under ESA’s Horizon-2000 program. The IVS was to consist of NPO Energiya’s UKP bus and a European-built 20 m diameter radio telescope. With an inclination of 65° and a perigee of 6,000 km, the apogee would be varied from an initial height of 20,000 km to 40,000 km and 150,000 km over the satellite’s five-year operational lifetime. IVS was picked along with five other projects for further assessment in 1991, but was not approved for further development. Had it been selected, it could have flown in 2001 [62].

Even though the Skif-DM launch had demonstrated that Energiya was capable of being used as a heavy cargo carrier, Buran-T failed to gain impetus, mainly due to a lack of interest from the military, who were supposed to be the system’s main customers. A government decree in August 1985 had ordered the Ministry of Defense to work out “technical requirements” for Buran-T and Vulkan in a three-month period and NPO Energiya to prepare a draft government decree on these systems in the first quarter of 1986, outlining their objectives and setting a timeline for their development. The draft was sent for review to the VPK by July 1986 and called for starting Buran-T flights in 1988, with the introduction of the Smerch cryogenic upper stage expected in 1995. It was not until December 1987, one and a half years later, that the VPK responded by rejecting the draft, claiming it had not been agreed upon with the military. For the military a rocket could only be declared operational if there was a concrete payload for it, which was hardly the case for Buran-T. Eventually, the military even withdrew their “technical requirements” for Buran-T [63].