Today, any rocket launch that is featured in the news seems like a familiar part of life. Interest on the part of the townsfolk, as a rule, arises only when it comes to grandiose projects for space exploration or serious accidents happen. However, not so long ago, at the beginning of the second half of the last century, each rocket launch made the whole country freeze for a while, everyone followed successes and accidents. It was also at the beginning of the space age in the United States and then in all countries where they launched their own programs of flights to the stars. It was the successes and failures of those years that laid the foundation on which rocket science grew, and with it the cosmodromes, and more and more advanced devices. In a word, the rocket with its history, structural features and statistics is worthy of attention.
Basic in a nutshell
The launch vehicle is a variant of a multi-stage ballistic missile whosethe purpose is to launch certain cargoes into outer space. Depending on the mission of the launched vehicle, the rocket can put it into a geocentric orbit or give acceleration to leave the Earth's gravity zone.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, the launch of a rocket occurs from its vertical position. Very rarely, an air launch type is used, when the device is first delivered by an aircraft or other similar device to a certain height, and then launched.
Multi-stage
One way to classify launch vehicles is by the number of stages they contain. Devices that include only one such level and are capable of delivering a payload into space today remain only a dream of designers and engineers. The main character at the spaceports of the world is a multi-stage apparatus. In fact, it is a series of connected missiles that are switched on in sequence during the flight and disconnected after the completion of their mission.
The need for such a design lies in the difficulty of overcoming gravity. The rocket must lift its own weight from the surface, which includes mainly tons of fuel and propulsion, as well as the weight of the payload. In percentage terms, the latter is only 1.5-2% of the launch mass of the rocket. Disconnecting spent stages in flight makes it easier for the remaining ones and makes the flight more efficient. This construction also has a downside: it presentsspecial requirements for spaceports. A people-free zone is needed where the spent stages will fall.
Reusable
It is clear that with this design, the booster cannot be used more than once. However, scientists are constantly working on the creation of such projects. A fully reusable rocket does not exist today due to the need to use high technologies that are not yet available to people. Nevertheless, there is an implemented program of a partially reusable device - this is the American Space Shuttle.
It should be noted that one of the reasons why developers are trying to create a reusable rocket is the desire to reduce the cost of launching vehicles. However, the Space Shuttle did not bring the expected results in this sense.
First rocket launch
If we go back to the history of the issue, then the appearance of the actual launch vehicles was preceded by the creation of ballistic missiles. One of them, the German "V-2", was used by the Americans for the first attempts to "reach out" to space. Even before the end of the war, at the beginning of 1944, several vertical launches were carried out. The rocket reached a height of 188 km.
More significant results were achieved five years later. There was a rocket launch in the United States, at the White Sands test site. It consisted of two stages: V-2 and VAK-Kapral rockets and was able to reach a height of 402 km.
First booster
However, 1957 is considered the beginning of the space age. Then the first real launch vehicle in every sense, the Soviet Sputnik, was launched. The launch was made at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The rocket successfully coped with the task - it launched the first artificial Earth satellite into orbit.
The launch of the Sputnik rocket and its modification Sputnik-3 was carried out four times in total, three of which were successful. Then, on the basis of this device, a whole family of launch vehicles was created, distinguished by increased power values and some other characteristics.
The launch of a rocket into space, made in 1957, was a landmark event in many respects. It marked the beginning of a new stage in human exploration of the surrounding space, actually opened the space age, pointed out the possibilities and limitations of the technology of that time, and also gave the USSR a noticeable advantage over America in the space race.
Modern stage
Today, Russian-made Proton-M launch vehicles, the American Delta-IV Heavy, and the European Ariane-5 are considered the most powerful. The launch of a rocket of this type makes it possible to launch a payload weighing up to 25 tons into low-Earth orbit at an altitude of 200 km. Such devices are capable of carrying approximately 6-10 tons to the geostationary orbit and 3-6 tons to the geostationary orbit.
It is worth stopping at the Proton launch vehicles. He played a significant role in Soviet and Russian space exploration. It was used forimplementation of various manned programs, including for sending modules to the Mir orbital station. With his help, Zarya and Zvezda, the most important blocks of the ISS, were delivered into space. Despite the fact that not all recent launches of rockets of this type have been successful, Proton remains the most popular launch vehicle: approximately 10-12 of its launches are made annually.
Foreign colleagues
"Ariane-5" is an analogue of "Proton". This launch vehicle has a number of differences from the Russian one, in particular, its launch is much more expensive, but it also has a large carrying capacity. Ariane-5 is capable of launching two satellites into geo-intermediate orbit at once. It was the launch of a space rocket of this type that became the beginning of the mission of the famous Rosetta probe, which after ten years of flight became a satellite of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
"Delta-IV" began its "career" in 2002. One of its modifications, Delta IV Heavy, according to 2012, had the largest payload among launch vehicles in the world.
Ingredients of success
Successful rocket launch is based not only on the ideal technical characteristics of the apparatus. Much depends on the choice of starting point. The location of the spaceport plays a significant role in the success of the mission of the launch vehicle.
Energy costs for launching a satellite into orbit are reduced if its inclination angle corresponds to the geographic latitude of the area in which the launch is carried out. The most important thing is to take into account these parameters for launching vehicles delivered to the geostationary orbit. The perfect place to startof such rockets is the equator. Deviation per degree from the equator translates into the need for a speed increase of 100 m / s more. According to this parameter, among more than 20 spaceports in the world, the most advantageous position is occupied by the European Kourou, located at a latitude of 5º, the Brazilian Alcantara (2, 2º), as well as Sea Launch, a floating spaceport that can launch rockets directly from the equator.
Direction matters
Another point is related to the rotation of the planet. Rockets launched from the equator immediately get quite an impressive speed towards the east, which is connected precisely with the rotation of the Earth. In this regard, all flight paths, as a rule, are laid in an easterly direction. Israel is unlucky in this regard. He has to send rockets to the west, making extra efforts to overcome the earth's rotation, since there are hostile states to the east of the country.
Drop field
As already mentioned, spent rocket stages fall to Earth, and therefore a suitable zone should be located near the cosmodrome. A great option is the ocean. Most of the spaceports are therefore located on the coast. A good example is Cape Canaveral and the American spaceport located here.
Russian launch locations
The spaceports of our country were created during the Cold War, and therefore could not be located in the North Caucasus or the Far East. The first test site for launching missiles was Baikonur, located in Kazakhstan. There is low seismic activity, good weather most of the year. The possible fall of missile elements on Asian countries leaves a certain imprint on the work of the test site. At Baikonur, there is a need to carefully lay out the flight path so that the spent stages do not end up in residential areas and missiles do not fall into Chinese airspace.
The Svobodny Cosmodrome, located in the Far East, has the most successful placement of fall fields: they fall on the ocean. Another spaceport where you can often see a rocket launch is Plesetsk. It is located north of all other similar sites in the world and is an ideal place to send vehicles into polar orbits.
Rocket launch statistics
In general, since the beginning of the century, activity at the spaceports of the world has fallen markedly. If we compare the two leading countries in this industry, the United States and Russia, then the first produces significantly fewer launches annually than the second. In the period from 2004 to 2010 inclusive, 102 rockets were launched from the spaceports of America, which successfully completed their task. In addition, there were five unsuccessful launches. In our country, 166 starts were successfully completed, and eight ended in an accident.
Among the unsuccessful launches of devices in Russia, the Proton-M accidents stand out. Between 2010 and 2014, as a result of such failures, not only launch vehicles were lost, but also several Russian satellites, as well as one foreign device. A similar situation with one of the most powerful launch vehicles did not go unnoticed: officials were fired,involved in the occurrence of these failures, projects began to be developed to modernize the space industry of our country.
Today, like 40-50 years ago, people are still interested in space exploration. The current stage is distinguished by the possibility of full-fledged international cooperation, which is successfully implemented in the ISS project. However, many points require refinement, modernization or revision. I would like to believe that with the introduction of new knowledge and technologies, launch statistics will become more and more joyful.
