Decommissioned nuclear missiles now put to use as launch vehicles for satellites, payloads

Remember all those hundreds, perhaps thousands of missiles that the former Soviet Union built to keep up with the US during the Cold War and the "Detente" years? Now decommissioned, the new Russia has been struggling with the task of figuring out what to do with all those rockets, and in particular the intercontinental ballistic missiles. After all, it's not like the job market for such missiles has expanded.

In the past, destruction of the missiles was seen as the only option, but there's a catch -- the process produces highly toxic by-products and is very dangerous to the environment. Now, engineers and entrepreneurs are teaming up to get rid of them in an entirely new way -- convert them into civilian vehicles for the launch of satellites and payloads, and destroy them in the process once they perform their jobs.

The irony is that this idea is nothing new, as the treaties that were signed in order to begin the process of reducing offensive strategic arsenals apparently took into consideration the possibility of using the decommissioned missiles as space vehicles. No international or Russian laws are infringed upon by this process, and obviously there is no objection to having companies profit from the use of the missiles for civilian purposes, according to a special report for Argenpress by Yuri Zaitsev, an expert on the staff of the Institute of Space Explorations at the  Academy of Sciences of Russia.

One of the products of this program is the "Rokot," developed at the Mikhail Jrunichev Space Center in Moscow, out of what used to be the Soviet RS-18 ballistic missile, also known in the west as the SS-18 Model 2. This particular modification has turned out to be extremely reliable -- out of more than 150 launches, only 3 have failed. The Rokot has already been used to launch some 20 foreign satellites into orbit, and can handle more than a ton of payload.

The Mashinostroyenie production company in the city of Reutov has also taken advantage of the RS-18, but using their own version of the SS-19 Model 1. It has created the "Strela" vehicle, which can handle payloads of more than a ton and a half, and is launched from silos installed at what used to be the Svobodniy Soviet missile base, on the eastern portion of the country.

Even more interested is the program to transform ballistic missile submarines into space vehicle launch pads. This work is being performed by the Victor Makeev missile center in the Urals. This organization developed the "Volna" rocket from what used to be known as the RSM-50 (SS-N-18) ballistic missile. The first launch of this vehicle is scheduled to take place within the next 60 days and it will carry the first solar sail spacecraft into orbit. These launches are planned to take place from submerged submarines at the Nionoks naval range.

One of the distinct advantages of using recycled ballistic missiles and their original launch silos is that the vehicle can remain in place, fueled and ready for launch at any moment. There is no need to store the rocket in a special facility and then wheel it out to the launch pad shortly before the launch. This also means that the payload can usually be loaded and/or replaced onto the rocket without having to defuel and refuel, or move the missile, because this is how the facility and missile were designed to operate.

In the opinion of experts in the field, even though the demand for launch vehicles greatly outweighs the supply, it is estimated that the largest such modified missile, the "Dnieper," could be used in as many as 16 to 18 launches this year. The cost of using this vehicle for a launch ranges between a low of $15 million and a high of $20 million. The former is considered to be a good price, but the latter becomes expensive as compared to the competition.

However, this program using Russian missiles converted to civilian rockets has an advantage over its competition -- reliability of the vehicles is high, and the time required to prepare the vehicle for launch is minimal.

FMI: www.russianspaceweb.com