The Briz-K, Briz-KM and Briz-M ( meaning ''Breeze-K, KM and M'') are Russian

liquid-propellant rocket A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket uses a rocket engine burning liquid rocket propellant, liquid propellants. (Alternate approaches use gaseous or Solid-propellant rocket , solid propellants.) Liquids are desirable propellants because th ...

upper stage A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own Rocket engine, engines and Rocket propellant, propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of anoth ...

s manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used on the Proton-M and Angara A5. The upper stages were also used on

Rokot Rokot ( meaning ''Rumble'' or ''Boom''), also transliterated Rockot, was a Soviet Union (later Russian) space launch vehicle that was capable of launching a payload of into a Earth orbit with 63° inclination. It was based on the UR-100N ( ...

, one of Russia's smaller launchers, before its retirement in 2019.

Characteristics

Briz-K and Briz-KM

Briz-K, GRAU index 14S12, is a single-piece structure with a conical tank compartment and the engine located in a recess in the fuel tank. Briz-KM ( GRAU index 14S45) is an improved version of Briz-K. The Briz-K and Briz-KM were used as a third stage of the

launch vehicles.

Briz-M

Briz-M, GRAU index 14S43, is designed for injecting large payloads into a low, medium-height or high

geosynchronous orbit A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital ...

. Briz-M is a twin upper stage consisting of a core module (using Briz-KM as the baseline) and a jettisonable add-on toroidal tank surrounding the core. It is powered by a pump-fed gimballed main engine, the 14D30.Proton/Breeze-M
International Launch Services, retrieved on 23 March 2009 The main engine can be restarted 8 times in flight and allows precision placement of the spacecraft into orbit. Orbital lifetime of the Briz-M is limited by available onboard battery power and is currently 24 hours. The total time of the standard Proton/Briz-M mission to geosynchronous orbit profile from lift-off to spacecraft separation is approximately 9.3 hours. A Proton launch vehicle with a Briz-M upper stage can also inject payloads to Earth escape trajectories. One of system's design goals has been to keep overall dimensions as small as possible. Briz-M takes much less space on board the launch vehicle compared to its predecessor, the

Block D Blok D () is an upper stage used on Soviet and later Russian expendable launch systems, including the N1, Proton-K and Zenit. The stage (and its derivatives) has been included in more than 320 launched rockets . By 2002 its modification B ...

upper stage, leaving freed volume for the cargo. A Proton with a Briz-M can place a 4,385 kg satellite, such as an A2100AX, into a target orbit with an apogee of 35,786 km, a perigee of 7,030 km, and an inclination of 17.3°. Maximum lift capability of the Briz-M stage is 5,645 kg to geosynchronous transfer orbit with a 1,500 m/s residual velocity to GSO. A tandem launch of multiple spacecraft is also supported, with the ability to inject the spacecraft into different orbits.

History

The maiden flight of Briz-M took place on 5 July 1999. The flight was a failure, due to the explosion of the carrier rocket's second stage. The flight had a communications satellite as a payload. Briz-M completed its first successful flight on 6the June 2000, when it delivered the Gorizont communications satellite into orbit. It is planned to use Briz-M with the A3 and A5 versions of the future Angara rocket family.

Launch chronology

Proton-M/Briz-M

Rokot/Briz-K/KM

Angara A5/Briz-M

References

* {{Upper stages Expendable space launch systems Rocket stages Space launch vehicles of Russia