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GIRD
The Moscow-based Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (also 'Group for the Investigation of Reactive Engines and Reactive Flight' and 'Jet Propulsion Study Group') (russian: Группа изучения реактивного движения, Gruppa izucheniya reaktivnogo dvizheniya, better known for its Russian abbreviation , GIRD) was a Soviet research bureau founded in 1931 to study various aspects of rocketry. GIRD launched the first Soviet liquid propellant rocket in August 1933. In November 1933 it was incorporated into the Reactive Scientific Research Institute (, , РНИИ, RNII). History The inspiration for establishing the organisation came from Fredrich Tsander, a scientist, inventor, and romantic who dreamed of space travel. Tsander had begun to consider rocket-powered interplanetary flight as early as 1907 and was one of the founding members of the Society for the Study of Interplanetary Communication in 1924. In September 1931 Tsander formed the Moscow-based ' ...
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Liquid-propellant Rocket
A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket utilizes a rocket engine that uses liquid propellants. Liquids are desirable because they have a reasonably high density and high specific impulse (''I''sp). This allows the volume of the propellant tanks to be relatively low. It is also possible to use lightweight centrifugal turbopumps to pump the rocket propellant from the tanks into the combustion chamber, which means that the propellants can be kept under low pressure. This permits the use of low-mass propellant tanks that do not need to resist the high pressures needed to store significant amounts of gasses, resulting in a low mass ratio for the rocket. An inert gas stored in a tank at a high pressure is sometimes used instead of pumps in simpler small engines to force the propellants into the combustion chamber. These engines may have a higher mass ratio, but are usually more reliable, and are therefore used widely in satellites for orbit maintenance. Liquid rockets can be mo ...
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Reactive Scientific Research Institute
Reactive Scientific Research Institute (commonly known by the joint initialism RNII; russian: Реактивный научно-исследовательский институт, Reaktivnyy nauchno-issledovatel’skiy institut) was one of the first Soviet research and development institutions to focus on rocket technology. RNII developed the Katyusha rocket launcher and its research and development were very important for later achievements of the Soviet rocket and space programs. History The 'Reactive Scientific Research Institute' (RNII) was officially established on 21 September 1933 by combining the Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD) with the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL). Personnel based in Leningrad were relocated to Moscow. Background Before 1931 there were two Soviet organizations devoted to researching rocket technology, the Leningrad-based GDL, and the mainly Moscow-based GIRD. The benefits of combining the two groups were recognized, particularly by Ma ...
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Sergei Korolev
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ kərɐˈlʲɵf, Ru-Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.ogg; ukr, Сергій Павлович Корольов, Serhiy Pavlovych Korol'ov, sɛrˈɦij ˈpavlovɪtʃ koroˈlʲou̯) 14 January 1966) was a lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. He is regarded by many as the father of practical astronautics. He was involved in the development of the R-7 Rocket, Sputnik 1, launching Laika, Sputnik 3, the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body, Belka and Strelka, the first human being, Yuri Gagarin, into space, Voskhod 1, and the first person, Alexei Leonov, to conduct a spacewalk. Although Korolev trained as an aircraft designer, his greatest strengths proved to be in design integration, organization and strategic ...
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Sergey Korolev
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ kərɐˈlʲɵf, Ru-Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.ogg; ukr, Сергій Павлович Корольов, Serhiy Pavlovych Korol'ov, sɛrˈɦij ˈpavlovɪtʃ koroˈlʲou̯) 14 January 1966) was a lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. He is regarded by many as the father of practical astronautics. He was involved in the development of the R-7 Rocket, Sputnik 1, launching Laika, Sputnik 3, the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body, Belka and Strelka, the first human being, Yuri Gagarin, into space, Voskhod 1, and the first person, Alexei Leonov, to conduct a spacewalk. Although Korolev trained as an aircraft designer, his greatest strengths proved to be in design integration, organization and strategic planni ...
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Friedrich Zander
Georg Arthur Constantin Friedrich Zander (also Tsander, russian: Фридрих Артурович Цандер, tr. ; lv, Frīdrihs Canders, – 28 March 1933), was a Baltic German pioneer of rocketry and spaceflight in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. He designed the first liquid-fueled rocket to be launched in the Soviet Union, GIRD-X, and made many important theoretical contributions to the road to space. Biography Zander was born in Riga, Russian Empire, into a Baltic German commoner family. His father Arthur Georg Zander was a doctor, but Friedrich Zander was fascinated by other natural sciences. Zander was enrolled in the Riga urban technical high school in 1898, for a seven-year program in which he was a top student. During this time, he became acquainted with the work of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and space travel became his foremost scientific passion. While studying engineering at the Riga Polytechnic Institute, he carried out trajectory calculations for ...
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Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov
Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov (July 29, 1900 – March 3, 1974) was a Soviet engineer who was a pioneer of spacecraft design and rocketry. Mikhail Tikhonravov was born in Vladimir, Russia. He attended the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy from 1922 to 1925, where he was exposed to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's ideas of spaceflight. After graduation and until 1931 worked in several aircraft industries and was engaged in developing gliders. From 1931 and on, devoted himself to the development of the field of rocketry. In 1932, he joined Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD), as one of the four brigade leaders. His brigade built the GIRD-09 rocket, fueled by liquid oxygen and jellied gasoline, and launched on August 17, 1933. Tikhonravov became part of the Reactive Scientific Research Institute (RNII) when GIRD and the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) merged in 1933. From 1938 Tikhonravov researched rocket engines with liquid fuel and developed rockets for the purpose of upper atmosph ...
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Mikhail Tikhonravov
Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov (July 29, 1900 – March 3, 1974) was a Soviet engineer who was a pioneer of spacecraft design and rocketry. Mikhail Tikhonravov was born in Vladimir, Russia. He attended the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy from 1922 to 1925, where he was exposed to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's ideas of spaceflight. After graduation and until 1931 worked in several aircraft industries and was engaged in developing gliders. From 1931 and on, devoted himself to the development of the field of rocketry. In 1932, he joined Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (GIRD), as one of the four brigade leaders. His brigade built the GIRD-09 rocket, fueled by liquid oxygen and jellied gasoline, and launched on August 17, 1933. Tikhonravov became part of the Reactive Scientific Research Institute (RNII) when GIRD and the Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) merged in 1933. From 1938 Tikhonravov researched rocket engines with liquid fuel and developed rockets for the purpose of upper atmos ...
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Gas Dynamics Laboratory
Gas Dynamics Laboratory (GDL) (russian: Газодинамическая лаборатория) was the first Soviet research and development laboratory to focus on rocket technology. Its activities were initially devoted to the development of solid propellant rockets, which became the prototypes of missiles in the Katyusha rocket launcher, as well as liquid propellant rockets, which became the prototypes of Soviet rockets and spacecraft. At the end of 1933 it became part of the Reactive Scientific Research Institute (RNII). A number of craters on the far side of the Moon are named after GDL employees. History of the organization * First rocket research and development organization in the USSR.heading=Gas-Dynamic Laboratory * Created on 1 March 1921 in Moscow as the "Laboratory for the development of inventions by N. I. Tikhomirov" as part of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army. * In 1928 the laboratory was relocated to Leningrad. * In July 1928, was renam ...
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Hybrid-propellant Rocket
A hybrid-propellant rocket is a rocket with a rocket motor that uses rocket propellants in two different phases: one solid and the other either gas or liquid. The hybrid rocket concept can be traced back to the early 1930s. Hybrid rockets avoid some of the disadvantages of solid rockets like the dangers of propellant handling, while also avoiding some disadvantages of liquid rockets like their mechanical complexity. Because it is difficult for the fuel and oxidizer to be mixed intimately (being different states of matter), hybrid rockets tend to fail more benignly than liquids or solids. Like liquid rocket engines, hybrid rocket motors can be shut down easily and the thrust is throttleable. The theoretical specific impulse (I_) performance of hybrids is generally higher than solid motors and lower than liquid engines. I_ as high as 400 s has been measured in a hybrid rocket using metalized fuels. Hybrid systems are more complex than solid ones, but they avoid significant ...
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Valentin Glushko
Valentin Petrovich Glushko (russian: Валенти́н Петро́вич Глушко́; uk, Валентин Петрович Глушко, Valentyn Petrovych Hlushko; born 2 September 1908 – 10 January 1989) was a Soviet engineer and the main designer of rocket engines in the Soviet space program during the heights of the Space Race between United States and the Soviet Union. Biography At the age of fourteen he became interested in aeronautics after reading novels by Jules Verne. He is known to have written a letter to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1923. He studied at an Odessa trade school, where he learned to be a sheet metal worker. After graduation he apprenticed at a hydraulics fitting plant. He was first trained as a fitter, then moved to lathe operator. During his time in Odessa, Glushko performed experiments with explosives. These were recovered from unexploded artillery shells that had been left behind by the White Guards during their retreat. From 1924 to 1925 ...
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Luna Programme
The Luna programme (from the Russian word "Luna" meaning "Moon"), occasionally called ''Lunik'' by western media, was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. Fifteen were successful, each designed as either an orbiter or lander, and accomplished many firsts in space exploration. They also performed many experiments, studying the Moon's chemical composition, gravity, temperature, and radiation. Twenty-four spacecraft were formally given the Luna designation, although more were launched. Those that failed to reach orbit were not publicly acknowledged at the time, and not assigned a Luna number. Those that failed in low Earth orbit were usually given Cosmos designations. The estimated cost of the Luna programme in 1964 was US$6–10 billion. Mission types The name ''Luna'' was used to designate a variety of spacecraft designs, to achieve several types of missions: Impactors Impactor spacecraft are designed to hi ...
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Regenerative Cooling (rocket)
Regenerative cooling, in the context of rocket engine design, is a configuration in which some or all of the propellant is passed through tubes, channels, or in a jacket around the combustion chamber or nozzle to cool the engine. This is effective because the propellants are often cryogenic. The heated propellant is then fed into a special gas-generator or injected directly into the main combustion chamber. History In 1857 Carl Wilhelm Siemens introduced the concept of regenerative cooling. On 10 May 1898, James Dewar used regenerative cooling to become the first to statically liquefy hydrogen. The concept of regenerative cooling was also mentioned in 1903 in an article by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Robert Goddard built the first regeneratively cooled engine in 1923, but rejected the scheme as too complex. A regeneratively cooled engine was built by the Italian researcher, Gaetano Arturo Crocco in 1930. The first Soviet engines to employ the technique were Fridrikh Tsander's OR- ...
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