The Briz-K, Briz-KM and Briz-M (russian: Бриз-К, КM and M meaning ''Breeze-K, KM and M'') are Russian liquid-propellant rocket

orbit insertion Orbit insertion is the spaceflight operation of adjusting a spacecraft’s momentum, in particular to allow for entry into a stable orbit around a planet, moon, or other celestial body. This maneuver involves either deceleration from a speed ...

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 engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is ...

s manufactured by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and used on the

Proton-M The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet-developed Proton. It is built by Khrunichev, and launched from sites 81 and 200 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Ka ...

and Angara A5. The upper stages were also used on

Rokot Rokot (russian: Рокот meaning ''Rumble'' or ''Boom''), also transliterated Rockot, was a 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 (SS- ...

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

Characteristics

Briz-K and Briz-KM

Briz-K,

GRAU index The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...

14S12, is a single-piece structure with a conical tank compartment and the engine located in a recess in the fuel tank. Briz-KM (

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,

14S43, is designed for injecting large payloads into a low, medium-height or high geosynchronous orbit. 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 The S5.98M, also known as the 14D30, is a Russian rocket engine, currently powering the Briz upper stages. It was designed by KB KhIMMASH, the famous Isaev designed bureau, and it burns UDMH and in a gas-generator cycle. See also *Briz-M - T ...

.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 (russian: Блок Д meaning Block 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 ...

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 The A2100 is a model of communications satellite spacecraft made by Lockheed Martin Space Systems. It is used as the foundation for telecommunications payloads in geosynchronous orbit, as well as GOES-R weather satellites and GPS Block IIIA satel ...

, 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 Gorizont (russian: Горизонт, ''Horizon''), GRAU index 11F662, is a series of 35 Russian, previously Soviet, geosynchronous communications satellites launched between 1978 and 2000. The programme was started in order to develop a satelli ...

communications satellite into orbit. It is planned to use Briz-M with the A3 and A5 versions of the future

Angara rocket family The Angara rocket family (Russian: Ангара) is a family of launch vehicles being developed by the Moscow-based Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. The launch vehicles are to put between and into low Earth orbit and are ...

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