The Tsyklon-3, also known as Tsiklon-3 and Cyclone-3 (known as SL-14 by the United States DoD), GRAU index 11K68, was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, and subsequently Ukrainian

orbital Orbital may refer to: Sciences Chemistry and physics * Atomic orbital * Molecular orbital * Hybrid orbital Astronomy and space flight * Orbit ** Earth orbit Medicine and physiology * Orbit (anatomy), also known as the ''orbital bone'' * Orbito ...

carrier rocket A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and system ...

. Tsyklon 3 rocket body debris accounts for more than 500 pieces of space debris.

Overview

Tsyklon-3 launching a Meteor-3 satellite at left A derivative of the R-36 ICBM, and a member of the Tsyklon family, Tsyklon-3 made its maiden flight on 24 June 1977, and was retired on 30 January 2009. The Ukrainian-built Tsyklon rockets were retired in favour of future all-Russian carrier rockets, such as the

Angara The Angara ( Buryat and mn, Ангар, ''Angar'', "Cleft"; russian: Ангара́, ''Angará'') is a major river in Siberia, which traces a course through Russia's Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai. It drains out of Lake Baikal and is ...

, and because they were fuelled by toxic

hypergolic propellant A hypergolic propellant is a rocket propellant combination used in a rocket engine, whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other. The two propellant components usually consist of a fuel and an oxidizer. Th ...

Successor

Ukraine was developing a commercial derivative of the Tsyklon-3, the Tsyklon-4. The development of Tsyklon-4 ended in 2015 after Ukraine's development partner

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

pulled out of the project. Tsyklon-4 never made it to launch pad. Another successor to the Tsyklon rockets, Cyclone-4M (based on Tsyklon-4 designs), is under development as of 2021 for use in the commercial market.

Debris

2013 loss of Ecuadorian satellite after impact with Tsyklon-3 space debris

On 23 May 2013 at approximately 05:38 UTC, the

Ecuadorian Ecuadorians ( es, ecuatorianos) are people identified with the South American country of Ecuador. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Ecuadorians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collect ...

satellite NEE-01 ''Pegaso'' passed very close to the spent

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 ...

of a 1985 Tsyklon-3 rocket over the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

. While there was no direct collision between the satellite and upper stage, ''Pegaso'' is believed to have suffered a "glancing blow" after passing through a debris cloud around the Tsyklon stage and striking one of the small pieces. After the incident, the satellite was found to be "spinning wildly over two of its axes" and unable to communicate with its ground station. Efforts to reestablish control of ''Pegaso'' failed, and on 28 August 2013 the decision was made by EXA and the Ecuadorian government to declare the satellite lost.

Other Debris events

The Tsyklon-3 rocket body used to launch the Meteor 2-16 on August 18, 1987 has fragmented five times between 1988 and 2006 due in part to propellant left inside the vehicle, resulting in more than 100 pieces of debris many of which are still in orbit.

External links

Encyclopedia Astronautica- Tsiklon 3

References

{{Russian launch vehicles Yuzhmash space launch vehicles 2009 in spaceflight Space launch vehicles of the Soviet Union Space launch vehicles of Ukraine Derelict satellites orbiting Earth