LE BOURGET, France, June 18 (AVN) - The mock-up of Russia's Baikal first-stage reusable acceleration block for booster rockets made a sensation at the Paris Air Show that opened in the city suburb Le Bourget on Sunday, the Military News Agency learned.
Baikal was designed by the Khrunichev state-owned space centre. Its full-size mock-up is located right at the entrance to the show and arouses huge interest among specialists.
The United States, European nations and, according to some sources, China, are working on development on similar blocks, but only Russia has made a metal mock-up of it so far, Oleg Sokolov, head of the international programmes and projects section in the Khrunichev centre, told the Agency. Baikal's peculiarity is that it ensures return of the acceleration unit to the launch site, not only its landing. This is achieved thanks to installation of return flight means, including the air-breathing jet engine and a control system tried on the Buran space shuttle.
Baikal is intended for 25 launches, but in the future the figure will grow to 200, Sokolov said. He stressed that Baikal was a unified acceleration block that can be used with booster rockets of various class, including US shuttles and France's Ariana. It will be used as the first stage of Russia's Angara light boosters, while medium-class boosters will have two Baikals and Angara-5 heavy boosters four Baikals.
The mock-up exhibited in Le Bourget is fitted with the RD-191 rocket engine and RD-33 air-breathing jet engine, which is used in MIG-29 Fulcrum fighters, Sokolov went on. The developers are also considering a possibility of powering the block by the RD-35 engine that is being designed for YAK-130 planes. Besides, the mock-up has the modified chassis of a combat fighter bomber. This particular device will be used for static strength tests and other ground trials.
The Khrunichev centre is producing several Baikal blocks intended for flight tests. Their first stage will feature an M-4 bomber. Baikal will be mounted on the plane's fuselage. It will separate from the bomber in the air and land autonomously. The first launch of the booster with the Baikal block is planned to happen in two to three years.
According to estimates, application of Baikal blocks on Angara-type boosters will allow to cut expenses on orbiting the payload two to three times. Baikal has the launch weight of 130.4t, dry weight of 17.2t, length of 27.1m, height of 8.5m and wing span of 17.1m. The sustainer rocket engine has the thrust of 196t and the air-breathing jet engine 5t. The return flight radius is 410km, cruising speed 490km/h, landing speed 280km/h and landing run 1,200m.
Baikal was delivered to France by an AN-124 Ruslan (NATO designation Condor) plane by the Volga-Dnieper airlines.