Energia Launch Vehicle - Variants

Energy-M

Energia-M (the product of 217GK Neutron) was the smallest rocket in the family, with a reduction of about 3 times the carrying capacity of the LV Energia, that is, with a carrying capacity of 30-35 tons. The number of side blocks was reduced from 4 to 2, instead of 4 RD-0120 engines , only one was installed on the central unit. In 1989-1991 years. was complex tests, the launch was planned in 1994. However, in 1993, Energia-M lost the state tender (tender) for the creation of a new heavy carrier rocket; the results of the competition gave preference to the carrier rocket "Angara" (the first launch took place on July 9, 2014). The full-scale mock-up of the rocket with all components was stored at Baikonur.

Energia II (Hurricane)

"Energia II" (also called Hurricane / Uragan) was designed as fully reusable. Unlike the basic modification of "Energy", which was partially reusable (like the US Space Shuttle), the design of the "Hurricane" allowed to return all the elements of the system "Energy" - "Buran", similar to the concept of Space Shuttle. The central block of the "Hurricane" was supposed to enter the atmosphere, plan and land on an ordinary airfield.

All elements of the system were returned to Earth for reuse, and the central block of the "Hurricane" was supposed to enter the atmosphere, plan and land on an ordinary airfield in an unmanned mode. It is not difficult to understand that if using the Proton to create a 100-ton space station in space, it is necessary to expend five rockets, each of which will deliver one 20 ton block (module) to orbit, and these modules need to be docked in space, then when using the "Energia" rocket, it would be possible to develop an optimal 100-ton space station, to carry out all the necessary checks on the ground and put it into orbit by one rocket.

Vulkan (Hercules)

The heaviest modification: its launch weight was 4747 tons. Using the 8 side blocks and the central block of Energia-M as the last stage, the Vulkan rocket (incidentally, this name coincided with the name of another Soviet heavy rocket, the development of which was canceled for several years before), or "Hercules" (which coincides with the design name of the heavy carrier rocket NN-1 ) was supposed to lead up to 175-200 tons to a low near-earth orbit. With the help of this colossal missile, it was planned to carry out the most grandiose projects: the lunar settlement, the construction of space cities, a manned flight to Mars, and so on.