Dnepr

Function	Orbitalcarrier rocket
Manufacturer	Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (design) Yuzhmash (manufacturing) Khartron (control system)
Country of origin	Soviet Union (original build), Ukraine (commercial launches after 1999)
Cost per launch	US$29 million[1]
Size
Height	34.3 m (113 ft)
Diameter	3 m (9.8 ft)
Mass	211,000 kg (465,000 lb)
Stages	3
Capacity
Payload toLEO
Mass	4,500 kilograms (9,900 lb)
Payload to theISS
Mass	3,200 kilograms (7,100 lb)
Payload toSSO
Mass	2,300 kilograms (5,100 lb)
Payload toTLI
Mass	550 kilograms (1,210 lb) (with ST-1)
Associated rockets
Based on	R-36M
Launch history
Status	Retired[1]
Launch sites	Site 109/95,Baikonur LC-13,Yasny
Total launches	22
Success(es)	21
Failure	1
First flight	21 April 1999
Last flight	25 March 2015
First stage
Powered by	1RD-264 module (fourRD-263 engines)
Maximum thrust	4,520 kN (1,020,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	318 s (3.12 km/s)
Burn time	130 seconds
Propellant	N2O4 /UDMH
Second stage
Powered by	1RD-0255 module (oneRD-0256 main engine and oneRD-0257vernier)
Maximum thrust	755 kN (170,000 lbf)
Specific impulse	340 s (3.3 km/s)
Burn time	190 seconds
Propellant	N2O4 / UDMH
Third stage
Powered by	1RD-864
Maximum thrust	20.2 kN (4,500 lbf)
Specific impulse	309 s (3.03 km/s)
Burn time	1,000 seconds
Propellant	N2O4 /UDMH
[edit on Wikidata]

TheDnepr rocket (Russian:Днепр,romanized: Dnepr;Ukrainian:Дніпро,romanized: Dnipró) was a spacelaunch vehicle named after theDnieper River. It was a convertedICBM used for launchingartificial satellites into orbit, operated by launch service providerISC Kosmotras. The first launch, on April 21, 1999, successfully placedUoSAT-12, a 350 kg demonstration mini-satellite, into a 650 km circularLow Earth orbit.^[2][3] It was also known in some older sources during development as the Ikar.^{[4][better source needed]}

The Dnepr was based on theR-36MUTTHIntercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) – called theSS-18 Satan by NATO – designed in the 1970s by theYuzhnoe Design Bureau inDnepropetrovsk,Ukrainian SSR. among the outstanding authors of the project there are people likeBoris Gubanov,Sergey Sopov.^[5]

The Dnepr control system was developed and produced by theJSC "Khartron",Kharkiv. The Dnepr was athree-stage rocket using storablehypergolic liquid propellants. The launch vehicles used for satellite launches have been withdrawn from ballistic missile service with theRussian Strategic Rocket Forces and stored for commercial use. A group of a total of 150 ICBMs were allowed under certain geopolitical disarmament protocols to be converted for use, and can be launched through 2020. The Dnepr was launched from the Russian-controlledBaikonur cosmodrome inKazakhstan and theDombarovsky launch base, near Yasny, in the Orenburg region of Russia.

In February 2015, following a year of strained relations including theEuromaidan and theRusso-Ukrainian war, Russia announced that it would sever its "joint program with Ukraine to launch Dnepr rockets and [was] no longer interested in buying UkrainianZenit boosters, deepening problems for [Ukraine's] space program and its strugglingYuzhmash factory."^[6] HoweverISC Kosmotras reported that they would continue to fulfill their obligations for three Dnepr launches in 2015,^[7] of which only one took place.^[8]

By the end of 2016, no further launch had materialized and the remaining customers had switched to alternative launch providers.^{[9][10][11][1]}

ISC Kosmotras proposed using a Dnepr rocket to launch a modified version of theSoyuz spacecraft with no orbital module and reduced service module, intended as a recoverable microgravity laboratory or an emergency vehicle for cosmonaut rescue.^{[12][better source needed]}

Business magnateElon Musk tried to purchase refurbished Dnepr rockets for a low price from Russia but returned empty-handed after failing to find any that were affordable. This led him to the creation of a successful private rocket launch company now known asSpaceX.^[13][14]

The Dnepr launch vehicle had only a small number of modifications compared to the R-36M ICBM in service. The main difference was the payload adapter located in the space head module and modified flight-control unit. This baseline version could lift 3,600 kg into a 300 kmlow Earth orbit at aninclination of 50.6°, or 2,300 kg to a 300 kmSun-synchronous orbit at an inclination of 98.0°. On a typical mission the Dnepr deployed a larger main payload and a secondary payload ofMiniaturized satellites andCubeSats.

Before the Dnepr entered commercial service it was in service with theStrategic Rocket Forces which launched the ICBM version over 160 times with a reliability of 97%. The rocket had been used several times for commercial purposes with a single failure.

The Dnepr has at two points held the record for the most satellites orbited in a single launch; the April 2007 launch with 14 payloads held the record until 20 November 2013, when an AmericanMinotaur I placed 29 satellites and two experiment packages into orbit.^[15] The next day a Dnepr re-took the record, placing 32 satellites and an experiment package bolted to the upper stage into low Earth orbit.^[16] This record was broken by anAntares launch in January 2014 which carried 34 spacecraft.

The committee investigating the failed launch on July 26, 2006, concluded that the failure was caused by a malfunctioning of the pumping hydraulic drive of combustion chamber #4. The control malfunctioning brought about the disturbances, which led to the roll instability, excessive dispersions of the yaw and pitch angles. Thrust termination occurred at 74 seconds after lift-off. The crash site was located 150 km from the launch pad in an unpopulated area of Kazakhstan. Toxic propellants polluted the crash site, forcing Russia to pay US$1.1m in compensation.^[28] The rocket used for this launch was more than twenty years old. Procedures for launch have been changed to prevent future malfunctions of this kind.

• Comparison of orbital launchers families
• Dnipro (anti-air missile)
• Minotaur (rocket family), US launch vehicles made from converted ICBMs

Wikimedia Commons has media related toDnepr (rocket).

• "Kosmotras launch service provider".
• "DNEPR User's guide"(PDF).MIT. November 2001.
• "Astronautix entry - R-36M2". Archived fromthe original on 2006-07-11.
• "Space Calendar (JPL)".NASA.
• "Riding the strangest rocket in the world".BBC. March 2010.

• Yuzhmash space launch vehicles

• Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments
• CS1 Russian-language sources (ru)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Russian-language text
• Articles containing Ukrainian-language text
• All articles lacking reliable references
• Articles lacking reliable references from August 2025
• Articles lacking reliable references from February 2025
• Commons category link from Wikidata