View source for Kosmos-3M

{{Short description|Russian space launch vehicle}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox rocket
|name           = Kosmos-3M<br>(R-14 11K65M)
|image          = Kosmos-3M 1.svg
|upright        = 0.5
|caption        = Drawing of the Kosmos-3M with bulges on [[payload fairing]] for launching [[SAR Lupe]]
|function       = [[Orbit]]al [[launch vehicle]]
|manufacturer   = [[Yuzhnoye Design Office|Yuzhnoye]] / [[Production Corporation Polyot|NPO Polyot]]
|country-origin = [[Soviet Union]], Russia
|cpl-year       = 
|cpl            = 
|height         = {{cvt|32.4|m}}
|diameter       = {{cvt|2.4|m}}
|mass           = {{cvt|109000|kg}}
|stages         = 2
|capacities     = 
 {{Infobox Rocket/Payload|location=[[Low Earth orbit]]|mass={{cvt|1500|kg}}}}
 {{Infobox Rocket/Payload|location=[[Sun-synchronous orbit]]|mass={{cvt|775|kg}}}}

|status         = Retired
|sites          = [[Plesetsk Cosmodrome]],<br/>[[Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 132|Site 132]]<br/>[[Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 133|Site 133/3]]<br/>[[Kapustin Yar|Kapustin Yar Site 107]]
|first          = 15 May 1967
|last           = 27 April 2010
|launches       = 444
|success        = 424
|fail           = 20
|partial        = 
|stagedata      =

{{Infobox Rocket/Stage
|type=stage
|stageno=First
 |name = R-14U
 |engines = 1 [[RD-216]]
 |thrust = {{cvt|1485|kN}}
 |SI = 291 seconds
 |burntime = 131 seconds
 |fuel = [[IRFNA|AK27I]] / [[UDMH]]}}

{{Infobox Rocket/Stage
|type=stage
|stageno=Second
 |name = S3M
 |engines = 1 [[11D49]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Kosmos 11K65M|url=http://www.astronautix.com/k/kosmos11k65m.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011015701/http://www.astronautix.com/k/kosmos11k65m.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 October 2016|access-date=30 May 2017}}</ref>
 |thrust = {{cvt|157|kN}}
 |SI = 293 seconds
 |burntime = 350 + 350 seconds
 |fuel = [[IRFNA|AK27I]]/[[UDMH]]}}
}}

The '''Kosmos-3M''' ({{langx|ru|Космос-3М}} meaning "''Cosmos''", [[GRAU index]] '''11K65M''') was a [[Soviet Union]] and later [[Russia]]n space [[launch vehicle]], member of the [[Kosmos (rocket family)|Kosmos rocket family]]. It was a liquid-fueled two-stage launch vehicle, first launched in 1967 and with over 420 successful launches to its name.

The Kosmos-3M used [[Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine|UDMH]] fuel and [[Red fuming nitric acid|AK27I]] oxidizer (red fuming nitric acid) to lift roughly {{cvt|1400|kg}} of payload into orbit. It differed from the earlier Kosmos-3 in its finer control of the second-stage burn, allowing operators to tune the thrust and even channel it through nozzles that helped orient the rocket for the launching of multiple satellites at one time.

[[Production Corporation Polyot|PO Polyot]] manufactured these launch vehicles in the Russian city of [[Omsk]] for decades. It was originally scheduled to be retired from service in 2011;<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.lenta.ru/news/2009/07/21/rocket/| title=С космодрома Плесецк запущена ракета-носитель с двумя спутниками| date=2009-07-21| publisher=Lenta| access-date=2009-07-21}}</ref> however, in April 2010 the Commander of the Russian Space Forces confirmed that it would be retired by the end of 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vz.ru/society/2010/4/9/391489.html|title=Чтобы виделось лучше|date=9 April 2010|publisher=ВЗГЛЯД|access-date=27 April 2010}}</ref> One further launch, with [[Kanopus-ST]], was planned; however, this was cancelled in late 2012 as the launch vehicle had exceeded its design life while in storage ahead of the launch.

== Launches ==
{{Main|List of Kosmos launches}}

{{Incomplete list|date=March 2020}}
{| class="wikitable"
!Date
!Site
!Payload(s)
!References
|-
||{{nowrap | 19 April 1975}}
||[[Kapustin Yar]]
||[[Aryabhata (satellite)|Aryabhata]]
||
|-
||{{nowrap | 7 June 1979}}
||[[Kapustin Yar]]
||[[Bhaskara (satellite)#Bhaskara-I|Bhaskara I]]
||<ref name="Bhaskara-I">{{cite web |title=Bhaskara-I |url=https://www.isro.gov.in/Spacecraft/bhaskara-i |website=ISRO |publisher=Indian Space Research Organization |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120125723/http://isro.org/satellites/Bhaskara-I.aspx |archive-date=20 November 2012 |url-status=live|access-date=10 January 2020}}</ref>
|-
||{{nowrap | 20 November 1981}}
||[[Kapustin Yar]]
||[[Bhaskara (satellite)#Bhaskara-II|Bhaskara II]]
||<ref>{{cite web |title=Bhaskara-II |url=https://www.isro.gov.in/Spacecraft/bhaskara-ii |website=ISRO |publisher=Indian Space Research Organization |access-date=10 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712104331/https://www.isro.gov.in/Spacecraft/bhaskara-ii |archive-date=12 July 2019 |url-status=live|language=en}}</ref>
|-
||{{nowrap | 28 April 1999}}
||[[Kapustin Yar]]
||[[ABRIXAS]]
||<ref>[https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1999-022A NASA]</ref>
|-
||{{nowrap | 28 June 2000}}
||[[Plesetsk]]
||[[Nadezhda (satellite)|Nadezhda]], Tsinghua-1, [[SNAP-1]]
||<ref>NASA, [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx560.html "SPACEWARN Bulletin"], Number 560, 1 July 2000</ref><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/2000/2000-1%20-%200022.html "SSTL satellites launched on board Cosmos 3M booster"], Flight International 4–10 July 2000, page 22</ref>
|-
||{{nowrap | 28 Nov 2002}}
||[[Plesetsk]]
||[[ALSAT-1]], Mozhayets
||<ref>NASA [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx589.html "SPACEWARN Bulletin"], Number 589, 1 December 2002</ref><ref name="UsuConfGibbonCommissioning">D Gibbon, L Boland, N Bean, Y Hashida, A da Silva Curiel, M Sweeting, P Palmer, [http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/smallsat/2004/All2004/51/ "Commissioning of a Small Satellite Constellation – Methods and Lessons Learned"], 18th AIAA / USU Conference on Small Satellites, 2004</ref>
|-
||{{nowrap | 27 Sept 2003}}
||[[Plesetsk]]
||NigeriaSAT-1, [[BILSAT-1]], [[UK-DMC]] (BNSCSat), Mozhayets-4, [[Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Satellite 4|KAISTSat-4]], Larets, Rubin-4
||<ref name="UsuConfGibbonCommissioning" /><ref>NASA [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx600.html "SPACEWARN Bulletin"], Number 600, 1 November 2003</ref>
|-
||{{nowrap | 2 July 2007}}
||[[Plesetsk Cosmodrome|Plesetsk]]
||[[SAR-Lupe]]-2
||
|-
||{{nowrap | 11 September 2007}}
||[[Plesetsk]]
||Kosmos-2429
||
|-
||{{nowrap | 27 March 2008}}
||[[Plesetsk]]
||SAR-Lupe 4
||
|-
||{{nowrap | 19 June 2008}}
||[[Kapustin Yar]]
||[[Orbcomm]]
||{{citation needed|date=March 2023}}
|-
||{{nowrap | 22 July 2008}}
||[[Plesetsk]]
||SAR-Lupe 5
||
|-
||21 July 2009
||[[Plesetsk]] Site 132/1
||[[Kosmos 2454]] ([[Parus (satellite)|Parus]])<br/>[[Sterkh]]-1
||
|-
|}

== Accidents ==
A total of 446 Kosmos 3Ms were launched from 1967 to 2010, with 22 failures. Some of the more noteworthy ones:

On 22 December 1970, a launch of a target vehicle for ASAT tests lost thrust at liftoff and fell back onto the pad at Plesetsk, exploding and badly damaging it.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

On 26 June 1973, a Kosmos 3M exploded on the pad at Plesetsk during a propellant loading accident, killing nine people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.avionews.com/index.php?corpo=see_news_home.php&news_id=1075972&pagina_chiamante=index.php|title=It happened today... on June 26th|publisher=AvioNews}}</ref>

An attempted launch of an Intercosmos scientific satellite on 3 June 1975 failed 84 seconds into the launch when the first stage engine shut down.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

An attempted launch of a military radar calibration satellite on 25 January 1983 suffered another first stage failure about 40 seconds into launch when the RD-219 started losing thrust. The onboard computer automatically shut the engine off and the launch vehicle fell into the [[Northern Dvina]]. Due to the tense relations between the U.S. and Soviet Union at this time, the U.S. military was widely suspected of having shot down the launch vehicle and General Secretary [[Yuri Andropov]] personally informed of this possibility. However, a group of locals ice fishing in the Dvina had witnessed the booster plunge into the river and reported what they'd seen to authorities. After this and a quick examination of telemetry, sabotage was ruled out. The failure was traced to high-frequency combustion instability, which had been a problem with the RD-219 engine and was also responsible for the 1970 and 1975 Kosmos 3M failures. The engine was redesigned and no further launches were lost due to first stage engine failures.{{citation needed |date=May 2017}}

More recently, on 21 November 2000, a Kosmos 3M launcher failed to place the [[QuickBird|QuickBird 1]] satellite into orbit due to a failure of its second stage. The launch vehicle and satellite reentered the atmosphere over [[Uruguay]], and an inquest into the accident was inconclusive.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

== See also ==
* [[Comparison of orbital launcher families]]
* [[Comparison of orbital launch systems]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.russianspaceweb.com/cosmos3.html Cosmos – 1, 3, 3M and 3MU ]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120128151457/http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/kos1k65m.htm Encyclopedia Astronautica entry]

{{Russian launch vehicles}}
{{Orbital launch systems}}

[[Category:1967 in spaceflight]]
[[Category:2010 in spaceflight]]
[[Category:Space launch vehicles of Russia]]
[[Category:Space launch vehicles of the Soviet Union]]