Someone else's space: the hard way of the Brazilian space program

It is probably fair enough to say that most of what is now being actively discussed by the public in the space industry is a legacy of two superpowers of the past. On the one hand, the United States with Apollo, landing on the moon and the Space Shuttles, on the other - the USSR and Russia as its immediate successor with the Unions and a whole series of orbital stations, the successor of which is largely the ISS.

Europe is lagging slightly behind with its ESA and its outstanding scientific missions. Few people will remember China, often forgetting in discussions about the presence of his own manned cosmonautics. Very rare are references to other countries with a developed space industry, such as Japan and India, and, even more so, the “outsiders” of the space club, such as Iran, Korea (either to choose) or Israel (although, in my opinion, very unfairly) . But what about those who, it would seem, possessed or possessed at one time all the possibilities to get into this “club”, but could not launch the satellite into orbit on their own?

With this post I would like to open a small cycle of articles on this topic, and I think it’s worth starting with Brazil, which has a long and complete failure history of trying to get into space.

Stage one: exit from the atmosphere

The first steps in the space rocket industry were made back in the 60s. Brazil did not need to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles, either because of the lack of significant pressure for them, and because of the unconditional regional leadership and the absence of a significant desire to get involved in the conflict between the US and the USSR. In this regard, the cosmos for it from the very beginning had mainly purely applied and peaceful meaning. It is worth noting the 22nd President of the country, Zhaniu Quadros , a very interesting person, who only six months after the inauguration resigned under pressure from the opposition. For us, it is interesting because on August 3, 1961, under the impression of Gagarin’s flight, he signs a decree establishing the National Commission on Space Activity (GOCNAE).

In 1964, a military organization of a similar nature was created, which began the construction of the country's first Barreira – Infern cosmodrome (if literally: “the border of Hell”), where both civilian and military specialists worked. The result was a solid rocket Sonda I, which was a copy of the American Arcas in a two-stage version of Boosted, but made entirely on Brazilian power. A little less than four meters long and weighing about 60 kg it was able to carry 4.5 kg of payload to a height of about 70 km. Its first launch was carried out in December 1965. There were a total of 9 launches until a new member of the family appeared.


Sonda I, length 3950 mm

The next step was the creation of Sonda II based on the Canadian single-stage meteorological rockets Black Brant III . The important difference is that it was no longer just a copy with minor changes: the engineers took part of the technical solutions, but the rocket itself was generally developed and assembled in Brazil. With a length of about 4 meters and a mass of 370 kg, it was able to carry about 30 kg of equipment to an altitude of 180 km. A mixture of ammonium perchlorate and aluminum powder in polybutadiene was used as a fuel. The first launch, concurrently becoming the first suborbital launch of Brazil, happened in July 1969. It is worth noting that here the Englishmen are a little different, indicating that its launches were carried out from 1990 to 1996.

Even then, the idea arose to create an orbital carrier by further increasing and complicating the already existing developments in the field of meteorological satellites. The first steps in this direction were made back in 1974 with the parallel development and use of more advanced suborbital rockets as a kind of tests.

The next member of the family, Sonda III, was a further development of the previous member. Its development was begun in 1971 under the leadership of Jaime Boskov, who had 10-year experience in France, which already had its own means of launching by that moment. He largely systematized the work and organized a full-fledged cooperation of the "civil" and "military" parts of the industry. The rocket became a two-stage, while, as the second stage, the slightly modified Sonda II was implemented, and the Brazilian engine S30 engine was put on the first stage. Its size has increased dramatically to 8 meters with a total mass of one and a half tons, it was able to deliver about 140 kg per 250 km. The first launch was carried out on February 26, 1976.

Later, 2 more variants of the rocket were made: with an updated second-stage engine and a generally updated second-stage Sonda IIIA. In total from 1976 to 2002 about 30 launches were carried out.


Various modifications of Sonda III

Finally, the last “suborbital” stage before the development of a full-fledged booster rocket was the Sonda IV. Also solid and two-stage, it became an important step in the development of a number of technical solutions, without which it was difficult to make an orbital carrier (if you are not from Japan, of course). For the first time, Brazilian rockets on it were used to control thrust vectoring, orientation systems were installed, and installation was installed on a full launch pad instead of a ramp that sets the initial direction. Further engine improvements also continued. Finally, after extensive testing on November 21, 1984, the first launch of a more than seven-ton rocket was carried out. As a result, 500 kg of the test load were raised to a height of 616 km.

Later, 3 more launches were carried out, while, unlike previous missiles, the main goal was precisely the testing of various structural elements. After that, Brazil came close to creating a light-class launch vehicle capable of delivering satellites to near-Earth orbit.

Stage Two: Subsequent Failures

After 20 years of experience in developing suborbital rockets from scratch, the plan for creating the first orbital carrier seemed quite simple: the first 4 stages from Sonda IV were placed around another, thus serving as the second stage. The third, in general, repeated the second step from Sonda IV, and the small solid fourth was to bring the satellite into the target orbit. It was assumed that such a carrier, called plainly VLS – 1 (in general, can be translated as “carrier rocket for satellites”) would be able to deliver up to 350 kg of payload to orbits with an apogee from 250 to 1000 km. As early as 1982, the construction of the full-fledged Alcantara cosmodrome began, the first launch of which was the Sonda II in early 1990.


Alcantara cosmodrome, view from orbit


VLS – 1 on the launch pad. The concept of the 80's has not changed

Initially it was assumed that by 1989 Brazil would be able to launch its first Earth remote sensing satellite SCD – 1 on its own rocket. But at this very moment for the Brazilian cosmonautics comes a series of failures, which have delayed development by as much as 30 years. It all began with the economic crisis of the late 80s, which hit both the USSR and Brazil. As a result, cuts in funding for work on the rocket were largely stalled, and the SCD – 1, which was already ready by that time, was launched with the help of the American Pegasus, the world's only carrier of air launch. It happened only on February 9, 1993.

It should be noted that as a result of the delay, the first national satellite turned out to be in fact the second, since as early as January 22, 1990, the Dove – OSCAR 17 satellite weighing about 12 kg, made completely by amateur radio (!) Junior Torres de Castro, was launched with an associated load. Well, and for the sake of justice, even earlier, in 1985, Brasilsat A1 was launched, commissioned by the telecommunications company Embratel in the United States at its facilities and according to the Hughes Aircraft project.

By the beginning of the 90s, the economy began to gradually recover from the crisis, in 1993 the ideological heir of Sonda IV was launched - the VS – 40 rocket to an altitude of about 1000 km. To solve the accumulated problems, in 1994, finally, the Brazilian Space Agency was officially created, combining the “civilian” and “military” branches of the industry that had previously worked together.

On December 2, 1997, the first attempt to launch VLS – 1 with an SCD – 2A satellite on board was completed, and it ended in failure. The rocket was remotely exploded due to unstable work of the first stage. The second attempt was made on December 11, 1999 with a similar result, this time the second stage ignition system did not work.


Start VLS-1 V01


Start VLS-1 V02

The third attempt ended in disaster before launch. On August 22, 2003, three days before the scheduled launch, the rocket exploded on the launch pad during maintenance. The explosion and the ensuing fire killed 21 people and injured more than 20. The launch pad was significantly damaged. This incident was called the “tragedy in Alcantara”, it for a long time slowed down the development of its own space program in Brazil. During the investigation, it turned out that an abnormal start-up of one of the first-stage engines occurred due to an unauthorized power supply, allegedly caused by a short circuit. The reason for this could be a banal safety violation. The accident caused a broad discussion about the future of the Brazilian astronautics, in particular, was criticized the use of solid fuel stages,


The remnants of the launch table in Alcantara after the accident on August 22, 2003. The

fourth attempt is scheduled only for 2019, the reason for this is both the improvement of the first two stages, and the significant processing of the last two. In 2010, an experimental rocket was successfully launched based only on the first and second stages of the updated design. Further work is expected in the direction of the implementation of the Southern Cross program, approved in 2005, involving the creation of a whole range of launch vehicles with a wide range of payloads. Thus, in the “Alpha” variant, the two upper solid-fuel stages are supposed to be replaced by one stage with LRE with a load capacity of 500 kg per NOU. The first launch was to take place in 2015, but apparently was postponed.

The Beta variant will be a two-stage carrier rocket with the first stage on solid fuel, and the second on a kerosene pair – liquid oxygen. A load capacity of 800 kg per loo is assumed. "Gamma" is assumed to be completely liquid fuel, it will be able to send one tonne to GPO. Finally, on the Delta and Epsilon versions, two more accelerators with LRE will be added, presumably providing the ability to output 2 and 4 tons per GSO, respectively.

Suggested VLS family of launch vehicles from Alpha to Epsilon


As a result, we can sum up that the crisis, and then the tragic accident, have been preventing Brazil from taking its place in the space club for almost 30 years. However, this does not stop her from ambitious plans to create a full-fledged functioning rocket and space industry. And if the “Alpha” option, which is a significant reworking of the original version of the VLS – 1, is likely to fly at the end of the 10th - the beginning of the 20th years, then we will have to wait for a heavier version for a long time. It remains only to observe how Brazilians steadfastly try to overcome the failures surrounding them.

Main source

Portuguese wiki followed by clarification of data.