Friedrich Arturovich
Zander
1887-1933
Friedrich Arturovich Zander was a Soviet scientist and inventor in the field of the theory of interplanetary flights, jet engines and aircraft. In 1914 he graduated from Riga Polytechnic Institute. He began to deal with jet propulsion problems in 1908. His attention was drawn to the issues of spacecraft design, the choice of motive power, methods of cleaning the atmosphere on the spacecraft, etc. In 1909 for the first time he expressed the idea that it was advisable to use elements of the interplanetary ship design as fuel; since 1917, he began systematic research on the problems of rocket and space science and technology. In 1921 Zander presented a report on the project of an interplanetary ship-airplane to the Moscow Provincial Conference of Inventors. In 1924 he published an article in the journal “Technology and Life”, “Flights to other planets”, in which he outlined his main idea — the combination of a rocket with an airplane to take off from Earth and the subsequent burning of the aircraft in flight as fuel in the chamber of the rocket engine to increase the range of the rocket. In the same year Zander developed the idea of using the Moon or associated planets (their gravitational and electromagnetic fields or their atmospheres) to increase the speed of flight to other planets, as well as the idea of a planned descent of a spacecraft with braking in the atmosphere of the planet. Since the 20s, Zander, along with studying the problems of interplanetary communications, had been developing the theory and calculation of spacecraft engines. He proposed the scheme and design of an internal combustion engine that did not need atmospheric air; performed a number of theoretical calculations of the efficiency of jet engines of various schemes, including VRD and combined RD. The main works on rocket astrodynamics were done by him; he also considered the issues of spacecraft motion in the gravitational field of the Sun, planets and their satellites, determining the trajectories and duration of flights. In 1929-32 Zander built and tested the OR-1 jet engine on compressed air with gasoline; in 1933 it was the OR-2 rocket engine (on liquid oxygen with gasoline). He participated in the organization of the Jet Propulsion Research Group. In 1931-32 he was the chairman of the GIRD under Osoaviakhim. In 1930-31 he taught at Moscow Aviation Institute. A memorial room at the Riga Polytechnic Institute, the Museum of Cosmonautics Development in Kislovodsk, a street in Moscow, a crater on the Moon are named after Zander.
Address: Moscow, Medovy lane, 12
