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RD-170

The RD-170 is the world's most powerful and heaviest liquid-fuel rocket engine. It was designed and produced in the Soviet Union by NPO Energomash for use with the Energia launch vehicle. The engine burns RG-1 fuel and LOX oxidizer in four combustion chambers, all supplied by one single-shaft, single-turbine turbopump rated at 170 MW in an oxidizer-rich stage combustion cycle.

Shared turbopump

Several Soviet and Russian rocket engines use the approach of clustering small combustion chambers around a single turbine and pump. During the early 1950s, many Soviet engine designers, including Valentin P. Glushko, faced problems of combustion instability while designing bigger thrust chambers. At that time, they solved the problem by using a cluster of smaller thrust chambers.

Variants

RD-170

The RD-170 engine featured four combustion chambers and was developed for use on the Energia launch vehicle – both the engine and the launch vehicle were in production only for a short time. Energia was launched twice. Each Energia vehicle had 4 boosters, each powered by one RD-170.

The engine was designed to be reused up to 10 times, with a total service life of 20 full burn durations.

RD-171

Building on the technology from the Energia's liquid fuel booster the Zenit was developed, which uses a RD-170 variant, the RD-171. While the RD-170 had nozzles which swiveled on two axes, the RD-171's nozzles only swivel on one axis. Models called the RD-172 and RD-173 were proposed, upgrades that would provide additional thrust, and the RD-173 proposal was finalized as the RD-171M upgrade in 2006.

RD-171MV

A modification of RD-171M being developed for the Irtysh rocket. Unlike RD-171M it only uses Russian components and features a new control system.[1] First test sample was manufactured in early 2019.[2] Tests were reported to have been successfully completed in September 2021.[3]

Dual-chamber derivative

The RD-180 uses only two combustion chambers instead of the four of the RD-170. The RD-180 used on the Atlas V replaced the three engines used on early Atlas rockets with a single engine and achieved significant payload and performance gains. This engine had also been chosen to be the main propulsion system for the first stage of the now cancelled Russian Rus-M rocket.[4]

Single-chamber derivative

The RD-191 is a single-chamber version used in the Russian Angara rocket.[5] Variants of RD-191 include RD-151 in South Korean Naro-1 rocket, RD-181 in American Orbital ATK Antares rocket, and the proposed RD-193 for the Soyuz-2-1v project.

Proposed variants

On 28 July 2011, NPO Energomash summarised the results of the work on Rus-M rocket engine and considered the possibility of construction several new variants of RD-170 family engines.[6] According to the information, new and proposed variants will be marked as:

In 2017, Director General of RKK Energia Vladimir Solntsev referred to a "simplified" and "cheaper" version of the RD-171 engine in connection with the Soyuz-5 (Sunkar) project.[8]

  • RD-180M for crewed Atlas V rocket (Not required, current RD-180 meets crewed Atlas V requirements.)[7]
  • RD-180V for Rus-M rocket.
  • RD-175 with 9800 kN thrust for proposed Energia-K rocket.

Specifications

  • 4 combustion chambers, 4 nozzles
  • 1 set of turbines and pumps; turbine produces approximately 257,000 hp (192MW); equivalent to the power output of 3 nuclear-powered icebreakers
  • Ignition: pyrophoric start-up fuel capsule (triethylaluminium)[9]
  • Vacuum thrust: 7887 kN
  • Vacuum Isp: 338 isp
  • Sea-level Isp: 309 isp
  • Weight: 9,750 kg
  • Thrust-to-weight ratio: 82

See also

  • Comparison of orbital rocket engines

External links

References

  1. В НПО ЭНЕРГОМАШ СОЗДАН ЭТАЛОННЫЙ МАКЕТ ДВИГАТЕЛЯ РД-171 МВ NPO Energomash, 16 October 2018^
  2. Первый двигатель РД-171МВ для новейшей ракеты среднего класса Союз-5 "Иртыш" собран на подмосковном "НПО Энергомаш" и готовится к огневым испытаниям. 8 February 2019^
  3. Eric Berger. Rocket Report: Next Falcon Heavy launch date set, Soyuz 5 engines clear tests Ars Technica, 9 October 2021^
  4. Rob Coppinger. The Bear's stars shine brighter Flight International, 2009-08-11^
  5. Successful Tests of Angara Stage 1 Engine Khrunichev, 2007-12-12^
  6. Проведено заседание НТС August 1, 2011, retrieved August 26, 2011^
  7. Energomash 2011 catalog (Russian) Roscosmos, retrieved February 15, 2018^
  8. Russia charts new path to super rocket russianspaceweb.com, retrieved February 15, 2018^
  9. РД-170 (11Д521) и РД-171 (11Д520)^
  10. Gunter Dick Krebs. Zenit family Gunter's Space Page, 2015-09-15, retrieved 2015-10-08^
  11. Alexander Ponomarenko. ЖРД РД-170 (11Д521) и РД-171 (11Д520) retrieved 2015-10-08^
  12. First launch of KSLV-1 is conducted 25 August 2009^
  13. RD-171M NPO Energomash^
  14. Anatoly Zak. RD-193 russianspaceweb.com, retrieved 2015-06-04^
  15. South Korea to launch first space rocket on Aug. 19 Yonhap News Agency, 2009-08-25, retrieved 2015-10-08^