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Angara's engine gets a job in the US
Russia's newest rocket engine will power an American space launcher, the two sides agreed this month. In January 2015, theRussian rocket industry struck a deal with a US company to supply a modified version of the RD-191 engine for the US Antares rocket. The RD-191 engine was originally developed for Russia's new-generation Angara family of rockets and was already modified under name RD-151 to propel the South-Korean KSLV-1 launcher. The latest US-Russian agreement puts another upgrade of the engine, designated RD-181, on the first stage of the Antares rocket developed by the Orbital Sciences Corporation, OSC.
Previous chapter: RD-170 engine
Above: Key components and basic operation of the RD-191 engine.
Above: Integration of the RD-191 engine with an experimental version of the URM-1 booster for the Angara rocket.
From the publisher: Pace of our development depends primarily on the level of support from our readers!
Multitalented RD-191
Developed at NPO Energomash in Moscow, the RD-191 engine was based on the RD-170 engine family originally intended for the Energiasuper-heavy rocket and for the Zenit launch vehicle. While the RD-170 used four combustion chambers, the developers essentially split it into four parts to form a one-chamber engine for the URM-1 module of the Angara rocket. The concept of splitting RD-170 into four independent engines was first entertained in the beginning of the 1980s. At the time, designers considered installing four sauch engines, then known as MD-185, on the first stage of the Energia rocket, apparently, after facing serious technical problems in development of RD-170.
Before the work on RD-191 commenced at the end of 1998, the RD-170 was already "halved" to create the two-chamber RD-180 engine for the US Atlas rocket. All three engines use non-toxic kerosene fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. Unlike the original RD-170, Angara's RD-191 sports a single gas generator instead of two and a smaller main turbine responsible for pumping the fuel and oxidizer into the combustion chamber.
Driven by the hot gas from the generator, the main turbine spins a pair of pumps on the oxidizer and fuel supply lines. Both pumps are attached to the vertical shaft of the turbine.
After powering the main turbo-pump of the engine, the oxidized hot gas from the gas generator is directed into the combustion chamber to burn with the rest of the fuel. The fuel is also used to cool the combustion chamber.
The combustion chamber of the RD-191 is designed to swing up to eight degrees along two axis (yaw and pitch) in a special gimbal suspension to enable steering of the rocket in flight. This feature required feeding the hot gas into the combustion chamber through a special flexible hose.
From its predecessor, RD-191 inherited the capability to be reused for more than one burn, which allowed live-firing flight-worthy engines on the ground before sending them into the flight on an expendable rocket. Theoretically, the same capability could enable the reuse of the first stage of the Energia and Zenit rockets for multiple missions, even though it was never achieved. Still, NPO Energomash proposed a future version of the one-chamber engine designated RD-195 for Russia's next-generation reusable launcher MRKS-1. According to the company, the engine could be fired as many as 10 times. In an apparently related development, NPO Energomash also studied a methane-fueled version of the engine, designated RD-192. (145) The switch to methane fuel would eliminate the formation of burn residue in the engine, thus facilitating its servicing between multiple flights.
Another version of the RD-191 engine, with a retractable nozzle extension, was also studied. A telescope-like extension would slide into position during the ascent of the rocket as the engine was firing, in order to boost its performance in the vacuum of space. (727)
Like all members of the RD-170 family, Angara's engine has its critics. First off all, the very high combustion-chamber pressure in all the engines of the family leaves little margin for any deviations from flawless performance before a catastrophic failure. As a result, its use on rockets intended to carry cosmonauts will always be controversial. In addition, it was speculated that metal particles injected into the high-temperature stream of the oxidizer gas generator could cause a burn through in the main turbopump of the engine. (526) Ironically, in the Antares rocket, the RD-191-based engine was intended to replace the NK-33 engine, which operated at lower combustion-chamber pressure.
Development history
The design documentation for RD-191 was completed during 1999 and tests of individual components for the engine started in 2000. Thanks to the use of computer 3D modeling, a great deal of this engine's design was completed before full-scale prototyping. The first full-scale mockup of RD-191 was ready in March 1999. The assembly of the first workable engine was completed on May 22, 2001, clearing the way for the first live firing in July of the same year.
By the beginning of 2004, RD-191 logged 10 live firings. Despite being one of the most complex components of the Angara rocket, it ended up far ahead in development of the vehicle it was intended to propel. (424)
However long before Angara had a chance to fly, GKNPTs Khrunichev won a contract to build a launch vehicle for South Korea. Since the rocket's first stage was based on the URM-1 module equipped with RD-191, NPO Energomash also built a version of the engine designated RD-151 for the South Korean rocket.
As of 2013, the serial production of RD-191 engine was expected to be organized at the Proton-PM factory in the northern Russian city of Perm. At least some combustion chambers for RD-191 were manufactured at the Voronezh Mechanical Plant, VMZ, south of Moscow.
Export to the US
Another version of the RD-191 engine, designated RD-193, was intended for the Soyuz-2-1v rocket and a similar modification known as RD-181 was proposed for the US Antares rocket. Unlike its two siblings, RD-193 would not have a gimbal capability, relying instead on the special steering thrusters.
On Jan. 16, 2015, RKK Energia, parent company of NPO Energomash, announced that it had reached an agreement with the American company Orbital Sciences Corporation, OSC, on the export of RD-181 engines for the first stage of the Antares rocket, thus replacing theNK-33 engines previously used on the launcher. The contract, worth around $1 billion, called for the delivery of 60 RD-181 engines beginning in June 2015.
Technical specifications of the RD-191 engine:
Thrust at sea level
196 tons
Thrust in vacuum
212.6 tons
Specific impulse at the sea level
311.2 seconds
Specific impulse in vacuum
337.5 seconds
Height
3,780 millimeters
Diameter
2,100 millimeters
Dry mass
2,200 kilograms
Fueled mass
2,430 kilograms
Combustion chamber pressure
262.6 kilograms per square centimeter
Chronology of the RD-191 engine development:
Beginning of the 1980s: Developers mull splitting the RD-170 engine into four one-chamber MD-185 engines for the installation on the first stage of the Zenit rocket.
1998: Development of the RD-191 engine starts at NPO Energomash in Moscow.
1999 March: The first full-scale prototype of the RD-191 engine is completed.
2001 July 27 or 31: NPO Energomash conducts a test-firing of the RD-191 engine No. D001 for the 1st stage of the Angara rocket.
2002: Two prototypes of the RD-191 engine are manufactured for dynamic testing with a mockup of the URM-1 stage and for cryogenic fueling tests. The engine No. D002 for tune-up tests is also manufactured.
2003: An electric prototype of the RD-191 engine is manufactured.
2003 Jan. 30: The RD-191 engine No. D003 is manufactured. (424)
2006 Aug. 1: According to NPO Energomash, the RD-191 rocket engine accumulated 4,500 seconds of running time in 35 firing tests. The longest firing lasted 400 seconds. The entire test program aimed to accumulate 15,000 seconds of work in 70 test firings on 10 copies of the engine.
2007 Dec. 6: NPO Energomash conducts testing of the RD-191 engine for the first stage of the Angara rocket, along with the operational hydraulic system and the gimbal mechanism of the engine.
2009 Jan. 19: NPO Energomash announced that the last test version of the RD-191 rocket engine was going through final firings after a total of 97 tests with an accumulated firing time of 20,789. The maximum firing time accumulated by a single engine reached 3,635 seconds in 12 tests. At the time, the manufacturer had already supplied an engine for the firing tests of the entire rocket stage and promised to supply first six flight-ready engines in 2010 for actual test launches of the Angara rocket.
2009 July 30, 17:15 Moscow Time: Angara's URM-1 rocket booster (Article I1A1S) test fired for the first time at the IS-102 test stand in Peresvet near Moscow at NITs RKP test facility (former NIIKhimmash). During the test known as OSI-1, the engine was burning for 232 seconds, essentially imitating the entire process of the first stage operation during the orbital launch. According to preliminary information, no major problems arose during the firing. At the time, the second firing was expected at the beginning of September 2009. The total of three firings of the same booster were originally expected.
2009 Aug. 19: Roskosmos and GKNPTs Khrunichev signed an agreement for the development of the manufacturing base at the Proton-PM company in the city of Perm for the mass production of the RD-191 engine.
2009 Aug. 25: A South-Korean Naro-1 (KSLV-1) launch vehicle, fails to deliver the STSAT-2 satellite from the Naro space center, South Korea, due to an upper stage failure, despite initial reports about a successful launch. However the Russian-built first stage, which was identical to the Angara's URM-1 booster and powered by an RD-151 engine, reportedly performs well.
2009 Oct. 1: Angara's URM-1 rocket booster test fired for the second time at NITs RKP test facility (former NIIKhimmash) in Peresvet near Moscow. During the test known as OSI-2, the engine was burning for 203.4 seconds under maximum throttle possible, imitating the flight profile of the Angara-5 vehicle.
2010 Aug. 3: Official Russian media quote a source at NPO Energomash as saying that the RD-191 engine "burned down" during one of multiple tests. The statement implied that the engine was destroyed in a some kind of planned endurance test, not as a result of a catastrophic failure.
2011 May 23: NPO Energomash published a press-release declaring the development of the RD-191 engine completed. By that time, the engine went through 120 firings with a total burn time of 26,747.4 seconds, including three ground tests on the full-scale URM-1 stage and two flights on the Korean KSLV rocket.
RD-0124 engine
Read (and see) much more about Angara rockets and many other space projects in Russia
in a richly illustrated, large-format glossy edition:
The article and photography by Anatoly Zak; Last update: January 24, 2015
Page editor: Alain Chabot; Last edit: January 20, 2015
All rights reserved
Russia's newest rocket engine will power an American space launcher, the two sides agreed this month. In January 2015, theRussian rocket industry struck a deal with a US company to supply a modified version of the RD-191 engine for the US Antares rocket. The RD-191 engine was originally developed for Russia's new-generation Angara family of rockets and was already modified under name RD-151 to propel the South-Korean KSLV-1 launcher. The latest US-Russian agreement puts another upgrade of the engine, designated RD-181, on the first stage of the Antares rocket developed by the Orbital Sciences Corporation, OSC.
Previous chapter: RD-170 engine
Above: Key components and basic operation of the RD-191 engine.
Above: Integration of the RD-191 engine with an experimental version of the URM-1 booster for the Angara rocket.
From the publisher: Pace of our development depends primarily on the level of support from our readers!
Multitalented RD-191
Developed at NPO Energomash in Moscow, the RD-191 engine was based on the RD-170 engine family originally intended for the Energiasuper-heavy rocket and for the Zenit launch vehicle. While the RD-170 used four combustion chambers, the developers essentially split it into four parts to form a one-chamber engine for the URM-1 module of the Angara rocket. The concept of splitting RD-170 into four independent engines was first entertained in the beginning of the 1980s. At the time, designers considered installing four sauch engines, then known as MD-185, on the first stage of the Energia rocket, apparently, after facing serious technical problems in development of RD-170.
Before the work on RD-191 commenced at the end of 1998, the RD-170 was already "halved" to create the two-chamber RD-180 engine for the US Atlas rocket. All three engines use non-toxic kerosene fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. Unlike the original RD-170, Angara's RD-191 sports a single gas generator instead of two and a smaller main turbine responsible for pumping the fuel and oxidizer into the combustion chamber.
Driven by the hot gas from the generator, the main turbine spins a pair of pumps on the oxidizer and fuel supply lines. Both pumps are attached to the vertical shaft of the turbine.
After powering the main turbo-pump of the engine, the oxidized hot gas from the gas generator is directed into the combustion chamber to burn with the rest of the fuel. The fuel is also used to cool the combustion chamber.
The combustion chamber of the RD-191 is designed to swing up to eight degrees along two axis (yaw and pitch) in a special gimbal suspension to enable steering of the rocket in flight. This feature required feeding the hot gas into the combustion chamber through a special flexible hose.
From its predecessor, RD-191 inherited the capability to be reused for more than one burn, which allowed live-firing flight-worthy engines on the ground before sending them into the flight on an expendable rocket. Theoretically, the same capability could enable the reuse of the first stage of the Energia and Zenit rockets for multiple missions, even though it was never achieved. Still, NPO Energomash proposed a future version of the one-chamber engine designated RD-195 for Russia's next-generation reusable launcher MRKS-1. According to the company, the engine could be fired as many as 10 times. In an apparently related development, NPO Energomash also studied a methane-fueled version of the engine, designated RD-192. (145) The switch to methane fuel would eliminate the formation of burn residue in the engine, thus facilitating its servicing between multiple flights.
Another version of the RD-191 engine, with a retractable nozzle extension, was also studied. A telescope-like extension would slide into position during the ascent of the rocket as the engine was firing, in order to boost its performance in the vacuum of space. (727)
Like all members of the RD-170 family, Angara's engine has its critics. First off all, the very high combustion-chamber pressure in all the engines of the family leaves little margin for any deviations from flawless performance before a catastrophic failure. As a result, its use on rockets intended to carry cosmonauts will always be controversial. In addition, it was speculated that metal particles injected into the high-temperature stream of the oxidizer gas generator could cause a burn through in the main turbopump of the engine. (526) Ironically, in the Antares rocket, the RD-191-based engine was intended to replace the NK-33 engine, which operated at lower combustion-chamber pressure.
Development history
The design documentation for RD-191 was completed during 1999 and tests of individual components for the engine started in 2000. Thanks to the use of computer 3D modeling, a great deal of this engine's design was completed before full-scale prototyping. The first full-scale mockup of RD-191 was ready in March 1999. The assembly of the first workable engine was completed on May 22, 2001, clearing the way for the first live firing in July of the same year.
By the beginning of 2004, RD-191 logged 10 live firings. Despite being one of the most complex components of the Angara rocket, it ended up far ahead in development of the vehicle it was intended to propel. (424)
However long before Angara had a chance to fly, GKNPTs Khrunichev won a contract to build a launch vehicle for South Korea. Since the rocket's first stage was based on the URM-1 module equipped with RD-191, NPO Energomash also built a version of the engine designated RD-151 for the South Korean rocket.
As of 2013, the serial production of RD-191 engine was expected to be organized at the Proton-PM factory in the northern Russian city of Perm. At least some combustion chambers for RD-191 were manufactured at the Voronezh Mechanical Plant, VMZ, south of Moscow.
Export to the US
Another version of the RD-191 engine, designated RD-193, was intended for the Soyuz-2-1v rocket and a similar modification known as RD-181 was proposed for the US Antares rocket. Unlike its two siblings, RD-193 would not have a gimbal capability, relying instead on the special steering thrusters.
On Jan. 16, 2015, RKK Energia, parent company of NPO Energomash, announced that it had reached an agreement with the American company Orbital Sciences Corporation, OSC, on the export of RD-181 engines for the first stage of the Antares rocket, thus replacing theNK-33 engines previously used on the launcher. The contract, worth around $1 billion, called for the delivery of 60 RD-181 engines beginning in June 2015.
Technical specifications of the RD-191 engine:
Thrust at sea level
196 tons
Thrust in vacuum
212.6 tons
Specific impulse at the sea level
311.2 seconds
Specific impulse in vacuum
337.5 seconds
Height
3,780 millimeters
Diameter
2,100 millimeters
Dry mass
2,200 kilograms
Fueled mass
2,430 kilograms
Combustion chamber pressure
262.6 kilograms per square centimeter
Chronology of the RD-191 engine development:
Beginning of the 1980s: Developers mull splitting the RD-170 engine into four one-chamber MD-185 engines for the installation on the first stage of the Zenit rocket.
1998: Development of the RD-191 engine starts at NPO Energomash in Moscow.
1999 March: The first full-scale prototype of the RD-191 engine is completed.
2001 July 27 or 31: NPO Energomash conducts a test-firing of the RD-191 engine No. D001 for the 1st stage of the Angara rocket.
2002: Two prototypes of the RD-191 engine are manufactured for dynamic testing with a mockup of the URM-1 stage and for cryogenic fueling tests. The engine No. D002 for tune-up tests is also manufactured.
2003: An electric prototype of the RD-191 engine is manufactured.
2003 Jan. 30: The RD-191 engine No. D003 is manufactured. (424)
2006 Aug. 1: According to NPO Energomash, the RD-191 rocket engine accumulated 4,500 seconds of running time in 35 firing tests. The longest firing lasted 400 seconds. The entire test program aimed to accumulate 15,000 seconds of work in 70 test firings on 10 copies of the engine.
2007 Dec. 6: NPO Energomash conducts testing of the RD-191 engine for the first stage of the Angara rocket, along with the operational hydraulic system and the gimbal mechanism of the engine.
2009 Jan. 19: NPO Energomash announced that the last test version of the RD-191 rocket engine was going through final firings after a total of 97 tests with an accumulated firing time of 20,789. The maximum firing time accumulated by a single engine reached 3,635 seconds in 12 tests. At the time, the manufacturer had already supplied an engine for the firing tests of the entire rocket stage and promised to supply first six flight-ready engines in 2010 for actual test launches of the Angara rocket.
2009 July 30, 17:15 Moscow Time: Angara's URM-1 rocket booster (Article I1A1S) test fired for the first time at the IS-102 test stand in Peresvet near Moscow at NITs RKP test facility (former NIIKhimmash). During the test known as OSI-1, the engine was burning for 232 seconds, essentially imitating the entire process of the first stage operation during the orbital launch. According to preliminary information, no major problems arose during the firing. At the time, the second firing was expected at the beginning of September 2009. The total of three firings of the same booster were originally expected.
2009 Aug. 19: Roskosmos and GKNPTs Khrunichev signed an agreement for the development of the manufacturing base at the Proton-PM company in the city of Perm for the mass production of the RD-191 engine.
2009 Aug. 25: A South-Korean Naro-1 (KSLV-1) launch vehicle, fails to deliver the STSAT-2 satellite from the Naro space center, South Korea, due to an upper stage failure, despite initial reports about a successful launch. However the Russian-built first stage, which was identical to the Angara's URM-1 booster and powered by an RD-151 engine, reportedly performs well.
2009 Oct. 1: Angara's URM-1 rocket booster test fired for the second time at NITs RKP test facility (former NIIKhimmash) in Peresvet near Moscow. During the test known as OSI-2, the engine was burning for 203.4 seconds under maximum throttle possible, imitating the flight profile of the Angara-5 vehicle.
2010 Aug. 3: Official Russian media quote a source at NPO Energomash as saying that the RD-191 engine "burned down" during one of multiple tests. The statement implied that the engine was destroyed in a some kind of planned endurance test, not as a result of a catastrophic failure.
2011 May 23: NPO Energomash published a press-release declaring the development of the RD-191 engine completed. By that time, the engine went through 120 firings with a total burn time of 26,747.4 seconds, including three ground tests on the full-scale URM-1 stage and two flights on the Korean KSLV rocket.
RD-0124 engine
Read (and see) much more about Angara rockets and many other space projects in Russia
in a richly illustrated, large-format glossy edition:
The article and photography by Anatoly Zak; Last update: January 24, 2015
Page editor: Alain Chabot; Last edit: January 20, 2015
All rights reserved
