Where do the best rocket engines in the world
There was an opportunity to appear at the enterprise where rocket engines were created and are being created, which pulled out almost the entire Soviet space program, and now they pull Russian, Ukrainian, South Korean and, in part, even American. Get acquainted: NPO Energomash, recently entered the United Rocket and Space Corporation of Russia, a place where they make the best and most powerful liquid rocket engines in the world.
These words are not pathos. Judge for yourself: here, in Khimki near Moscow, engines for the Soviet-Russian Soyuz and Proton missiles were developed; for the Russian "Angara"; for the Soviet-Ukrainian "Zenith" and "Dnipro"; for the South Korean KSLV-1 and for the American Atlas-5 rocket. But first things first…
After checking the passport and the arrival of the accompanying person, we are advancing from the entrance to the museum of the plant, or as it is called "Showroom".
')
Hall Keeper Vladimir Sudakov - Head of the Information Department. Apparently, he copes with his duties well - he is one of all my interlocutors who knew what Zelenyikot was.
Vladimir spent a short but capacious excursion in the museum.
See on the table 7 centimeters pshikalku? Here the whole Soviet and Russian cosmos grew from it.
NPO Energomash developed from a small group of rocketry enthusiasts, formed in 1921, and in 1929 called the Gas Dynamic Laboratory , the head was Valentin Petrovich Glushko , later he also became the general designer of NPO Energomash.
A disc with a sphere in the center is not a model of the Solar System, as I thought, but a model of an electric missile spacecraft. On the disk was supposed to place the solar panels. In the background - the first models of GDL development liquid rocket engines.
For the first concepts of the 20-30s went real work on government funding. Here the GDL has already worked together with the Royal GIRD . In wartime, they developed rocket boosters for mass-produced military aircraft in a "sharashka". Created a whole line of engines, and believed that they are one of the world leaders in the liquid engine.
But all the weather was spoiled by the Germans, who created the first A4 ballistic missile, better known in Russia under the name "V-2".
Its engine more than an order of magnitude surpassed the Soviet development (25 tons vs. 900 kg), and after the war, engineers began to catch up.
First created a complete replica of the A4 called P-1, but using fully Soviet materials. At this period, our engineers were also helped by German ones. But they tried not to let them get to the secret developments, so we worked further on ourselves.
First of all, the engineers began to force and facilitate the German design, and achieved considerable success in this - the thrust increased to 51 tons.
But then there were problems with the instability of the combustion of fuel in a larger spherical combustion chamber. Glushko realized that this was a dead end and began developing engines with a cylindrical chamber.
In this field he excelled. In the hands of the museum curator - the first working prototype, which confirmed the loyalty of the chosen scheme. What is most surprising is that the inside of the combustion chamber is a copper alloy. It seems that the element where the pressure exceeds hundreds of atmospheres, and the temperature - a thousand degrees Celsius, must be made of some refractory titanium or tungsten. But it turned out to be easier to cool the camera, and not to achieve unlimited heat resistance. The chamber was cooled with liquid components of the fuel, and copper was used because of its high thermal conductivity.
The first developments with a new type of combustion chamber were military. In the showroom, they are hidden in the farthest and darkest corner. And in the light - pride - the RD-107 and RD-108 engines, which provided the Soviet Union with primacy in space, and allow Russia to lead in the manned cosmonautics to this day.
Vladimir Sudakov shows steering cameras - additional rocket engines that allow you to control the flight.
In further development, they refused from such a design - they decided to simply reject the engine's full engine.
Problems with the instability of combustion in large chambers were not fully resolved, so most of the engines of the design of the Glushko Design Bureau are multi-chamber.
In the hall there is only one single-chamber giant, which was developed for the lunar program, but did not go into the series - the competing version NK-33 for the H1 rocket won.
Their difference is that H1 was launched on oxygen-kerosene mixture, and Glushko was ready to launch people on dimethyl hydrazine-nitrogen tetroxide. This mixture is more efficient, but much more toxic than kerosene. In Russia, only the cargo Proton flies on it. However, this does not prevent China from launching its own Taikonauts right now on such a mixture.
You can look at the engine "Proton".
And the engine for the ballistic missile R-36M , is still on duty in the Voyevoda missiles, widely known under the NATO name Satan.
However, now they, under the name "Dnepr" also run with peaceful purposes.
Finally we reach the pearl of the Glushko Design Bureau and the pride of NPO Energomash - the RD-170/171 engine.
Today it is the most powerful oxygen-kerosene engine in the world - a thrust of 800 ton. It surpasses the American lunar F-1 by 100 tf, but achieves this by four combustion chambers, versus one in the F-1.
RD-170 was developed for the project "Energy-Buran", as engines of side accelerators. According to the original project, the accelerators were reusable, therefore the engines were developed and certified for tenfold use. Unfortunately, the return of the accelerators was never implemented, but the engines retain their capabilities. After the Buran program was closed, the RD-170 was more fortunate than the lunar F-1 — it found more utilitarian use in the Zenith rocket. In Soviet times, it, like the Voevod, was developed by the Yuzhnoye Design Office, which, after the collapse of the USSR, turned out to be abroad. But in the 90s, politics did not prevent Russian-Ukrainian cooperation, and by 1995, together with the United States and Norway, the Sea Launch project began to be implemented. Although it did not reach profitability, it was reorganized and its further fate is being decided, but the missiles flew and orders for engines were supported by Energomash during the years of spacelessness of the 90s-early 2000s.
Vladimir Sudakov demonstrates the fantastic development of the Energomash engineers - the integral bellows of the engine swing assembly.
How to achieve the mobility of the site at high pressures and extreme temperatures? Yes, garbage question: only 12 layers of metal and additional reservation rings, fill between layers with liquid oxygen and there are no problems ...
This design allows you to firmly secure the engine, but to control the flight by deflecting the combustion chamber and the nozzle, using a gimbal. On the engine, it is visible just below and to the right of the center, above the panel with red plugs.
Americans about their space like to repeat "We stand on the shoulders of giants." Looking at such creations of the Soviet engineers, you understand that this phrase fully applies to the Russian space program. The same "Angara", though the brainchild of Russian designers, but its engine - the RD-191 evolutionarily goes back to the RD-171.
Similarly, the “half” of the RD-171, called the RD-180, also contributed to the American space program when Energomash won the Lockheed Martin competition in 1995. I asked if there was a propaganda element in this victory - could the Americans sign a contract with the Russians to demonstrate the end of the era of rivalry and start cooperation in space. They didn’t answer me, but they told me about the eyes of the American customers who had gone nuts when they saw the creations of the gloomy Khimki genius. According to rumors, the characteristics of the RD-180 is almost twice the characteristics of competitors. The reason is that the US has not mastered the closed-cycle rocket engines. In principle, it is possible without it, the same F-1 was an open loop or Merlin from SpaceX. But in the "power / mass" ratio, closed-cycle engines win, although they lose in price.
Here on the video test engine Merlin-1D can be seen as from the tube next to the nozzle lashing jet of generating gas:
In a closed cycle, this gas is returned to the combustion chamber, which allows more efficient use of fuel. The rotor of the oxidizer booster pumping unit is separately installed in the museum. We will meet similar rotors more than once on a guided tour of NPO Energomash.
Finally, the completion of the exhibition - the hope of the company - the engine RD-191. This is still the youngest model of the family. It was created for the Angara rocket, worked in the Korean KSLV-1, and is considered as one of the options by the American company Orbital Scienses, which needed to replace the Samara NK-33 after the Antares rocket accident in October.
At the factory, this trinity of RD-170, RD-180, RD-191 is jokingly called "liter", "half liter" and "quarter".
Wow, something voluminous turned out tour. Let's inspect the plant to postpone the next day. There are also many interesting things, and most importantly, it turned out to see how such an engineering miracle is created from a pile of steel and aluminum ingots.
I express my gratitude to the Information Policy and Media Department of the United Rocket and Space Corporation and the press service of NPO Energomash, for their help in organizing the filming .
These words are not pathos. Judge for yourself: here, in Khimki near Moscow, engines for the Soviet-Russian Soyuz and Proton missiles were developed; for the Russian "Angara"; for the Soviet-Ukrainian "Zenith" and "Dnipro"; for the South Korean KSLV-1 and for the American Atlas-5 rocket. But first things first…
After checking the passport and the arrival of the accompanying person, we are advancing from the entrance to the museum of the plant, or as it is called "Showroom".
')
Hall Keeper Vladimir Sudakov - Head of the Information Department. Apparently, he copes with his duties well - he is one of all my interlocutors who knew what Zelenyikot was.
Vladimir spent a short but capacious excursion in the museum.
See on the table 7 centimeters pshikalku? Here the whole Soviet and Russian cosmos grew from it.
NPO Energomash developed from a small group of rocketry enthusiasts, formed in 1921, and in 1929 called the Gas Dynamic Laboratory , the head was Valentin Petrovich Glushko , later he also became the general designer of NPO Energomash.
A disc with a sphere in the center is not a model of the Solar System, as I thought, but a model of an electric missile spacecraft. On the disk was supposed to place the solar panels. In the background - the first models of GDL development liquid rocket engines.
For the first concepts of the 20-30s went real work on government funding. Here the GDL has already worked together with the Royal GIRD . In wartime, they developed rocket boosters for mass-produced military aircraft in a "sharashka". Created a whole line of engines, and believed that they are one of the world leaders in the liquid engine.
But all the weather was spoiled by the Germans, who created the first A4 ballistic missile, better known in Russia under the name "V-2".
Its engine more than an order of magnitude surpassed the Soviet development (25 tons vs. 900 kg), and after the war, engineers began to catch up.
First created a complete replica of the A4 called P-1, but using fully Soviet materials. At this period, our engineers were also helped by German ones. But they tried not to let them get to the secret developments, so we worked further on ourselves.
First of all, the engineers began to force and facilitate the German design, and achieved considerable success in this - the thrust increased to 51 tons.
But then there were problems with the instability of the combustion of fuel in a larger spherical combustion chamber. Glushko realized that this was a dead end and began developing engines with a cylindrical chamber.
In this field he excelled. In the hands of the museum curator - the first working prototype, which confirmed the loyalty of the chosen scheme. What is most surprising is that the inside of the combustion chamber is a copper alloy. It seems that the element where the pressure exceeds hundreds of atmospheres, and the temperature - a thousand degrees Celsius, must be made of some refractory titanium or tungsten. But it turned out to be easier to cool the camera, and not to achieve unlimited heat resistance. The chamber was cooled with liquid components of the fuel, and copper was used because of its high thermal conductivity.
The first developments with a new type of combustion chamber were military. In the showroom, they are hidden in the farthest and darkest corner. And in the light - pride - the RD-107 and RD-108 engines, which provided the Soviet Union with primacy in space, and allow Russia to lead in the manned cosmonautics to this day.
Vladimir Sudakov shows steering cameras - additional rocket engines that allow you to control the flight.
In further development, they refused from such a design - they decided to simply reject the engine's full engine.
Problems with the instability of combustion in large chambers were not fully resolved, so most of the engines of the design of the Glushko Design Bureau are multi-chamber.
In the hall there is only one single-chamber giant, which was developed for the lunar program, but did not go into the series - the competing version NK-33 for the H1 rocket won.
Their difference is that H1 was launched on oxygen-kerosene mixture, and Glushko was ready to launch people on dimethyl hydrazine-nitrogen tetroxide. This mixture is more efficient, but much more toxic than kerosene. In Russia, only the cargo Proton flies on it. However, this does not prevent China from launching its own Taikonauts right now on such a mixture.
You can look at the engine "Proton".
And the engine for the ballistic missile R-36M , is still on duty in the Voyevoda missiles, widely known under the NATO name Satan.
However, now they, under the name "Dnepr" also run with peaceful purposes.
Finally we reach the pearl of the Glushko Design Bureau and the pride of NPO Energomash - the RD-170/171 engine.
Today it is the most powerful oxygen-kerosene engine in the world - a thrust of 800 ton. It surpasses the American lunar F-1 by 100 tf, but achieves this by four combustion chambers, versus one in the F-1.
RD-170 was developed for the project "Energy-Buran", as engines of side accelerators. According to the original project, the accelerators were reusable, therefore the engines were developed and certified for tenfold use. Unfortunately, the return of the accelerators was never implemented, but the engines retain their capabilities. After the Buran program was closed, the RD-170 was more fortunate than the lunar F-1 — it found more utilitarian use in the Zenith rocket. In Soviet times, it, like the Voevod, was developed by the Yuzhnoye Design Office, which, after the collapse of the USSR, turned out to be abroad. But in the 90s, politics did not prevent Russian-Ukrainian cooperation, and by 1995, together with the United States and Norway, the Sea Launch project began to be implemented. Although it did not reach profitability, it was reorganized and its further fate is being decided, but the missiles flew and orders for engines were supported by Energomash during the years of spacelessness of the 90s-early 2000s.
Vladimir Sudakov demonstrates the fantastic development of the Energomash engineers - the integral bellows of the engine swing assembly.
How to achieve the mobility of the site at high pressures and extreme temperatures? Yes, garbage question: only 12 layers of metal and additional reservation rings, fill between layers with liquid oxygen and there are no problems ...
This design allows you to firmly secure the engine, but to control the flight by deflecting the combustion chamber and the nozzle, using a gimbal. On the engine, it is visible just below and to the right of the center, above the panel with red plugs.
Americans about their space like to repeat "We stand on the shoulders of giants." Looking at such creations of the Soviet engineers, you understand that this phrase fully applies to the Russian space program. The same "Angara", though the brainchild of Russian designers, but its engine - the RD-191 evolutionarily goes back to the RD-171.
Similarly, the “half” of the RD-171, called the RD-180, also contributed to the American space program when Energomash won the Lockheed Martin competition in 1995. I asked if there was a propaganda element in this victory - could the Americans sign a contract with the Russians to demonstrate the end of the era of rivalry and start cooperation in space. They didn’t answer me, but they told me about the eyes of the American customers who had gone nuts when they saw the creations of the gloomy Khimki genius. According to rumors, the characteristics of the RD-180 is almost twice the characteristics of competitors. The reason is that the US has not mastered the closed-cycle rocket engines. In principle, it is possible without it, the same F-1 was an open loop or Merlin from SpaceX. But in the "power / mass" ratio, closed-cycle engines win, although they lose in price.
Here on the video test engine Merlin-1D can be seen as from the tube next to the nozzle lashing jet of generating gas:
In a closed cycle, this gas is returned to the combustion chamber, which allows more efficient use of fuel. The rotor of the oxidizer booster pumping unit is separately installed in the museum. We will meet similar rotors more than once on a guided tour of NPO Energomash.
Finally, the completion of the exhibition - the hope of the company - the engine RD-191. This is still the youngest model of the family. It was created for the Angara rocket, worked in the Korean KSLV-1, and is considered as one of the options by the American company Orbital Scienses, which needed to replace the Samara NK-33 after the Antares rocket accident in October.
At the factory, this trinity of RD-170, RD-180, RD-191 is jokingly called "liter", "half liter" and "quarter".
Wow, something voluminous turned out tour. Let's inspect the plant to postpone the next day. There are also many interesting things, and most importantly, it turned out to see how such an engineering miracle is created from a pile of steel and aluminum ingots.
I express my gratitude to the Information Policy and Media Department of the United Rocket and Space Corporation and the press service of NPO Energomash, for their help in organizing the filming .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/364085/
All Articles