RD-120

The RD-120 engine is used as the engine in the second stage of the Zenit Rocket. It was designed during the early 1980's. The standard RD-120 is an altitude engine which boasts 350 seconds of Isp.

The Zenit Rocket was derived from the Energia liquid booster strap ons. The Zenit Rocket was Russia's answer to Ronald Reagan's SDI (Star Wars) initiative. Fearful that the US could wipe out their on-orbit assets, the Russian's developed the capability to rapidly (re)deploy replacement satellites on short notice.

The Zenit was designed to hide in railway tunnels (hence the 12 foot diameter) and launch automatically in four hours. Recently, the RD-120 has been marketed to western vehicle manufacturers by Pratt & Whitney as part of their relationship with NPO Energomash. Pioneer plans to use the RD-120 to power their Rocketplane RLV. A booster variant of the RD-120 (the RD-120K) has also been proposed which uses a smaller area ratio nozzle. Although some design work has been done, the booster engine is still considered a development stage engine.

Reference:

http://www.spaceandtech.com/spacedata/engines/rd120_sum.shtml

Goto Rocket Engines Guide

Goto Propulsion Guide Home Page

Goto Space Projects and Info Home Page