The RD-180 rocket engine is powering the first stage of Lockheed Martin’s Atlas III and Atlas V rockets.
The RD-180 is a two thrust chamber derivative of the RD-170 engine which powers the Zenit first stage. The RD-180 was developed in Russia and is marketed jointly by NPO Energomash and Pratt & Whitney. Under the guidelines of the US Air Force EELV contract, Pratt & Whitney will produce RD-180’s in West Palm Beach, Florida for the government Atlas V launches.
It provides environmentally clean operation while featuring an integrated propulsion package with hydraulics for control valve actuation and thrust vector gimbaling; pneumatics for valve actuation and system purging and a thrust frame to distribute loads.
The RD-180 was developed in a relatively short period of time and was scaled from the RD-170, which makes up 80% of the RD-180 parts. In addition to the Atlas III and Atlas V launch vehicles, the RD-180 has been proposed to power the Russian Angara launch vehicle.
Packing nearly one million pounds of thrust in a total propulsion system, the RD-180 delivers a 10 percent performance increase over current operational U.S. booster engines in 2003. This reusable kerosene (hydrocarbon) fueled engine has been flight proven on the Lockheed Martin Atlas III and V.
Description
- Staged-combustion cycle engine
- Liquid oxygen/kerosene propellants
- 2 thrust chambers (gimbal +/-8 degrees)
- 1 oxygen-rich preburner
- High-pressure turbopump assembly: 2-stage fuel pump, single-stage oxygen pump, single turbine
- Hypergolic ignition
- Self-contained hydraulic system powered with kerosene from fuel pump
- Minimal interfaces with launch pad and vehicle
- 70% RD-170 parts
Characteristics (100% power)
Diameter: 124 in. (3.15m)
Length: 140 in. (3.55m)
Dry weight: 12,081 lb (5,480kg)
Nominal thrust: (sea level) 860,200 lb, (vacuum) 933,400 lb
Specific impulse (sea level): 311.3 sec
Vacuum specific impulse: 337.8 sec
Nozzle area ratio: 36.4:1
Chamber pressure: 3,722 psia
Mixture ratio: 2.72
Throttle range: 47-100%
RD-180 vs Merlin
RD-180 is used as a single piece engine whereas the Merlin 1D is used as cluster to provide a large amount of thrust. You need to cluster about 4.5 engines Merlin 1D rocket engines to produce the same thrust as 1 RD-180 engine. Both engines use Kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen.
Books:
– Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle by Bart Hendrickx
from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Walmart.com
– Modern Engineering for Design of Liquid-Propellant Rocket Engines (Progress in Astronautics & Aeronautics, Vol 147
from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk
– Rocket Exhaust Plume Phenomenology by Frederick S. Simmons
from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk
– Amateur Rocket Motor Construction: A Complete Guide To The Construction Of Homemade Solid Fuel Rocket Motors
from Amazon.com
RD-180 Links
- RD-180 – United Launch Alliance
- RD-180 by astronautix
- RD-180 by energomash
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