The RD-170 ( Russian : Ракетный Двигатель-170 (РД-170) , romanized : Raketnyy Dvigatel-170 , lit. 'Rocket Engine-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 kerosene fuel and LOX oxidizer in four combustion chambers , all supplied by one single-shaft, single-turbine turbopump rated at 170 MW (230,000 hp) in a staged combustion cycle .
6-443: 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. The RD-170 engine featured four combustion chambers and
12-597: A new control system. First test sample was manufactured in early 2019. Tests were reported to have been successfully completed in September 2021. 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
18-685: The main propulsion system for the first stage of the now cancelled Russian Rus-M rocket. The RD-191 is a single-chamber version used in the Russian Angara rocket. 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. On 28 July 2011, NPO Energomash summarised the results of
24-671: The work on Rus-M rocket engine and considered the possibility of construction several new variants of RD-170 family engines. 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. Valentin Petrovich Glushko Too Many Requests If you report this error to
30-558: 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 for 10 reuses but tests showed they could stand up to 20 burns. Building on the technology from the Energia's liquid fuel booster the Zenit
36-669: 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. A modification of RD-171M being developed for the Irtysh rocket. Unlike RD-171M it only uses Russian components and features
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