RD-0410 (РД-0410,

GRAU index The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the Chief of ...

: 11B91) was a Soviet

nuclear thermal rocket A nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) is a type of thermal rocket where the heat from a nuclear reaction replaces the chemical energy of the rocket propellant, propellants in a chemical rocket. In an NTR, a working fluid, usually liquid hydrogen, is ...

engine developed by the

Chemical Automatics Design Bureau Chemical Automatics Design Bureau (CADB), also KB Khimavtomatika (, KBKhA), is a Russian OKB, design bureau founded by the NKAP (People's Commissariat of the Aircraft Industry) in 1941 and led by Semyon Kosberg until his death in 1965. Its origi ...

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

from 1965 through the 1980s using

liquid hydrogen Liquid hydrogen () is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecule, molecular H2 form. To exist as a liquid, H2 must be cooled below its critical point (thermodynamics), critical point of 33 Kelvins, ...

propellant. The engine was ground-tested at the

Semipalatinsk Test Site The Semipalatinsk Test Site or Semipalatinsk-21 (; ), also known as "The Polygon", was the primary testing venue for the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons. It is located in Zhanasemey District, Abai Region, Kazakhstan, south of the valley of the Ir ...

, and its use was incorporated in the Kurchatov Mars 1994 crewed mission proposal. This engine had slightly higher performance (exhaust temperature and specific impulse) over

NERVA Nerva (; born Marcus Cocceius Nerva; 8 November 30 – 27 January 98) was a Roman emperor from 96 to 98. Nerva became emperor when aged almost 66, after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the succeeding rulers of the Flavian dynast ...

(the U.S. nuclear thermal rocket engine project). The design of the reactor core included thermal insulation between uranium carbide/tungsten carbide fuel and the

zirconium hydride Zirconium hydride describes an alloy made by combining zirconium and hydrogen. Hydrogen acts as a hardening agent, preventing dislocations in the zirconium atom crystal lattice from sliding past one another. Varying the amount of hydrogen and th ...

moderator. This allowed for a very compact reactor core design. Hydrogen flow cooled the moderator first allowing to keep very low neutron energy and high fission cross-section, then it was heated by the direct contact to the fuel rods. To prevent the chemical reaction between carbide and hydrogen, about 1 percent of

hexane Hexane () or ''n''-hexane is an organic compound, a straight-chain alkane with six carbon atoms and the molecular formula C6H14. Hexane is a colorless liquid, odorless when pure, and with a boiling point of approximately . It is widely used as ...

was added to the hydrogen after the moderator passage. The hydrogen boost turbopump was designed by

KBKhA Chemical Automatics Design Bureau (CADB), also KB Khimavtomatika (, KBKhA), is a Russian OKB, design bureau founded by the NKAP (People's Commissariat of the Aircraft Industry) in 1941 and led by Semyon Kosberg until his death in 1965. Its origi ...

See also

References

Further reading