The RD-8 (Russian: and

GRAU 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 ...

Index: 11D513) is a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

/ Ukrainian liquid propellant rocket engine burning

LOX Lox is a fillet of brined salmon, which may be smoked. Lox is frequently served on a bagel with cream cheese, and often garnished with tomato, onion, cucumber, and capers. Etymology The American English word ''lox'' is a borrowing of Yiddi ...

and RG-1 (a rocket grade

kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...

) in an oxidizer rich staged combustion cycle. It has a four combustion chambers that provide

thrust vector control Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to control the attitude or angular velocity of the veh ...

by gimbaling each of the nozzles in a single axis ±33°. It was designed in

Dnipropetrovsk Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

by the

Yuzhnoye Design Bureau The ''Pivdenne'' Design Office (), located in Dnipro, Ukraine, is a designer of satellites and rockets, and formerly of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), established by Mikhail Yangel. During the Soviet era, the bureau's OKB de ...

as the

vernier thruster A vernier thruster is a rocket engine used on a spacecraft or launch vehicle for fine adjustments to the attitude or velocity. Depending on the design of a craft's maneuvering and stability systems, it may simply be a smaller thruster complement ...

of the Zenit (GRAU: 11K77) second stage. As such, it has always been paired with the

RD-120 The RD-120 (, GRAU index: 11D123) is a Liquid-propellant rocket, liquid upper stage rocket engine burning RG-1 (propellant), RG-1 (refined kerosene) and LOX in an Staged combustion cycle (rocket), oxidizer rich staged combustion cycle with an Rock ...

engine for main propulsion. It can only be started once, and as a high altitude engine it has a thrust of and a

specific impulse Specific impulse (usually abbreviated ) is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine, such as a rocket engine, rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel, generates thrust. In general, this is a ratio of the ''Impulse (physics), ...

of . It is the first ever steering engine to use the staged combustion cycle, and as such is the basis for a family of planned engines for the

Mayak The Mayak Production Association (, , from 'lighthouse') is one of the largest nuclear facilities in the Russian Federation, housing Production reactor, production reactors (''non'' electricity) and a reprocessing plant. The closest settlement ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

family. The engine itself is built like a hollow cylinder, with a cylindrical space in the center so the RD-120 nozzle can pass through.

Derivatives

Whilst Yuzhnoye's propulsion experience had been mostly on

hypergolic propellant A hypergolic propellant is a rocket propellant combination used in a rocket engine, whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other. The two propellant components usually consist of a fuel and an oxidizer. The ...

s engines, like

RD-855 The RD-855 (, GRAU index: 8D68M), also known as the RD-68M, is a liquid-fueled rocket engine with four nozzles. As a vernier engine, it provides fine steering adjustments for rockets. It is powered by a hypergolic mixture of unsymmetrical dimet ...

RD-861 The RD-861 () is a Soviet liquid propellant rocket engine burning a hypergolic mixture of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) fuel with dinitrogen tetroxide () oxidizer in a gas generator combustion cycle. It has a main combustion chamber, wi ...

, they are considered too toxic for current ecological standards. While Yuzhnoye still offer to develop hypergolic propulsion, such as

RD-843 The RD-843 is a Ukrainian single nozzle liquid propellant rocket engine. It burns a hypergolic mixture of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) fuel with dinitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) oxidizer. It is pressure-fed. It is rated for up to 5 restar ...

for the

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and ...

AVUM Vega (, , ) was a European expendable small-lift launch vehicle developed by Avio and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Designed to carry payloads between into low Earth and pol ...

stage or the

Tsyklon-4 The Tsyklon-4, also known as Tsiklon-4 and Cyclone-4, was a Ukrainian carrier rocket which was being developed for commercial satellite launches. Derived from the Tsyklon-3, it had a new third stage, a larger payload fairing, and a modernised fl ...

project, Yuzhnoye selected a more environmentally friendly

and

propellant for the

launch vehicle family. Not only had Yuzhnoye mastered the most complex cycle for the propellant ( oxidizer rich staged combustion cycle) with the RD-8, but they had worked closely with

NPO Energomash NPO Energomash "V. P. Glushko" is a major Russian rocket engine manufacturer. The company primarily develops and produces Liquid rocket engine, liquid propellant rocket engines. Energomash originates from the OKB, Soviet design bureau OKB-456, w ...

during the

program. The manufacturing is done at its sister company of

Yuzhmash The State Enterprise "Production Amalgamation 'Southern Machine-Building Plant named after O.M. Makarov'", officially abbreviated as Pivdenmash () and previously as Yuzhmash (), is a Ukrainian state-owned aerospace and defence manufacturer. ...

in Dnipropetrovsk, and the RD-120 thrust augmentation project of 2001 to 2003 had been a mixed project between the three companies. On the base of this experience, a family of derivatives engines were proposed. While the

RD-801 The RD801 ( Ukrainian: ) is a Ukrainian liquid propellant rocket engine burning LOX and Kerosene ( RG-1) in a staged combustion cycle. It has a single combustion chamber that provides thrust vector control by gimbaling of the nozzle in two axis ...

and

RD-810 The RD-810 (РД-810) is a Ukrainian liquid propellant rocket engine burning LOX and Kerosene ( RG-1) in a staged combustion cycle. It has a single combustion chamber that provides thrust vector control by gimbaling of the nozzle in two axis by ...

are really just based on the general technology, the other members of the family are related enough that they reuse many components of the RD-8. One characteristic of this family is the limitation of keeping the preburner output temperature below . * RD-805 (or RD-802): A proposed upper stage engine of just of thrust, it would use a single chamber of the RD-8. While many new components would be required, it is considered a low technological risk since it only needs smaller versions of already developed component. * RD-809 (sometimes identified as RD-809M): It is an RD-8 re arranged to minimize its diameter. It would use practically every single component of the RD-8, but arranged without the big hollow section in the middle. It was a proposed engine for a proposed liquid upper stage of the

Antares Antares is the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. It has the Bayer designation α Scorpii, which is Latinisation of names, Latinised to Alpha Scorpii. Often referred to as "the heart of the scorpion", Antares is flanked by ...

rocket, then named Taurus II. It would be capable of five engine burns in a single mission. * RD-809K: A proposed single nozzle version of the RD-8. It would mix most principal elements of the RD-8 like the turbopumps with a main combustion chamber and nozzle adapted from the

RD-861K The RD-861 () is a Soviet Union, Soviet liquid-fuel rocket, liquid propellant rocket engine burning a Hypergolic propellant, hypergolic mixture of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) fuel with dinitrogen tetroxide () oxidizer in a Gas-generator ...

. It would be capable of 4 starts in a single mission. It is expected to be used in a dual engine configuration in the Mayak upper stage.

References

External links

Yuzhnoye Design Bureau English-language home page

Yuzhmash Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rd-8 (Rocket Engine) Rocket engines of the Soviet Union Rocket engines using kerosene propellant Rocket engines using the staged combustion cycle Yuzhnoye rocket engines Yuzhmash rocket engines Rocket engines of Ukraine

Derivatives

See also

References

External links