НК-33

[bsdv]

This engine received extensive development, representing about a $1.3 billion investment over a 10-year period. More than 200 engines were built and 575 engine tests were conducted, accumulating over 100,000 seconds of test time.

Если и здесь не ошиблись, то стоимость разработки НК-33 оценена в $1.3 млрд.

наверно в число 1,3 ядров входит покупка и доработка, а сколько потратил Кузнецов - наверное никто уже не узнает

А также откаты и попилы . Интересно, скока Моторостроителю останется...

[Salo]

February 25, 2010
Stennis to begin commercial engine testing
 
By Jeremy Pittari, Item Staff Writer
The Picayune Item

STENNIS, SC — Commercial space flight looks to be the future of Stennis Space Center and NASA.

Stennis is well on its way to establishing working relations with commercial companies to begin testing space flight engines.

OnWednesday afternoon, the engine testing facility held a press conference to announce some modifications that are being made to an existing engine test stand, the E-1. Those modifications will enable the stand to test an engine that is more than 30 years-old, an engine that will find new work bringing supplies to the International Space Station via the Taurus II space craft.

Rosa Obregon, NASA Lead Mechanical Engineer for the E-1 Test Stand, said the engine to be tested is the NK-33, which is an old Russian space flight engine. To conduct the testing, the stand had to be converted to test an engine in a vertical position to simulate launch conditions. The work will be a collaboration of three agencies, Stennis, Aerojet and Orbital.

Orbital President and COO, J.R. Thompson, said he has worked with three generations of space flight, Apollo, Space Shuttle and now the upcoming commercial era. This program will involve bringing supplies to the space station, but not astronauts. Thompson said he expects the work to last for at least the next decade, since President Barack Obama recently extended the life span of the International Space Station until 2020.

As for transport of astronauts, Thompson said he expects NASA to use the private sector to handle that aspect as well.

The old Russian engine will see some modifications in order to carry those supplies to the Space Station, and those modifications will be made by Aerojet, Thompson said. Three countries will be involved in constructing the entire craft. Not only will there be a Russian engine, but the first stage of the craft will be made in the Ukraine and other components will come from the United States. The completed space craft will be called the Taurus II.

Thompson said the program is funded by a $2 billion contract.

Once the modifications to the test stand have been completed, Thompson expects to have engines delivered to Stennis in April and expects testing to begin sometime in June. The stand will be capable of testing one engine at a time, for 50 seconds at a time.

Local employees are still going to be used, along with six people from Orbital and about 12 people from Aerojet. There will be tthree to four times as many Stennis employees on theproject as there are from Orbital, Thompson said.

"I think this is a good chunk of work for the local economy," Thompson said.

Related Photos


ORBITAL OFFICIAL — J.R. Thompson of Orbital spoke with press and Stennis employees Wednesday about a new contract that will allow Stennis Space Center to test commercial engines that will take supplies to the International Space Station.
Jeremy Pittari
 

ANNOUNCEMENT — To test a commercial engine, Stennis will use its E-1 test stand. The stand is undergoing modifications to enable it to test the NK-33 engine, a Russian engine that is more than 30 years-old, in a vertical position.
Jeremy Pittari

[Salo]

http://www.wwltv.com/news/Commercial-companies-to-conduct-rocket-engine-testing-at-Stennis-station-85268217.html

Commercial companies to conduct rocket engine testing at Stennis center


by Doug Mouton / Northshore Bureau Chief

Posted on February 24, 2010 at 6:35 PM
******


Wednesday, leaders of the Stennis Space Center announced a new commercial partnership. Orbital Sciences Corporation, headquartered in Virginia, and Aerojet, headquartered in California, will test their AJ-26 rocket engine at Stennis.

"This is the type of commercial venture we believe the president had in mind with the budget rollout," Stennis Director Gene Goldman said at a press conference Wednesday.

Orbital recently landed a $2 billion federal contract to resupply the International Space Station. It's one of the first major commercial contracts in the changing culture of NASA.

Stennis leaders expected to be doing testing now for the J2X engine, but that program was put on hold as NASA took a new director under President Obama.

Orbital's president told Eyewitness News Wednesday, he believes commercial partnerships are good for the space program.

"Commercial companies can do it more efficiently because that's what they have to do or they go out of business," AJ Thompson said.

The changes in the space program won't effect Stennis until the 2011 budget. That gives Stennis leaders a year to form enough commercial partnerships to maintain current employment levels. The Orbital/Aerojet partnership would allow Stennis to keep roughly half its current jobs, according to Stennis Director Gene Goldman, but Goldman added, more commercial partnership opportunities will be out there in the coming year.

"Stennis as a center is in pretty good shape, since we do propulsion testing, to keep our workforce fairly stable," Goldman said. "We're not sure yet what the workforce projections will be, all of that is still in work, but we feel like we're in a pretty good position."

Thompson added: "I think Stennis is the premiere test facility, not just here in the country, but in the world."

The AJ-26 is a 50-year-old Russian engine. Stennis engineers expect to begin testing the AJ-26 on the modified E-1 Test Stand sometime this summer.

У страха глаза велики. :roll:
Ещё нет и сорока.

Прилагается видео. :!:

[SpaceR]

Сорока принесла на хвосте новость, что очередное огневое испытание НК-33 в Самаре вчера (позавчера?) прошло успешно.
Никто случайно не в курсе его подробностей?

[Salo]

Думаю кто-то, что-то должен знать.

[Salo]

Что слышно об ОСИ НК-33?

Позавчера 91 с (увеличенные КТИ) отработал номально. завтра на полное время работы.

[vekazak]

Salo пишет:
 

vekazak пишет:
 

Что слышно об ОСИ НК-33?

Т.е. сегодня 287 с. 50 с 108% - без проблем.

[Salo]

Спасибо!
108% это 166,32 тс.
Orbital заявлял 176 тс. Решили ограничить тягу или ещё будут испытания?

[vekazak]

Сегодня еще 239 с на 100 % из них 100 с с К=2,78. На предыдушем прожиге 50 с при К=2,8.
Ам-цы хотят К болше 2,6?

[Salo]

У РД-180 Км=2,72. Видимо страхуются на случай проблем с возобновлением производства НК-33. Замена двигателя не приведёт к необходимости перекомпоновки баков.

[pragmatik]

кстати, слухи ходили, что в нк33 при советах на испытаниях в топливо добавляли посторонние предметы, сейчас таких подвигов не делают? а то зенит с рд словил малость и .... т.е как нк33 реагирует на посторнние предметы? испытания были?

[Salo]

http://engine.aviaport.ru/issues/08/page16.html

[Salo]

http://www.orbital.com/NewsInfo/release.asp?prid=724

Orbital and Aerojet Complete Main Engine Lifetime Testing for Taurus II Space Launch Vehicle

-- Russian Tests of Heritage NK-33 Rocket Engine Confirm Performance and Durability --

-- Engine Completes Two Times Normal Firing Duration of a Taurus II Launch Profile --

(Dulles, VA 15 March 2010) -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) and Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE: GY) company, along with Aerojet's Russian partner, United Engine Corporation/SNTK, announced today that a series of NK-33 rocket engine tests conducted in Samara, Russia, were successfully completed last week in support of the development of Orbital's Taurus® II space launch vehicle. The purpose of the extended-time testing of the NK-33 engine, on which the AJ26 first-stage engine for the Taurus II rocket is based, was to demonstrate a "hot-fire" duration equal to two times a normal Taurus II acceptance testing and launch profile duty cycle. Over the last two weeks, three tests were conducted by SNTK with a cumulative duration of more than 600 seconds. These tests verified the significant technical margins on engine performance and durability required by Orbital's Taurus II development program.

"The success of the NK-33 engine tests in Russia is an important step forward in the development of the Taurus II rocket," said Mr. Ron Grabe, Orbital's Executive Vice President and General Manager of its Launch Systems Group. "With the performance of the heritage engine now confirmed and well understood, we can move forward with confidence to configuration verification and acceptance testing of AJ26 engines at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi beginning in April."

Aerojet is the provider of the AJ26/NK-33 rocket engine for the first stage of the Taurus II launcher. The basic NK-33 engine was originally designed and produced in Russia for the Russian N1 lunar launch vehicle. Aerojet subsequently purchased approximately 40 of the basic NK-33 engines in the mid-1990s and, under contract with Orbital, the company is currently modifying the engines specifically for the Taurus II launch vehicle.

Aerojet's Vice President for Space Programs, Ms. Julie Van Kleeck, said, "Completing the margin testing is a significant milestone in Aerojet's contract with Orbital. This success demonstrates the engine's robust design and its ability to operate at the power levels and duration times compatible with the Taurus II flight profile with additional performance margin."

Orbital and Aerojet are scheduled to begin ground testing of the AJ26 engine at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi in less than two months. The U.S.-based testing will validate the Taurus II specific engine configuration and continue to build on the extensive engine database that includes more than 17 years of development testing, encompassing approximately 1,500 engine-level tests totaling 194,000 seconds of firing duration. After the design verification tests are completed at Stennis, regular production acceptance testing will be initiated, paving the way to the first flights of the Taurus II rocket in 2011.

About the AJ26 Rocket Engine

The AJ26 is a commercial derivative of the NK-33 engine that was first developed for the Russian rocket that would have taken cosmonauts to the moon. As the world's first oxidizer-rich, staged-combustion, oxygen/kerosene rocket engine, it achieves very high performance in a lightweight, compact package. Aerojet has been developing design modifications to make the engine suitable for commercial launchers since the mid-1990's.

About the Taurus II Launch Vehicle

Orbital is developing the Taurus II medium-class space launch vehicle to boost payloads into a variety of low Earth and geosynchronous transfer orbits and to Earth escape trajectories. Taurus II incorporates proven technologies from the company's Pegasus®, Taurus and Minotaur rockets, and is supported by a "best-in-class" network of suppliers from the U.S. and around the world.

The Taurus II program currently has a backlog of nine launches, beginning with the demonstration flight in 2011 for the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) project, a joint research and development effort with NASA to develop a system capable of safely and reliably supplying the International Space Station (ISS) with essential cargo. Orbital is also under contract with NASA for the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program with an eight-mission, $1.9 billion agreement to deliver cargo to the ISS from 2011 through 2015.
In addition to its work with NASA on the COTS and CRS programs, Orbital is also offering the Taurus II rocket to U.S. civil government and military customers for dedicated launch services for medium-class scientific and national security satellites. From its Wallops Island, Virginia, launch site, Taurus II will be capable of supporting mid-inclination and polar orbiting spacecraft weighing approximately 10,500 lbs. and 5,500 lbs., respectively.

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1003/15nk33/

Aerojet confirms Russian engine is ready for duty
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: March 15, 2010

As SpaceX prepared to ignite its Falcon 9 rocket on a launch pad in Florida, its primary competitor for commercial cargo services to the International Space Station verified a Russian engine is more than able to drive the Taurus 2 booster toward space.

Russian engineers successfully fired a stockpiled NK-33 engine three times in the last two weeks, totaling more than 600 seconds of cumulative run time, according to a statement by Aerojet and Orbital Sciences Corp.

The tests occurred on a stand in Samara, Russia.

"The success of the NK-33 engine tests in Russia is an important step forward in the development of the Taurus 2 rocket," said Ron Grabe, Orbital's executive vice president and general manager of its launch systems group.

The goal of the Russian tests was to demonstrate the NK-33 engine's ability to fire twice as long as planned in future acceptance testing and during a real Taurus 2 flight. The firings were sponsored by Aerojet.

The Taurus 2 rocket is being developed to launch Orbital's Cygnus cargo freighter to the space station. Its first launch from Wallops Island, Va., is scheduled for no earlier than March 2011.

An earlier round of NK-33 testing was cut short in October because of an unspecified problem with a liquid oxygen system. One burn went as planned, and a second attempt ended prematurely.

"We stressed the engine pretty hard, and we discovered some limits we want to re-evaluate in [another] test," said Frank Culbertson, Orbital's senior vice president, in a January interview with Spaceflight Now.

This month's testing successfully overcame the issues encountered in October.

"Completing the margin testing is a significant milestone in Aerojet's contract with Orbital," said Julie Van Kleeck, Aerojet's vice president for space programs. "This success demonstrates the engine's robust design and its ability to operate at the power levels and duration times compatible with the Taurus 2 flight profile with additional performance margin."

Officials wanted to make sure the kerosene-fueled engine could still perform after four decades in storage. The NK-33 engines were originally designed and built in the 1960s and 1970s for the ill-fated Soviet N1 moon rocket.

A modified version of the NK-33 engine, named the AJ26, is being prepped by Aerojet to power the Ukrainian-built first stage of Orbital's Taurus 2 rocket.

Aerojet converts the NK-33 to an AJ26 engine by removing some harnessing, adding U.S. electronics, qualifying it for U.S. propellants, and modifying the system to gimbal for steering, Van Kleeck told Spaceflight Now in a January interview.

Van Kleeck said Aerojet currently has 37 NK-33 engines at its headquarters in Sacramento, Calif. More engines are ready to be exported from Russia.

A handful of NK-33 engines were fired in 1995 as Aerojet competed to supply the Atlas 5 rocket propulsion system. Another Russian engine was eventually selected to power the Atlas 5 first stage.

AJ26 engine firings will begin in April, but those design verification tests will be of much shorter durations than the hotfires in Russia. Acceptance tests of flight engines will follow later this year.

"With the performance of the heritage engine now confirmed and well understood, we can move forward with confidence to configuration verification and acceptance testing of AJ26 engines at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi beginning in April," Grabe said.

[АниКей]

http://www.federalspace.ru/main.php?id=2&nid=9681
«Воронежский механический завод» изготовит рулевой двигатель для управления ракетой в полете
:: 16.03.2010

«Воронежский механический завод» - филиал ФГУП «ГКНПЦ им. М.В. Хруничева» приступил к освоению рулевого двигателя РД-0110Р для ракетоносителя «Союз2-1В». Речь идет о создании двигателя для управления ракетой в полете. Совместно с разработанным ранее двигателем НК-33 новый рулевой двигатель будет устанавливаться на первую ступень ракетоносителя. Отметим, что двигатели НК-33 были разработаны в 1970-х годах в рамках реализации «лунной программы» и предназначались для установки на ракету Н-1. Однако после отмены этой программы оставшиеся в большом количестве двигатели было решено использовать для разработки новых, более надежных ракетоносителей. В связи с этим  «Воронежский механический завод» совместно с «КБХА» приступил к изготовлению рулевого двигателя РД-0110Р, который в сочетании с двигателем НК-33 позволит получить первую ступень ракетоносителя с минимальными затратами.

В настоящий момент завершаются проектные работы. Первые огневые испытания пройдут в апреле-мае на базе уже существующего двигателя 11Д55.

Создание рулевого двигателя РД-0110Р в связке с двигателем НК-33 повысит надежность ракет, сократит сроки доводки и уменьшит затраты на изготовление ракетоносителей в 10 раз.

Пресс-служба воронежского механического завода

[SpaceR]

АниКей, спасибо!

Значит, всё-таки русский кардан для НК-33 делать не будут...
Но, по крайней мере, грузоподъемность обоих вариантов РН получится повыше, чем с карданом - больше тяга и меньше невырабатываемые остатки ступени.

[Lanista]

Дмитрий В. - пророк!!!

[Salo]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=15457.300

Re: Taurus II Development News
« Reply #304 on: Today at 04:36 PM »

I'm not concerned about the engines; I think they are fine.  But there is much more to a LV than propulsion alone.

Perhaps, but Orbital has experience with those systems and the engines are the single hardest component.

They'll be fine.

I agree - I wouldn't say the engines are the hardest component, certainly not these engines - but they are, though, the newest component considering Orbital's previous launch vehicle experience.  They just dissasembled the engine that was test-fired last week at flight thrust levels for two times mission duration+qual test (straight out of the box, after 30+ years in storage!!!) and the bearings and everything else look just fine.

The single hardest component of the whole program, IMHO, is the integration of the entire LV.  There's where previous experience, albeit with solids and smaller vehicles, helps.

[Salo]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=15457.315

Re: Taurus II Development News
« Reply #320 on: Today at 05:55 AM »   

O.K., O.K.,... here's a couple hardware pictures just to keep you quiet...

First, the last of the 2x duration test firings at Samara - start-up, flight throttle level and shutdown.  Pretty amazing that a 40-year old engine is taken out of a container, dusted and checked, and then fired at flight throttle settings for 10 minutes, then dissasembled, and not a scratch!!!

[pragmatik]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=15457.315
согласен, удивительно, 40 движку и он прилично работает. интересно РД180 после 40 лет склада... может повторить подобное?