The Soviet RD-0120 (also designated 11D122) was the Energia core rocket engine, fueled by LH/

LOX Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an appli ...

, roughly equivalent to the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). These were attached to the Energia core rather than the orbiter, so were not recoverable after a flight, but created a more modular design (the Energia core could be used for a variety of missions besides launching the shuttle). The RD-0120 and the SSME have both similarities and differences. The RD-0120 achieved a slightly higher

specific impulse Specific impulse (usually abbreviated ) is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine (a rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel) creates thrust. For engines whose reaction mass is only the fuel they carry, specific impulse is ...

and combustion chamber pressure with reduced complexity and cost (but it was single-use), as compared to the SSME. It uses a fuel-rich staged combustion cycle and a single shaft to drive both the fuel and oxidizer turbopumps. Some of the Russian design features, such as the simpler and cheaper channel wall nozzles, were evaluated by

Rocketdyne Rocketdyne was an American rocket engine design and production company headquartered in Canoga Park, in the western San Fernando Valley of suburban Los Angeles, in southern California. The Rocketdyne Division was founded by North American Avia ...

for possible upgrades to the SSME. It achieved combustion stability without the acoustic resonance chambers that the SSME required.

Specifications

RD-0120

* Thrust (vacuum): 1.8639MN (190tons), (sea-level): 1.5171MN * Specific impulse (vacuum): , (sea-level): * Burn time: nominal 480–500s, certified for 1670s * Basic engine weight: 3,449 kg * Length: 4.55m, diameter: 2.42m * Propellants: LOX & LH * Mixture ratio: 6:1 * Contractor:

Chemical Automatics Design Bureau Chemical Automatics Design Bureau (CADB), also KB Khimavtomatika (russian: Конструкторское бюро химавтоматики, КБХА, KBKhA), is a Russian design bureau founded by the NKAP (People's Commissariat of the Aircraf ...

(Конструкторское Бюро Химавтоматики) * Vehicle application: Energia core stage.

References

External links

Molniya Research & Industrial Corporation's Buran page (english)
{{Russian and Soviet military designation sequences Rocket engines of the Soviet Union Rocket engines using hydrogen propellant Soviet inventions Rocket engines using the staged combustion cycle KBKhA rocket engines

Specifications

RD-0120

See also

References

External links