The RD-861 is a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
liquid propellant rocket engine burning
UDMH and
nitrogen tetroxide in a
gas generator combustion cycle. It has a main combustion chamber, with four
vernier nozzles fed by the gas generator output.
It can be reignited a single time.
History
When the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
military developed the
Fractional Orbital Bombardment System,
Yangel's
OKB-586
Pivdenne Design Office ( uk, Державне конструкторське бюро «Південне» ім. М. К. Янгеля , lit=State design bureau "Southern", named after M. K. Yangel, translit=Derzhavne konstruktors ...
proposed a new version of their
R-36 ICBM
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...
, called the R-36-ORB (
GRAU
The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...
Index: 8K69). It incorporated an
orbit
In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...
al
warhead called OGCh (
GRAU
The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...
Index: 8F021), for which the RD-854 engine was developed in-house. Since the
Outer Space Treaty of 1967 banned nuclear weapons in Earth orbit, but did not ban the launch systems, the Soviet Union proceeded to test their FOBS albeit without placing nuclear warheads in orbit.
Versions
There are three versions of this engine:
* RD-854 (
GRAU
The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...
Index: 8D612): First developed as the third stage engine for the
R-36ORB FOBS
A Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) is a warhead delivery system that uses a low earth orbit towards its target destination. Just before reaching the target, it deorbits through a retrograde engine burn.
Mark ZastrowHow does China’s ...
.
* RD-861 (
GRAU
The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...
Index: 11D25): Also known as the D-25. It was the engine of the
Tsyklon-3 third stage.
* RD-861K : An improved RD-861, developed for the third stage of the
Tsyklon-4. The vernier nozzles were replaced with a
hydraulic actuated gimbal for the whole engine. The isp was increased, the burn time tripled and the reignitions increased to three.
See also
*
R-36ORB - The
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
ICBM
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...
that was part of the
Fractional Orbital Bombardment System and for which the RD-854 was created.
*
Tsyklon-3 - A
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
small rocket that uses the RD-861.
*
Tsyklon-4 - A
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
small rocket project that would have used the RD-861K.
*
Yuzhnoe Design Bureau - The RD-854/861 designer bureau.
*
Yuzhmash - A multi-product machine-building company that's closely related to Yuzhnoe and manufactures the RD-854/861.
References
External links
Yuzhnoye Design Bureau English-language home pageYuzhmash Home Page
Rocket engines using hypergolic propellant
Rocket engines using the gas-generator cycle
Rocket engines of the Soviet Union
Yuzhnoye rocket engines
Yuzhmash rocket engines
Rocket engines of Ukraine
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