RD-0146


The RD-0146 is a Russian cryogenic rocket engine. The RD-0146 engine was developed by KBKhA design bureau in Voronezh, Russia, in cooperation with the American Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne company. In 2009, it came into prominence, as Russian space agency chose it for the second-stage of the proposed Rus-M launch vehicle designed to carry the future Russian PPTS crewed spacecraft. After the cancellation of Rus-M rocket, the RD-0146D variant was selected as the powerplant for the KVTK upper stage.

Development

In 1999, Khrunichev requested KBKhA to develop RD-0146U version of the engine for Proton and Angara rockets. The development of the engine was partially financed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. Pratt & Whitney signed a preliminary marketing agreement on April 7, 2000 with Russia's Chemical Automatics Design Bureau giving Pratt & Whitney exclusive international marketing rights to the RD-0146.

Description

The RD-0146 is the first Russian rocket engine not to feature a gas generator and to be equipped with extendable nozzle extension without a cooling system. The engine is capable of five firings and thrust control in two planes. According to the developer, the lack of a gas generator system ensures higher reliability of the engine for multiple firings, by removing the potential of an ignition failure in the engine power cycle.

Comparable engines