Beholder44: Все сообщения за 31 Декабря 2010 года

Beholder44

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Д.В.> Вот блин, уже ничего не понятно Так значит фотокамеры тоже надо подогревать? А охлаждать не надо? Не могли бы Вы озвучить окончательную версию, а то Вас и не поймешь. А мы ведь хотим знать, на чем лажанулись американцы.

 

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..Yes, NK-33 parameters look so good it's hard to believe these engines actually exist...

 

One of the things that I find really remarkable regarding the NK-33 engine is that it achieves performance values that exceed the SSME in some respects (high T/W, high Isp, high overall bulk density propellant.) Here in the US of A we were taught that the SSME was the first high pressure staged combustion rocket engine-but this was not so at all...the (then Soviets) Russians already had high-pressure staged combustion pretty well developed by the time Rocketdyne's F-1 were being installed on the Saturn 5. And the NK-33 used an oxydizer rich precombustion stream to boot!

I think the hot gas ducting and combustion chamber metallurgy for the NK-33 called for a very high chromium content stainless steel alloy (something like 20% chromium..?) to create a thick chromium oxide layer which protects the stainless steel from further degradation...pickling the parts in an electric furnace flushed with spurts of pure oxygen should provide the initial treatments for the engine to run sucessfully...

 

AEROJET LOOKING TO RESTART PRODUCTION OF NK-33 ENGINE
... At this point, Van Kleeck said talks are concentrated on where the new line would be built, though she said Aerojet would prefer a U.S. production line if a sound business case can be made.
....This fall, Aerojet is planning a long-duration, high-power test firing of the NK-33 in Samara, Russia. Scheduled for late September or early October, the test could raise confidence in the engine. ...

 

This is going right down the road already trod by RD-180. Promises of U.S. production that never seem to materialize beyond "we have the blueprints and are sure we "could" do it".

 

Nikolai Yakushin, the deputy general director of Moscow-based United Engine Corp., wrote Orbital Sciences Chief Executive Officer David W. Thompson in late June to give assurance that Russia will be able to meet Orbital’s demand for the NK-33 engine from existing inventory and a restart of NK-33 production in Russia, according to a U.S. industry source familiar with the letter.

 

Aerojet is working with Samara State Scientific and Production Enterprise-NK Engines of Samara, Russia, and will initially purchase an existing supply of approximately 70 NK-33 engines, and adapt them for use on U.S. launch vehicles. Primary modifications will include installing a gimbal block, or thrust-vectoring capability; new wiring harnesses and electrical circuitry; and electromechanical valve actuators. Twelve engines will be imported later this year; the remainder will be negotiated by the two companies over a period of time.
Concurrently, Aerojet will prepare its Sacramento production facility to manufacture NK-33 engines in the U.S. under the designation AJ26-NK33A by the end of the decade, using an existing base of U.S. suppliers and subcontractors.

 

Re: Taurus II vs Atlas V for manned launch vehicle
« Reply #20 on: 07/28/2010 10:00 PM »
Quote from: Ben the Space Brit on 07/28/2010 09:17 PM
1) Can NK-33/AJ-26 be built in the US rather than the Ukraine? Even if it is still a foreign design, construction, testing and integration in the US will make a lot of people happier.
Aerojet has the rights to US production, but it's unlikely the economic case would close compared to restarting production in Russia. (As Ed says, it is not and never was Ukrainian. It also hasn't been produced since the Soviets canceled the N1 in the 70s)

If the government were going to pay for US production of a Russian engine, it might be better to bite the bullet and do the RD-180 (for which US production rights also exists.)

 

Kerosene is back!

 

 

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In December, Orbital won a Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract valued at $1.9 billion to deliver to the international space station a minimum of 20 metric tons of pressurized cargo spread over eight flights between 2010 and 2016. Space Exploration Technologies of Hawthorne, Calif., which has been working on a rival system with NASA’s help since 2006, has a 12-flight cargo-resupply contract worth $1.6 billion.

Slated to make its launch debut in 2010 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s eastern shore, the Taurus 2 will be powered by two modified NK-33 engines. The liquid oxygen and kerosene engines originally designed for Russia’s abandoned Moon program were acquired by Aerojet in the 1990s and more recently redesignated AJ26-62 for use on Taurus 2.

 

Today, Aerojet has 37 NK-33 engines in the United States, and owns the rights to additional surplus inventory in Russia.
Van Kleeck says at this time there are ample NK-33s in the United States and Russia to

support Orbital’s planned CRS contract commitment

 

.

 

La production du moteur NK33 devrait reprendre en 2014
Selon Kirilin le directeur du TsKB Progress la production devrait reprendre en 2014. D'ici là le TsSKB Progress va établir la documentation afin que la production reprenne dans les locaux de "Motorstroïtel".

 

 

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The Taurus II program currently has a backlog of nine launches, beginning with the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) project, a joint research and development effort with NASA to develop a space transportation 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, military and commercial customers for dedicated launch services for medium-class 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. Development of a West Coast launch capability is planned for the future to optimize performance to high-inclination orbits.

 

DULLES, Va.-(BUSINESS WIRE)- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced that it successfully carried out a long-duration test firing of the liquid-fueled AJ26 rocket engine that will power the first stage of the company’s Taurus® II space launch vehicle. In a test conducted on Friday, December 17 at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, Orbital and its engine supplier Aerojet, a unit of GenCorp (NYSE: GY), oversaw a test of the AJ26 engine at the recently refurbished E-1 test stand.

The AJ26 engine test ran for 55 seconds, during which the engine was purposely stressed to 109% (or about 370,000 lbs) of its baseline thrust level. The test of the engine’s primary control functions accomplished all primary objectives, including engine startup, propellant valve commanding, thrust vector control functioning and shutdown sequencing. Preliminary review of the test data indicated that all test objectives were met. The data collected from Friday’s test will be used to fine-tune the AJ26 engine system and prepare it for a third and final firing in mid-January, which will verify tuning of engine control valves.

The first stage of the Taurus II launch vehicle is powered by two liquid oxygen/kerosene AJ26 engines, which together generate nearly 740,000 lbs. of liftoff thrust and accelerate the vehicle to a speed of 10,700 miles per hour in the first 235 seconds of flight. As the Taurus II program enters its initial launch phase in 2011, each AJ26 engine will be subjected to rigorous acceptance testing at Stennis prior to being shipped to the Taurus II integration site at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Eastern Virginia. Three more AJ26’s are scheduled for testing over the next five months

 

In the meantime, Orbital forecasted the need for as many as 100 engines for the Taurus II project until 2020. With the decision of the Russian Ministry of Defense to develop the Soyuz-1 rocket, which would also employ NK-33, the restart of production had to be considered. By the middle of 2010, Rosoboronprom, a government entity which oversaw the engine manufacturer, committed to restart NK-33 production by 2014-2015, Russian officials said.

 

 

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