Draco (rocket engine family)

Draco

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft approaching the International Space Station fires one of its 18 Draco thrusters.
Country of origin	United States
Manufacturer	SpaceX
Application	Reaction control system
Liquid-fuel engine
Propellant	NTO / MMH
Performance
Thrust (vac.)	400 N (90 lbf)
Isp (vac.)	300s
Used in
SpaceX Dragon

SuperDraco

SuperDraco firing at full thrust
Country of origin	United States
Manufacturer	SpaceX
Application	LAS (Launch Abort System), powered landing
Status	Development
Liquid-fuel engine
Propellant	NTO / MMH
Performance
Thrust (SL)	73 kN (16,400 lbf)
Isp (SL)	235s
Burn time	25 seconds
Propellant capacity	1,388 kg (3,060 lbs)
Used in
Crew Dragon, DragonFly test vehicle

Draco is a family of hypergolic liquid rocket engines designed and built by SpaceX for use in their launch vehicles and space capsules. Two engine types have been built to date: Draco and SuperDraco.

The original Draco thruster is a small rocket engine for use on the Dragon spacecraft. These engines were also used on early Falcon 9 upper stages to provide attitude control, but more recent versions now use nitrogen cold gas thrusters in place of Dracos.

SuperDraco is derived from Draco, and utilizes the same storable (non-cryogenic) propellant as the small Draco thrusters, but are over 100 times larger in terms of delivered thrust. The much larger SuperDraco engines will be used on later versions of the Dragon spacecraft to provide launch-escape capability on crew transport flights to low Earth orbit, as well as entry, descent and landing control of the proposed Red Dragon robotic probe to Mars.

Draco thrusters generate 400 newtons (90 pounds-force) of thrust using a storable propellant mixture of monomethyl hydrazine fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer. The Draco thrust is comparable to the Marquardt R-4D engine developed for the Apollo Service and Lunar Modules in 1960s and used for apogee/perigee maneuvers, orbit adjustment, and attitude control.