RD-0109
 |
|
| Country of origin | USSR |
|---|---|
| First flight | 1960-12-22 |
| Last flight | 1991-08-29 |
| Designer | OKB-154, S.A. Kosberg |
| Manufacturer | Voronezh Mechanical Plant |
| Application | Upper Stage |
| Associated L/V | Vostok |
| Predecessor | RD-0105 |
| Successor | RD-0108 |
| Status | Retired |
| Liquid-fuel engine | |
| Propellant | LOX / RG-1 |
| Cycle | Gas Generator |
| Configuration | |
| Chamber | 1 |
| Performance | |
| Thrust (vac.) | 54.5 kilonewtons (12,300 lbf) |
| Chamber pressure | 5 megapascals (730 psi) |
| Isp (vac.) | 323.5 seconds |
| Burn time | 430s |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 1,555 millimetres (61.2 in) |
| Diameter | 733 millimetres (28.9 in) |
| Dry weight | 121 kilograms (267 lb) |
| Used in | |
| Vostok Block-E | |
| Country of origin | USSR |
|---|---|
| First flight | 1959-01-02 |
| Last flight | 1960-12-01 |
| Designer | OKB-154, S.A. Kosberg |
| Manufacturer | Voronezh Mechanical Plant |
| Application | Upper Stage |
| Associated L/V | Vostok 8K72 |
| Successor | RD-0109 |
| Status | Retired |
| Liquid-fuel engine | |
| Propellant | LOX / RG-1 |
| Cycle | Gas Generator |
| Configuration | |
| Chamber | 1 |
| Performance | |
| Thrust (vac.) | 49.4 kilonewtons (11,100 lbf) |
| Chamber pressure | 4.5 megapascals (650 psi) |
| Isp (vac.) | 316 seconds |
| Burn time | 454s |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 494 millimetres (19.4 in) |
| Diameter | 733 millimetres (28.9 in) |
| Dry weight | 130 kilograms (290 lb) |
| Used in | |
| Vostok Block-E | |
The RD-0109 is a rocket engine burning liquid oxygen and kerosene in a gas generator combustion cycle. It has single nozzle and is an evolution of the RD-0105. It was the engine used on the Vostok Block-E that launched Yuri Gagarin to orbit.
After the success of Sputnik 1, Korolev sent series of letters to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union proposing a bold plan to send robotic spacecrafts to Mars and Venus. As part of such plan, a fourth stage was needed to enhance the three stage R-7 rocket and enable it to send useful payloads to those high energy destinations. This fourth stage was called Block-E, and its development started during 1958.
Korolev's OKB-1 design bureau initially competed two projects for the Block-E propulsion: 8K72, using the S.A. Kosberg's OKB-154 RD-0105, and the 8K73, using Glushko's OKB-456 RD-109 engine. Due to the complication of developing that latter, Kosberg go the contract.
Since the February 20, 1958 order of development, it took nine months to develop the engine. It was done by using RD-0102 assemblies and combustion chamber. Fifty eight static tests were conducted with 27 engines.
Between 1959 and 1960 the engine was modified to improve reliability for manned flight. Thrust was also increased 2%, thanks to improved injection elements. It also introduced an innovation attributed to S.A. Kosbergs in its construction, that has been a staple of Soviet (and later Russian) engines. It used a corrugated metal construction for the cooling jackets, with the lower section of the nozzle lacking an external liner, to save weight. This led to a 9.3% weight reduction even with the increased thrust. This new version was christened as the RD-0109 and entered service on the December 22, 1960, launch of a (Vostok) spacecraft aboard a Vostok-K 8K72K.
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Wikipedia