RD-180

Glushko LOx/Kerosene rocket engine. Atlas III, Atlas V stage 1. In production. First flight 2000. Two-thrust-chamber derivative of the four-chamber RD-170 used on Zenit.

The RD-180 was a two-thrust-chamber derivative of the four-chamber RD-170. It packaged the high performance, operability, and reusability features of the RD-170 in a size to meet the propulsion requirements for the Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle. The RD-180 was a total propulsion unit with hydraulics for control valve actuation and thrust vector gimbaling, pneumatics for valve actuation and system purging, and a thrust frame to distribute loads, all self-contained as part of the engine. The engine, employing a LOX lead start, staged combustion cycle, and LOX rich turbine drive, delivered a 10 percent performance increase over then-operational US booster engines and provided clean, reusable operation. Only the main turbo-pump assembly and boost pumps required development and they were scalable from the RD-120 and RD-170 engines. All other components were taken directly from the RD-170. The RD-180 was developed in 42 months at a small fraction of the cost of a typical US new engine development. The engine powered the interim Atlas III and standard Atlas V launch vehicles.

General Description:

• Staged combustion cycle engine
• LOX/Kerosene propellants
• Two thrust chambers (gimbal +8 degrees)
• One oxygen rich pre-burner
• High pressure turbopump assembly
• Two-stage fuel pump
• Single-stage oxygen pump
• Single turbine
• Hypergolic ignition
• Self-contained hydraulic system (valves, TVC) powered with kerosene from fuel pump
• Health monitoring and life prediction system
• Automated flight preparation (after installation on the vehicle, all operations are automated through launch)
• Minimized interfaces with launch pad and vehicle (pneumatic and hydraulic systems self-contained, electrical panels consolidated, thrust frame to simplify mechanical interface)
• Environmentally clean operations with staged combustion oxidizer rich pre-burner, and oxidizer start and shutdown modes that eliminate coking and unburned kerosene pollution potential
• 50 - 100% continuous throttling provided potential for real time trajectory matching and engine checkout on the pad before launch commit
• 80% RD-170 parts
• Chamber Pressure: 256.6 bar.
• Area Ratio: 36.4.
• Thrust to Weight Ratio: 77.26.
• Oxidizer to Fuel Ratio: 2.72.