The NK-3 liquid engine with a 4.5-ton thrust is being created for use in the first and second stages of the Voronezh ultralight launch vehicle
The United Engine Corporation of Rostec State Corporation is presenting a full-size mock-up of the NK-3 engine for the Voronezh ultralight space rockets at the Technoprom International Technological Development Forum. This is the first domestic rocket engine of this class created in modern Russia. The development will open up new opportunities for launching small satellites and developing space programs.
The NK-3 liquid rocket engine with a 4.5-ton thrust is being created at UEC-Kuznetsov for use in the first and second stages of the Voronezh ultralight launch vehicle. As a prototype of the camera, the steering unit of the RD-107A serial space engine for Soyuz-type launch vehicles is used. The rest of the nodes and parts are designed by designers from scratch. To date, a preliminary design has been completed, and working design documentation is being developed.
Three modifications of the engine running on environmentally friendly fuel are being created. 12 engines are installed on the first stage of the launch vehicle. The second stage is equipped with one NK-3 with a high-altitude nozzle and the possibility of double launch. Part of the first stage engines and the second stage engine will be equipped with a thrust vector control system to adjust the flight path of the launch vehicle. With the help of an ultralight rocket, it is planned to launch relatively small satellites into Earth orbit. The project will allow Russia to enter the segment of commercial ultralight launches.
Technoprom participants and visitors will be able to see a mock-up of the second stage of the NK-3 rocket at the stand of the United Engine Corporation. It is presented in full size: the length of the second stage is 4.1 m, the diameter is 2.05 m.
"Currently, there are no mass-produced engines and ultralight launch vehicles in Russia. UEC-Kuznetsov has been producing RD-107A/108A engines for Soyuz family launch vehicles for many years, has its own production and testing base, and extensive design competencies, including for the creation of completely new products. Designers design oxidizer and fuel pumps, turbines, gas generators, automation units, start and stop systems from scratch. In order to reduce the time of experimental testing, complex body parts of automation units and a gas generator are planned to be manufactured using additive technologies. The existing experience and scientific and technical groundwork ensure a reduction in project development costs and a low cost of the final product - this is an important condition for working in the commercial space launch market," said Pavel Chupin, General Designer of ODK—Kuznetsov.
The use of additive technologies will reduce the production time of parts and assembly units with various design options for testing and selecting the optimal option. It is planned, for example, to make a gas generator using the method of selective laser fusion from heat-resistant materials. The use of layer-by-layer fusion and stereolithography technology in the casting of turbopump body parts will shorten the pre-production time, avoiding the manufacture of complex and time-consuming tooling for the models being produced.
Autonomous tests of assembly units and firing tests of engines will be carried out with maximum use of the existing production base of the ODK-Kuznetsov enterprise, which provides a full production cycle.
The new NK-3 engine is being developed as part of an agreement between ODK and the Voskhod venture fund to create the Voskhod space rocket complex. The direct customer is the developer of the Voronezh launch vehicle, 3D Research and Development Company.
"For a private space company, choosing a partner is a strategic issue. We rely on cooperation with experienced companies, those who have decades of work on the most reliable engines in the world. Working in the Rostec circuit, ODK-Kuznetsov has been producing and creating rocket engines for several decades, and this experience is of fundamental importance for the project," explained Nikolay Dzis-Voynarovsky, General Director of ZD Research and Development LLC.
The XIII International Technoprom Technological Development Forum is being held in Novosibirsk from August 26 to 28. The key theme of the event is "Russian science — the foundation of technological leadership." Within its framework, participants will discuss the implementation of national projects of technological leadership, Youth and Children, achievements of domestic science and high-tech industry, as well as the creation and implementation of the most important high-tech technologies in the economy.
