NPO Energomash "V. P. Glushko" is a major Russian rocket engine manufacturer. The company primarily develops and producesliquid propellant rocket engines. Energomash originates from theSoviet design bureauOKB-456, which was founded in 1946. NPO Energomash acquired its current name on May 15, 1991, in honor of its former chief designerValentin Glushko.
![]() | |
Native name | НПО Энергомаш имени академика В. П. Глушко |
---|---|
Romanized name | NPO Energomash named after “V. P. Glushko” |
Formerly | OKB-456 |
Industry | Aerospace industry Space industry Defense industry Rocket engines |
Founded | (1946; 79 years ago (1946))Khimki,Soviet Union |
Founder | Valentin Petrovich Glushko |
Headquarters | , |
Products | |
Revenue | $182 million[1] (2016) |
$59.7 million[1] (2016) | |
$48 million[1] (2016) | |
Total assets | $47 million[1] (2016) |
Total equity | $126 million[1] (2016) |
Number of employees | 5500 (2009) |
Parent | Roscosmos[2] |
Website | Official Website |

Energomash is noted for its long history of large scaleLOX/Kerosene engine development. Notable examples are theRD-107/RD-108engines used on theR-7,Molniya andSoyuz rocket families, and theRD-170,RD-171 andRD-180 engines used on theEnergia,Zenit andAtlas V launch vehicles.
As of July 2013[update], the company remained largely owned by thefederal government of Russia, butRSC Energia owned approximately 14% of the total shares.[3] As of 2009[update], NPO Energomash employed approximately 5500 workers at its headquarters inKhimki, Moscow and its satellite facilities inSamara,Perm, andSt. Petersburg.[4]
On 4 August 2016, the company announced that it would launch a new plant by December 2016.[5]
History
editValentin Petrovich Glushko was appointed chief designer of the newly founded OKB-456 design bureau on July 3, 1946.[6] The company was quickly tasked with the production of a Russian copy of the German V2 rocket engine, under the supervision of Glushko and 234 German designers added to the company in October, 1946.[7][8] At the end of that year, OKB-456 took up residence in an aviation factory near the city ofKhimki, just outside Moscow. Here, the bureau constructed facilities to build and test fire its engines. The RD-100 performed admirably, and low-pressure LOX/Ethanol engine development continued, in the form of the RD-102 and RD-103. However, the development of high-pressure engine technology allowed propellants with a higher energy density to be used, and so LOX/Kerosene quickly replaced LOX/Ethanol as the propellant of choice.[9]
In 2013, the Russian government began a major effort torenationalize the Russianspace sector, and createdUnited Rocket and Space Corporation (URSC) to consolidate its space holdings.[10] In December 2013 President Putin issued apresidential decree setting up the URSC corporation. The decree stipulated that the corporation will take over manufacturing facilities.[11]The industry reorganization continued into 2014[12] with aSberbank cooperation agreement.[13]
Storable propellants and hypergols
editIn 1954, the development and success of the LOX/KeroseneRD-107 and RD-108 engines allowed the company to expand its engine development work further. The RD-214 engine, using a storable mixture ofNitric Acid and Kerosene, was developed for ballistic missiles with a short readiness time requirement. The RD-214 was soon superseded by the RD-216 and later variants, which used ahypergolic combination ofUDMH and Nitric Acid. This line of development later led to the highly successfulUDMH/N2O4 enginesRD-253 and RD-275 used on theProton launch vehicles – these were the most powerful hypergolic engine of its time, and remains in production to the current day.[14]
High pressure engines
editThe RD-107 and RD-108 engines developed from 1954-1957 were extremely reliable and widely used. However, DB Energomash (renamed from the original OKB designation in 1967) saw great potential in the development of LOX/Kerosene engines with a higher chamber pressure. This presented many challenges to the engine designers, most notably the development of aturbopump which could deliver enough propellant to keep the engine running at a pressure high enough to maintain combustion stability. The resulting engine, developed in the early 1980s, was theRD-170, which runs at a chamber pressure of 24.5 megapascals (3,550 pounds per square inch) and produces 7,550 kilonewtons (1,700,000 pounds-force) of thrust at a sea-levelspecific impulse of 309 sec, and 7,903 kilonewtons (1,777,000 pounds-force) of thrust at a vacuumspecific impulse of 337 sec[15] — one of the most efficient and powerful LOX/Kerosene engines in the world.
Current work
editVariants of the RD-170 are still in use today on such vehicles as theZenit 3SL used bySea Launch. The modernSoyuz rocket uses updated versions of theRD-107 and RD-108 engines. TheRD-180 engine, developed withPratt & Whitney Rocketdyne through theRD AMROSS partnership, is a direct descendant of the RD-170 line and is used as the propulsion system for the first stage ofAtlas V.[16] The most current engine listed on the NPO Energomash website is the single-chamberRD-191, developed for theAngara and Baikal launch vehicles.
NPO Energomash works with other Russian companies (Keldysh Research Center andKBKhA), and in cooperation with European companies on the Volga rocket engine project.[17]
The company continues to research and explore new engine concepts, such as thetripropellant, bi-modal engines of the RD-700 family (RD-701 andRD-704).[18]
On 1 June 2016, the company successfully tested first-stage engine named RD-181, a modified version of theRD-191 forAntares.[19]
On 10 August 2016, the company successfully tested first-stage engine named PDU-99 "ПДУ-99" forRS-28 Sarmat.[20]
List of orbital launchers
editSee also
editReferences
edit- ^abcdehttp://engine.space/upload/iblock/c36/c361e49f2a8481c4f01e7ba8cbc6fc29.pdf.
{{cite web}}
:Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^"Производитель ракетных двигателей в России - О компании АО "НПО Энергомаш"".Engine.space (in Russian). Archived fromthe original on 5 May 2017. Retrieved7 May 2017.
- ^Иван Чеберко (18 July 2013)."Сергей Недорослев не смог заработать на ракетных двигателях".Известия. Retrieved4 January 2015.
- ^"Company". Npoenergomash.ru. Retrieved4 January 2015.
- ^"НПО Энергомаш готовится к запуску нового цеха".NPO Energomash. 2016-08-04.
- ^"Glushko". Astronautix.com. Archived fromthe original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved4 January 2015.
- ^RaketensklavenISBN 978-3-421-06635-0
- ^Raketensklaven: Deutsche Forscher hinter rotem StacheldrahtISBN 978-3-933395-67-2
- ^"History". Npoenergomash.ru. Archived fromthe original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved4 January 2015.
- ^Messier, Doug (2013-08-30)."Rogozin: Russia to Consolidate Space Sector into Open Joint Stock Company".Parabolic Arc. Archived fromthe original on 2017-02-14. Retrieved2013-08-31.
- ^"Putin Signs Decree to Establish New Space Corporation".RIA Novosti. 2 December 2013. Retrieved2 December 2013.
- ^"United Rocket and Space Corporation booklet"(PDF). Rosorkk.ru. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved4 January 2015.
- ^"Sberbank of Russia and United Rocket and Space Corporation sign cooperation agreement"(Press release). Sberbannk. 1 October 2014. Retrieved14 November 2014.
- ^"RD-253". Astronautix.com. Archived fromthe original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved4 January 2015.
- ^"RD-170". Astronautix.com. Archived fromthe original on 22 November 2013. Retrieved3 June 2018.
- ^"Atlas V Product Sheet"(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on February 26, 2009. RetrievedJanuary 19, 2009.
- ^"Future European Reusable Propulsion Systems"(PDF). Retrieved2015-11-21.
- ^"NPO Energomash". Retrieved2016-04-06.
- ^"Огневое испытание двух двигателей РД-181 в составе первой ступени РН Antares".NPO Energomash. 2016-06-01.
- ^"Испытания тяжелой стратегической ракеты "Сармат" начнутся в ближайшее время".Interfax. 2016-08-10.