 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "RD-270" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Country of origin | USSR/Russia |
|---|---|
| Date | 1962-1968 |
| Designer | V. Glushko,USSR/Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic |
| Manufacturer | Energomash |
| Application | Glushko's answer to the USRocketdyne F-1 |
| Successor | RD-270M |
| Status | Development cancelled in 1968 |
| Liquid-fuel engine | |
| Propellant | N2O4 /UDMH |
| Cycle | Full-flow staged combustion |
| Performance | |
| Thrust, vacuum | 6,713 kN (1,509,000 lbf)[1] |
| Thrust, sea-level | 6,270 kN (1,410,000 lbf)[1] |
| Thrust-to-weight ratio | 189.91 |
| Chamberpressure | 26.1 MPa (3,790 psi)[1] |
| Specific impulse, vacuum | 322 s (3.16 km/s) |
| Specific impulse, sea-level | 301 s (2.95 km/s) |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 194 in (4,900 mm) |
| Diameter | 132 in (3,400 mm) |
| Dry mass | 3,370 kg (7,430 lb)[1] |
| Used in | |
| 1st stage of proposedUR-700 andUR-900 | |
RD-270 (Russian:Ракетный Двигатель-270,romanized: Raketnyy Dvigatel-270,lit. 'Rocket Engine 270',GRAU index:8D420) was a single-chamberliquid-fuel rocket engine designed byEnergomash (USSR) in 1960–1970. It was to be used on the first stages of the proposed heavy-liftUR-700 andUR-900 rocket families, as well as on theN1. It has the highest thrust among single-chamber engines of theUSSR, 640 metric tons at the surface of Earth. The propellants used are ahypergolic mixture ofunsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) fuel withdinitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) oxidizer. The chamber pressure was among the highest considered, being about 26 MPa. This was achieved by applying thefull-flow staged combustion cycle for all the incoming mass of fuel, which is turned into a gas and passes through multiple turbines before being burned in the combustion chamber. This allowed the engine to achieve aspecific impulse of 301 s (2.95 km/s) at the Earth's surface.
Engine testing was underway when the decision was made to cancel the program. Development was stopped with all other work on corresponding rocket projects on 11 December 1970.
The development of theRD-270 started on 26 June 1962. Preliminary investigations and development of the engine and its further production were performed under the guidance ofValentin Glushko and finished in 1967. It became the most powerful engine in the world to date that used storable propellants. During 1967–1969, several test firings were performed with experimental engines that were adapted to work at sea level and had a short nozzle. In total, 27 test firings were performed with 22 engines; three engines were tested twice, and one of them was tested three times.[2]
The RD 270 was also considered for theR-56 rocket (although never formally adopted) until work on the design stopped in June 1964.[2][3]
During development, Glushko studied the use ofpentaborane "zip" propellants in a modified RD-270M engine. This would have created immense toxicity problems but increased the specific impulse of the engine by 42 seconds (0.41 km/s).[4]
The enginethrottle range was 95–105%, the thrust vector control range was ±12° (projectR-56) and ±8° forUR-700 rocket family. The oxidizer-to-fuel ratio was 2.67 and could be changed by up to 7%.[1]
To achieve such a highspecific impulse and pressure incombustion chamber as RD-270 has, two circuits offull-flow staged combustion cycle were applied. The pair of turbines with preburners turns the fuel into the gaseous form and circulates all of the fuel components. One of the turbines uses the fuel-rich gas to power a fuel pump, another one uses the oxidizer-rich gas to power the oxidizer pump. As a result, the main combustion chamber burns only generator gas. The engine controller regulates the functions of the two independent fuel and oxidizer circuits.[1]
To cool the MCC, its wall structure is layered, with four internal belts of slots. Some parts of the nozzle are covered byzirconium dioxide for thermal protection.[1]
| Liquid fuel |
|  | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solid fuel |
| |||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||