Циклон-4М
Еще о Циклоне-4М, РД-870 и РД-809К
https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/ukraine-vies-for-place-in-crowded-launch-market/
Vladimir Shulga, Yuzhnoye deputy designer general, who is responsible for propulsion systems at the company, expressed confidence that the new power plant can be built cheaply inside Ukraine. “We estimate that we will spend three times less money [on RD-870] in comparison to the development of a new engine,” he says. “We extensively borrow the technology, experience, manufacturing base and even some modes of operation from the existing systems,” Shulga says. “We still have to test [the new engine], but we would need only one prototype and not, say, five. We have a test stand suitable for it, allowing firing engines up to 93 tons in thrust, which would only need some interface upgrades.”
As of May, Yuzhnoye planned to complete the preliminary design for the four-engine cluster of RD-870 engines by September. Moving forward, Yuzhnoye is working on organizing an industrial team of subcontractors inside Ukraine for mass production of the engine.
Shulga estimates that it would take between 3.5 and four years to set up a complete RD-870 production line. If successful, RD-870 will be the first large rocket engine for the first stage of an indigenously built vehicle in Ukraine.
In the meantime, for its second stage, Cyclone-4M will fly the RD-861 engine, which is undergoing final testing aimed to qualify it for flight. Originally developed for the canceled Cyclone-4 project, the engine is practically ready and the Ukrainian engineers are already working on its upgrades, including the new controller, which will perform computerized monitoring of the ratio between fuel and oxidizer flowing into the combustion chamber.
However, the major disadvantage of this motor is its propellant components inherited from military missiles: unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine, UDMH, and nitrogen tetroxide. Besides being extremely toxic, these chemicals are also quite expensive. And hydrazine has never been produced in Ukraine. Just to run the engine tests, Yuzhnoye has to buy hydrazine in China, explains Aleksandr Kushnarev, first deputy designer general for system design at Yuzhnoye .
As a result, Ukrainian engineers had already begun work on the kerosene-burning engine - RD-809K - that is intended to propel the next generation second stage on Cyclone-4M.
Upgraded with RD-809K, Cyclone-4M will be able to deliver around 4 tons to low Earth orbit, greatly expanding its potential on the international market.
Not coincidently, Isella says that all launch facilities at the future launch site in Canada would feature the built-in capability to support much larger rockets than the original Cyclone-4M.
https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/ukraine-vies-for-place-in-crowded-launch-market/
Vladimir Shulga, Yuzhnoye deputy designer general, who is responsible for propulsion systems at the company, expressed confidence that the new power plant can be built cheaply inside Ukraine. “We estimate that we will spend three times less money [on RD-870] in comparison to the development of a new engine,” he says. “We extensively borrow the technology, experience, manufacturing base and even some modes of operation from the existing systems,” Shulga says. “We still have to test [the new engine], but we would need only one prototype and not, say, five. We have a test stand suitable for it, allowing firing engines up to 93 tons in thrust, which would only need some interface upgrades.”
As of May, Yuzhnoye planned to complete the preliminary design for the four-engine cluster of RD-870 engines by September. Moving forward, Yuzhnoye is working on organizing an industrial team of subcontractors inside Ukraine for mass production of the engine.
Shulga estimates that it would take between 3.5 and four years to set up a complete RD-870 production line. If successful, RD-870 will be the first large rocket engine for the first stage of an indigenously built vehicle in Ukraine.
In the meantime, for its second stage, Cyclone-4M will fly the RD-861 engine, which is undergoing final testing aimed to qualify it for flight. Originally developed for the canceled Cyclone-4 project, the engine is practically ready and the Ukrainian engineers are already working on its upgrades, including the new controller, which will perform computerized monitoring of the ratio between fuel and oxidizer flowing into the combustion chamber.
However, the major disadvantage of this motor is its propellant components inherited from military missiles: unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine, UDMH, and nitrogen tetroxide. Besides being extremely toxic, these chemicals are also quite expensive. And hydrazine has never been produced in Ukraine. Just to run the engine tests, Yuzhnoye has to buy hydrazine in China, explains Aleksandr Kushnarev, first deputy designer general for system design at Yuzhnoye .
As a result, Ukrainian engineers had already begun work on the kerosene-burning engine - RD-809K - that is intended to propel the next generation second stage on Cyclone-4M.
Upgraded with RD-809K, Cyclone-4M will be able to deliver around 4 tons to low Earth orbit, greatly expanding its potential on the international market.
Not coincidently, Isella says that all launch facilities at the future launch site in Canada would feature the built-in capability to support much larger rockets than the original Cyclone-4M.