This is what Falcon Heavy looks like, a heavy booster from SpaceX, with which S7 Space is going to competeS7 Space CEO Sergei Sopov
said recently that this private aerospace company (some media call it “Russian SpaceX”) is going to revive the production of the NK-33 and NK-43 rocket engines to create a returnable Soyuz-5SL rocket.
“We would like to buy from the state the world-famous NK-33 and NK-43 engines, which were previously produced by the Samara Kuznetsov plant, as well as documentation, equipment, and technical reserve. In general, all that survived on this topic from the Soviet program. We intend to restore production, build our own rocket engine plant in Samara, ”said Sopov.
The entrepreneur believes that it will take at least five years to build the plant together with the production recovery process, and until this point S7 Space will use the 36 engines that remained in the state’s possession. “This allows us to start a flight test program for the Soyuz-5SL rocket, without waiting for the launch of mass production of the upgraded NK-33 and NK-43,” said the company’s general director.
According to rough estimates, the cost of resuming the production of Russian engines is estimated at $ 300 million. “Our proposal is being discussed in the government. We are also negotiating with the United Engine Corporation, ”said Sopov.
The Soyuz-5SL rocket will be an updated version of the Soyuz-5 medium-class launch vehicle. It will be launched from the Sea Launch launching cosmodrome with the subsequent return of the first stage to Earth. At the moment, the site is designed to work for the release of Russian-Ukrainian missiles of the Zenit-3SL family.
“S7 presented us its requirements for the project, and we consider the creation of such a launch vehicle as a modification of Soyuz-5, taking into account the maximum unification of the main constructive solutions,” said Vladimir Solntsev, general director of the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia.
S7 Space decided to use the experience of American colleagues from SpaceX. According to Ilona Mask, the head of SpaceX, the use of a relatively large number of not too powerful Merlin engines in the first stage is more expedient than using one or two powerful engines. In the case of the Falcon Heavy, this increases the level of security - if one or even several engines fail, the rocket still flies.
It is assumed that the basic version of Soyuz-5 will use the first step of the Russian version of the RD-170 produced by Energomash. This power unit, previously installed on the super-heavy rocket "Energy", is considered the most powerful rocket engine in the world on liquid fuel components.
The NK-33 and NK-43 are reusable engines that were used on another H-1 super-heavy rocket. At the same time, the NK-33 engine is currently installed on the Russian Soyuz-2.1v light carrier, and earlier it was used to build the American Antares rocket. The engines mentioned were developed at the end of the 60s of the last century at the Kuibyshev OKB-276 (modern Samara Kuznetsov). Well,
NK-43 (11D112) is a liquid-propellant rocket engine, the world's most powerful high-altitude oxygen-kerosene rocket engine designed to be installed on the second stage of the N1F, N1F-L3M launch vehicles. The design RC-43 is similar to the NK-33. They have a common combustion chamber, THA, automation units and the initial section of the nozzle. But the degree of expansion of the nozzle at the NK-43 is increased. The inner shell of the nozzle to the section with a diameter of 1500 mm is made of bronze, the rest is pure steel. Engine circuit is closed, with afterburning.
Earlier, representatives of S7 Space stated that the company is really going to compete with SpaceX. For the implementation of rocket launches, the domestic company acquired the Sea Launch space center. According to the head of S7 Space, the competition with SpaceX will consist primarily in price policy, quality, convenience and comfort of work when performing the ordered services.
The first launch from the Sea Launch is scheduled for 2019. Over the next 15 years, the company intends to implement approximately 70 start-ups. In addition to SpaceX, Roscosmos is also a competitor to S7 Space, which, as far as can be judged, is not going very well.