Spaceflight

NPO Energomash has performed seven runs of the RD-191 rocket engine being developed for the Khrunichev Space Centre's Angara family of launch vehicles. The longest firing exceeded 150s.

Derived from the larger RD-171 and RD-180 used on the Zenit and Atlas launch vehicles, respectively, the 200t-thrust single-chamber engine operates on oxygen and kerosene.

Khimki, Russia-based NPO Energomash says the RD-191 will be ready to enter service in three years, which threatens to cause further delays to the Angara programme. The first test flight was originally due in 2001.

The Angara family of rockets uses standard modules with RD-191/191M engines. The lightweight 140t Angara 1.1 has one such module with a Khrunichev-developed Breeze-M second stage. It is meant to replace the Rokot launch vehicle, a conversion of the SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missile with 2.2t low-orbit payload capability. The heaviest, the 790t Angara-5, has a 7t payload capability into geostationary transfer orbit and will replace the Proton in 2005. The Angara family will fly from a launch site at Plesetsk cosmodrome in north-west Russia, originally intended for the Zenit.

Khrunichev is marketing Angara 1.1 launch services as a complete package with its Yakhta micro-satellite platform. A Yakhta-based lightweight geostationary communications satellite can accommodate 12 transponders and fly atop the Angara 1.1 or Rokot.