US continues to buy Russian rocket engines
(Baonghean.vn) - A source in the space rocket industry said on December 24 that since the late 1990s, the Russian engine manufacturing enterprise NPO Energomash has sold the US 130 RD-180 and RD-181 engines to equip rockets, of which 93 engines have been used in space launches.
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| RD-191 engine. Photo: AP |
"To date, 113 RD-180 engines for Atlas-5 rockets and 17 RD-181 engines for Antares rockets have been supplied to the US by Russia," the source said. According to him, to date, the RD-180 engine has been used in the Atlas-5 rocket on the first stage in 85 flights, while the RD-181 engine has been used in the Antares rocket on the first stage in 8 flights.
"This year, 11 RD-180 engines and five RD-181 engines have been delivered to US customers," the source added. The first RD-180 engine was delivered to the US in January 1999, while the first RD-181 engine arrived in the US in June 2015.
Recently, there have been more events proving that Russia is still the number 1 power in developing main engines for space rockets, continuing to leave behind the other two giants, the US and China, in the aerospace field.
On December 17, NPO Energomash Director General Igor Arbuzov announced that Russia has begun developing a new potential rocket using the RD-180 liquid fuel engine, the type of engine currently installed on the US Atlas-5 rocket.
