The President of RSC ENERGIA (which is a part of the United Rocket and Space Corporation) Vladimir SOLNTSEV and General Durector of Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) David THOMPSON have signed a direct contract for the delivery to the US of engines made by NPO ENERGOMASH (a subsidiary of RSC Energia).
The contract value is approximately US$1 billion (the exact figure is a commercial secret). Altogether, Russia is to deliver to the US 60 RD-181 engines – the customer is going to receive the first two engines as early as June 2015. The contract was concluded directly with the Orbital Sciences Corporation.
The engine RD-181 was developed specifically for use on the ANTARES launch vehicle, its use will make it possible to deliver significantly bigger payloads to the ISS and low-Earth orbits. Used in the production of RD-181 are state-of-the-art materials, innovative engineering and design solutions, which made it possible to improve the engine performance (the thrust is 186 tons). RD-181 was derived from the engine RD-191, which enabled the successful flight of ANGARA launch vehicle in the summer of 2014, and which was also installed on ANGARA launch vehicle which flew in December of 2014 from Plesetsk launch site.
The contract and addendums to it were concluded for engine deliveries and engineering support of the project – firing tests, engine installation, pre-flight processing, etc., which provides NPO ENERGOMASH with an opportunity to develop further, to upgrade its equipment, and stimulate its employees to develop and implement new advanced projects.
Vladimir SOLNTSEV, the President of RSC ENERGIA says: “We produce a whole family of engines built around a common manufacturing concept, which means that we can support virtually any kind of launch vehicles: from super-light to super-heavy. The statistics is unequivocal: our liquid rocket engines are 100% reliable; and, by the way, almost a half of all the space launches in world in the last year were made using NPO ENERGOMASH engines. We had been working on this contract for 3 years, and we are glad that our US colleagues share our principles: the foremost factor in today’s world, along with the product quality and competitive pricing, is the reliability of the supplier himself”.
Joint Stock Company RSC Energia is the leader in the rocket and space industry, and the prime contractor for manned space systems. It conducts work on the development of unmanned space and rocket systems (launch vehicles and orbital transfer vehicles), and high-technology systems for various non-space applications. Since August 2014, the Corporation is headed by V.L. Solntsev.
JSC V.P. Glushko NPO Energomash is a Russian company which is a leader in the development and manufacturing of liquid propellant engines. It was founded in 1929. Its principal products are engines for lower rocket stages.
Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) is a US company specializing in manufacturing of spacecraft and launch vehicles; and is an active provider of international launch services. OSC has built more than 560 launch vehicles and 174 satellites. OSC has a 40 % share of the interceptor missile market, 55 % share of small communications satellite market and 60 % share of small launch vehicles market. A new phase in the company’s evolution became the development of unmanned Cygnus spacecraft – one of the two private re-supply spacecraft under the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, the objective of which is to deliver cargoes to the ISS after Space Shuttle retirement. Cygnus will be launched on ANTARES launch vehicle.
