The manufacturer of rockets Antares and Cygnus will receive a second batch of rocket engines from Energomash in the fall

Orbital Sciences, which develops Antares rockets and the Cygnus space truck, received the second part of the RD-181 rocket engine batch from Energomash this fall. Missiles with these engines will work as cargo suppliers for the ISS.

Interestingly, the amount of the contract is quite a significant amount - $ 1 billion. The agreement on the supply of engines was concluded in January 2015. The total number of engines that Energomash pledged to supply to an American company is 60. The first batch was shipped in July 2015.


Rocket Engines Energomash. Photo: RIA

Previously, Antares rockets were powered by AJ-26 engines, a modified version of the Soviet NK-33, which in the USSR were developed by Samara's Kuznetsov OJSC. Now, these engines will be replaced by RD-181. Let me remind you that in October 2014, the Antares launch vehicle exploded , which was supposed to deliver the Cygnus truck to the ISS. One of the causes of the disaster, experts consider a malfunction in the engines. The launch was planned to be carried out at 02.22 Moscow time on Wednesday, October 29, from the Vallops Cosmodrome in Virginia on the Atlantic coast using an Antares launch vehicle. The explosion occurred approximately six seconds after launch. According to reports, no one was injured during the incident.



This December, the launch of the Cygnus ship is planned, which will be carried out using the Atlas V rocket from the cosmodrome at Cape Canaveral (Florida, USA).

Next year, the company plans to start shipping Cygnus using its own Antares rocket. In 2016, several launches will be carried out, the first is scheduled for early 2016. Orbital Sciences itself signed a contract with NASA to deliver cargo to the ISS, the contract cost is $ 1.9 billion.