MOSCOW, February 14 (AVN) - The Glushko Energomash research and production company based Moscow's Khimki satellite and the Makeyev state missile centre based in the town of Miass in the western Siberian Chelyabinsk region have completed projects of several rocket engines running on liquified natural gas (methane), Energomash Director-General and Constructor-General Boris Katorgin said on Monday.
The use of liquified methane together with liquid oxygen is a prospective direction in the development of new-generation booster rockets, Katorgin told the Military News Agency. Engines running on methane are 20 to 30 percent more effective than those running on kerosene. Besides, they make it possible to increase the payload without changing the rocket's launching mass, he said.
Research held jointly with the Kompomash corporation, the Central Machine-Building Research Institute and other organisations has proved that the most perspective concept of methane engines is formation of booster rocket stages our of engine modules. There will be two variants of such modules: the ground variant intended the first stage and the high-altitude variant designed for the second stage of the rocket.
The company is currently testing the engines at experimental beds, Katorgin said. It has completed the full cycle of calculations and research, designed several components of the engine and defined its energy, mass and size characteristics, he added.