[AR] Re: eBay link to Russian engine
- From: Chris Jones <clj@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2018 22:04:19 -0400
On 04/25/18 9:44 PM, Norman Yarvin wrote:
On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 08:15:41PM -0400, Christopher Buchanan Shay wrote:
HK-33 Dept.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Soviet-Space-afterburner-rocket-engine-HK-33-SOYUZ-Spaceship-Russian-Original-/192497879116?hash=item2cd1c4884c
[...]
Quite reasonably priced for a rocket engine, that... oh, wait,
"Dimensions:
Diameter is from 70 to 90 mm.
Height is 70 cm.
Weight is 7 kg."
It seems that what is being sold is not the whole engine that is
depicted in the first photo, but one small part of it, in particular
the part depicted in subsequent photos. I don't think it could be
literally the "afterburner", since I don't think rockets don't have
those; perhaps it's the combustion chamber liner for the preburner.
I saw this and realized from the picture that it wasn't an HK-33 but an
NK-33 (but a Cyrillic N looks like a Roman H, so it's an easy mistake to
make). The NK-33 was developed for the Soviet N-1 first stage, but it
never flew on one because the program was cancelled before the N-1 got
its first stage engines upgraded to the NK-33. They were ordered to be
destroyed, but were put into storage and pulled out after the fall of
the Soviet Union, & offered for sale. The Orbital-ATK Antares launcher
used them in the first stage, until a problem with one caused an
unintended launcher disassembly. They currently are the first stage
engine on the Russian Soyuz 2-1v launcher, which seems to be where this
one (or a piece of it) came from. Not manufactured since the '70s, and
only a few left in stock, so the Soyuz 2-1v is planning a switch when
the supply is used up.
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