NK-33 Rocket Engine
Samara Electromechanical Plant (Kuznetsov)
High-performance LOX/RP-1 staged-combustion rocket engine with 1,510 kN thrust and 137:1 thrust-to-weight ratio, originally developed for Soviet N1 Moon rocket.
Technical specifications
- Propellants
- LOX / RP-1 (kerosene)
- Cycle
- Oxygen-rich staged combustion
- Thrust (sea level)
- 1,510 kN
- Thrust (vacuum)
- 1,680 kN
- Specific impulse (vacuum)
- 331 s
- Thrust-to-weight ratio
- 137:1
- Chamber pressure
- 14.83 MPa
- Dry mass
- 1,240 kg
- Throttle range
- 50-105%
About
The NK-33 is a liquid-propellant rocket engine developed by Kuznetsov Design Bureau in the late 1960s for the N1 Moon rocket. Using oxygen-rich staged combustion with LOX/RP-1 propellants, it achieves a vacuum specific impulse of 331 seconds and thrust-to-weight ratio of 137:1, among the highest ever achieved. After the N1 programme cancellation, NK-33 engines were stored and later sold to Aerojet as AJ-26 engines, powering Orbital Sciences Antares rocket.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.
