FIRST STEPS TOWARD SPACE - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 10 93
FIGURE 2.—The first experimental liquid-fuel rocket engine
in the USSR, the ORM-1, was designed in 1930 and built
in 1930-31 at GDL.
bastion chamber by means of special devices known
as carburetors of the wire, liquid, or mercury type.
During 1932 and 1933, the electric rocket engine
was tested on a ballistic (gun) pendulum (see
Figure 1).
In 1930, Department II of GDL was the first to
propose the following substances to be used as
oxidizers in liquid-propellant engines: nitric acid
and its nitrogen tetroxide solutions, hydrogen peroxide,
perchloric acid, tetranitromethane, and mixtures
of these, while beryllium and other substances
were proposed as fuel. Exponential-contour nozzles
and combustion-chamber heat-insulation coatings
made of zirconium dioxide and other substances
were developed and tested in engines as far back
as 1930.
During 1930 and 1931, for the first time in the
USSR, three experimental liquid-propellant engines
(ORM, ORM-1, and ORM-2) 2 were designed and
manufactured at Department II of GDL. In 1931,
some 50 static firings of liquid-propellant rocket
engines were conducted with the engines firing
nitrogen tetroxide in association with toluene and
gasoline. In that same year there were proposed for
the first time a hypergolic propellant and method of
chemical ignition, as well as a gimbaled engine
with pump assemblies (see Figure 2).
Of particular interest from the historical and
technical points of view is the ORM-1 engine, the
first Soviet experimental liquid-propellant engine
designed in 1930 and manufactured in 1930-31
(see Figure 3).
The ORM-1 engine was intended for short-term
operation; it burned nitrogen tetroxide with toluene,
or liquid oxygen with gasoline. When firing
liquid oxygen with gasoline, the engine developed
a thrust of up to 20 kg.
The inner surfaces of the steel thrust chamber
were copper-plated. The copper surfaces of the
6-jet injectors were gold-plated to ensure resistance
to the corrosive effect of propellant components.
Spring-loaded non-return valves with filters were
installed at the oxidizer and fuel inlets of the injector.
The combustion chamber was provided with
a set of nozzles having internal diameters of 10, 15,
and 20 mm. The engine was cooled with water
poured into the jacket.
Ignition was effected by means of a piece of
cotton soaked in fuel and fired with the help of
Bickford fuse.