Delta-K
Spent Delta-K stage, photographed in orbit
ManufacturerUnited Launch Alliance
(formerly Boeing and McDonnell Douglas)
Country of originUnited States
Used onDelta 4000
Delta 5000
Delta II
General characteristics
Height5.9 meters (19 ft)[1]
Diameter2.4 meters (7.9 ft)[1]
Gross mass6,954 kilograms (15,331 lb)[1]
Propellant mass6,004 kilograms (13,237 lb)[2]
Engine details
Powered by1 AJ10-118K
Maximum thrust43.63 kilonewtons (9,810 lbf)[1]
Specific impulse319 seconds (3.13 km/s)[1]
Burn time431 seconds[1]
PropellantAerozine 50 / N2O4

The Delta-K was an American rocket stage, developed by McDonnell Douglas and Aerojet. It was first used on 27 August 1989 as the second stage for the Delta 4000 series.

It continued to serve as the second stage for subsequent variants of the Delta rocket.

It was propelled by a single AJ10-118K rocket engine, fueled by Aerozine 50 and dinitrogen tetroxide,[1] which are hypergolic.

The Delta-K had a long heritage to the first Able stage used in Project Vanguard. The AJ-10 engine was first used in the Able second stage of the Vanguard rocket, as the AJ10-118 configuration. It was initially fueled by nitric acid and UDMH.[3] An AJ10 engine was first fired in flight during the third Vanguard launch, on 17 March 1958, which successfully placed the Vanguard 1 satellite into orbit.

As of 25 May 2008, 138 have been launched,[4] and excluding one which was destroyed by the explosion of a lower stage, none have failed.[4]

The Delta-K was used as the second stage of the Delta II rocket from 1989 to 2018.[4] This second stage was retired at conclusion of the ICESat-2 launch on 15 September 2018.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Delta K Archived 5 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopedia Astronautica, date 30 Jan 1997, accessed 2011-02-01.
  2. ↑ Delta K Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Spaceflight 101, accessed 2014-07-13.
  3. ↑ Wade, Mark. "AJ10-118". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 Forsyth, Kevin S. (10 August 2007). "Vehicle Description and Designations". History of the Delta Launch Vehicle. Retrieved 6 June 2013.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.