On December 18, 2020, NPO Energomash routinely conducted the first firing tests of the RD-171MV liquid-propellant rocket engine.

Successful tests became the next stage in the creation of the latest rocket engine for the perspective Soyuz-5 launch vehicle. According to NPO Energomash Director General Igor Arbuzov, the fire test shows the quality and validity of the decisions that were implemented while creating the engine.

‘During these tests, we confirmed the technical parameters our customers required when designing the engine and, of course, the tests confirm the quality of the product, with the technology that was used,’ Igor Arbuzov noted.

NPO Energomash Chief Designer Pyotr Lyovochkin added that the creation of the RD-171MV engine involved digital design documentation, which significantly reduced the time for developing technological documentation and the manufacturing process of the engine itself.

‘The fire test is, first of all, the verification of the correct design, technology and completion of the assembly. But apart from everything else, it has the main function: by conducting a fire test, we teach the engine to work,’ said Pyotr Lyovochkin.