 A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft approaching the International Space Station fires one of its 16 Draco thrusters. | |
| Country of origin | United States |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | SpaceX |
| Application | Reaction control system |
| Liquid-fuel engine | |
| Propellant | NTO / MMH[1] |
| Performance | |
| Thrust, vacuum | 400 N (90 lbf)[2] |
| Specific impulse, vacuum | 300 s (2.9 km/s) |
| Used in | |
| SpaceX Dragon | |
The SpaceX Draco is a hypergolic liquid rocket engine designed and built by SpaceX for use in their space capsules. Two engine types have been built to date: Draco and SuperDraco.
The original Draco thruster is a small rocket engine for use on the Dragon spacecraft.[3][4][5]
SuperDraco uses the same storable (non-cryogenic) hypergolic propellant as the small Draco thrusters, but is much larger and delivers over 100 times the thrust. SuperDraco engines are being used on the Crew Dragon spacecraft to provide launch-escape capability in case of a failure in the launch vehicle.
Draco and SuperDraco combine the functions of a reaction control system and main propulsive engine.[citation needed]
- ^ "SpaceX Updates — December 10, 2007". SpaceX. 2007-12-10. Archived from the original on 2011-01-04. Retrieved 2010-02-03.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
sxu20200801was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "SpaceX Draco Thruster Performs Long-Duration Firing and Restart" (Press release). SpaceX. December 9, 2008. Archived from the original on April 12, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
- ^ "Falcon 9 Launch Vehicle Payload User's Guide, 2009" (PDF). SpaceX. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 29, 2011. Retrieved 2010-02-03.
- ^ "Falcon 9 Users Guide Rev 2" (PDF). SpaceX. 21 October 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2017. Retrieved 14 January 2016.