Delta-K

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

Delta-K
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
Engines1 AJ10-118K
Thrust43.63 kilonewtons (9,810 lbf)[1]
Specific impulse319 seconds (3.13 km/s)[1]
Burn time431 seconds[1]
FuelAerozine 50 / N
2O
4
Spent Delta-K stage, photographed in orbit

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. 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. Forsyth, Kevin S. (10 August 2007). "Vehicle Description and Designations". History of the Delta Launch Vehicle. Retrieved 6 June 2013.


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