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RD-180 was designed in 1990-s, after break-up of USSR, and you can't just saw in half RD-170 to get RD-180. "Refurbished" usually applies to something used for
by avmich 13y ago
RD-180 was designed in 1990-s, after break-up of USSR, and you can't just saw in half RD-170 to get RD-180. "Refurbished" usually applies to something used for some time already - not to the rocket engines, certainly not to RD-180 and NK-33, which apart from being fire-tested weren't used in flight.
- bane 13y agoYou're right about the RD-180, I think those are still produced? I think Orbital also has used the NK-33 and NK-43, which were all built in the 60s and 70s. Refurbished can also just mean "something that was sitting around for a long time and needed to maintenance to get up to working". Anything that sits around for 40 years is going to need some kind of work done on it before it's put in service. Either way, SpaceX doesn't use them.