NASA testing vintage engine from Apollo 11 rocket

[mtnbkr]

Kind of cool.  NASA is having its younger engineers work on the old Apollo rockets to see what can be learned and applied to newer designs.

NASA testing vintage engine from Apollo 11 rocket

Chris

[Gewehr98]

Wonder if that would fit on a vintage Chevy Impala?   

[mtnbkr]

Your name is neither Adam nor Jamie, so no, it won't. :D

Chris

[TommyGunn]

I'm surprised NASA still has engines left over from the APOLLO era........

[Gewehr98]

They got this one from the Smithsonian. 

The article says they have several more, mostly on display at museums, etc.

I could only imagine what the cost would be to reverse-engineer and then product-improve a newer version of a Saturn F1 rocket engine! 

[Phyphor]

Didn't they find one of the first stages from one out in the ocean downrange of Cape Kennedy recently?

[birdman]

I'm surprised NASA still has engines left over from the APOLLO era........

Considering the (now cancelled) constellation program used the J-2X which was a (barely) updated version of the J-2 used for the 2nd and 3rd stage of the Saturn-V, yeah, there are a few around :)

[brimic]

Wonder if that would fit on a vintage Chevy Impala? 

No, but I bet you'd get some pretty impressive 1/4 mile times if you mounted one on a dump truck.

I love the Saturn V stuff- the scale of those machines is mind boggling.

[Brad Johnson]

I think it's pretty damned impressive that the igniter generates 30,000 lbs of thrust.

Brad

[Fitz]

No, but I bet you'd get some pretty impressive 1/4 mile times if you mounted one on a dump truck.

I love the Saturn V stuff- the scale of those machines is mind boggling.

I'm intrigued by your ideas, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.


Let's rig one up to my F150. I'll volunteer to test it.

[Tallpine]

I think it's pretty damned impressive that the igniter generates 30,000 lbs of thrust.

Brad

Hmmm, how about a VTOL C-182 

 

[Brad Johnson]

Hmmm, how about a VTOL C-182 

 

I wonder what would happen if you strapped one to a Cub...

Brad

[Tallpine]

I wonder what would happen if you strapped one to a Cub...

Brad

SSTO ?   

 

[bedlamite]

I'm intrigued by your ideas, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.


Let's rig one up to my F150. I'll volunteer to test it.

Do you have a working oscillation overthruster yet?

[Jamisjockey]

I wonder what would happen if you strapped one to a Cub...

Brad

Sweet baby xenu don't give the sport pilot crowd any ideas.

[Tallpine]

Sweet baby xenu don't give the sport pilot crowd any ideas.

Strap it under the belly, take off normally, and spend about 30 minutes clawing your way up to 5K feet.

Then flip the switch 

Better have an oxygen bottle and mask 

[Strings]

>Do you have a working oscillation overthruster yet?<

They can just steal that from someone

[Northwoods]

Strap it under the belly, take off normally, and spend about 30 minutes clawing your way up to 5K feet.

Then flip the switch 

Better have an oxygen bottle and mask 

And a parachute.

[Hutch]

I think it's pretty damned impressive that the igniter generates 30,000 lbs of thrust.

Brad

What is not commonly known is that, while the F1 engine used LOX as the oxidizer (duh), the fuel was actually kerosene.  They developed a turbo-pump to deliver some ungodly amount of kerosene to the combustion chamber.  A skosh over 1.5 million pounds of thrust per engine.  They turned off the center engine before the outboard 4, so as not to squish the astronauts near the end of the burn, as the fuel weight decreased, the acceleration increased.  All this done with slide rules and less computing power than a microwave oven.

[birdman]

What is not commonly known is that, while the F1 engine used LOX as the oxidizer (duh), the fuel was actually kerosene.  They developed a turbo-pump to deliver some ungodly amount of kerosene to the combustion chamber.  A skosh over 1.5 million pounds of thrust per engine.  They turned off the center engine before the outboard 4, so as not to squish the astronauts near the end of the burn, as the fuel weight decreased, the acceleration increased.  All this done with slide rules and less computing power than a microwave oven.

Even less commonly known (I learned when I was working at rocketdyne) was that the flow rate for the F-1 turbopump was so high (5000lbs of LOX and RP-1 a second) was so high, it was actually investigated for firefighting on aircraft carriers.  Given that it could propel a 4-8" diameter stream of water at 50-100+m/s, for a flow of 500+ gallons per second (1.8 million GPH), it seemed like a good idea....until testing revealed it simply destroyed whatever it hit.

[Hutch]

Even less commonly known (I learned when I was working at rocketdyne) was that the flow rate for the F-1 turbopump was so high (5000lbs of LOX and RP-1 a second) was so high, it was actually investigated for firefighting on aircraft carriers.  Given that it could propel a 4-8" diameter stream of water at 50-100+m/s, for a flow of 500+ gallons per second (1.8 million GPH), it seemed like a good idea....until testing revealed it simply destroyed whatever it hit.

So, perfect for a CIWS?  Use it on incoming cruise missiles or Greenpeace zodiacs?  Pefect, says I.

[Tallpine]

Even less commonly known (I learned when I was working at rocketdyne) was that the flow rate for the F-1 turbopump was so high (5000lbs of LOX and RP-1 a second) was so high, it was actually investigated for firefighting on aircraft carriers.  Given that it could propel a 4-8" diameter stream of water at 50-100+m/s, for a flow of 500+ gallons per second (1.8 million GPH), it seemed like a good idea....until testing revealed it simply destroyed whatever it hit.

Marine propulsion jet pump 

 

[AJ Dual]

Marine propulsion jet pump 

 

Hell of a jet-ski...

[seeker_two]

So, perfect for a CIWS?  Use it on incoming cruise missiles or Greenpeace zodiacs?  Pefect, says I.

....or Somali pirates..... 

[Jamisjockey]

....or Somali pirates..... 

You could sink the average Somali boat with a red ryder.