jtkinney Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Tom, I think all of the production testing was done at Stennis in that time period, but there were 18 tests at Marshall between April 65 and August 66 to certify the engines. The test ran 1 to 5 engines up to full flight duration. This is from an ASME paper published when the engine test stand was designated an National historic monument. I didn't live in Huntsville at the time, but have relatives that did and remember the noise. This stand was also used to certify the Space Shuttle Main Engine before testing was moved to Stennis also. I would like to see the Stennis test stand, another historic monument. It's got to be huge as you said it was built to test 2 at a time. Five F-1 engines burned 7.5 million pounds of liquid oxygen and kerosene each second to produce 7.5 million pounds of thrust. Thirteen 2500 hp deisel locomotive engines turn water pumps that push 273,000 gpm from a 3.5 million gallon tank through the 96" pipe that Tom mentioned, to cool the flame deflector and quiet things down. We're talking large scale here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted April 4, 2009 Share Posted April 4, 2009 No guesses yet for how to catch the big tank into low orbit? Was hoping to see some ideas before providing the first clue... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Travis In Austin Posted April 4, 2009 Moderators Share Posted April 4, 2009 No guesses yet for how to catch the big tank into low orbit? Was hoping to see some ideas before providing the first clue... A giant butterfly net? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
askbob1 Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 No guesses yet for how to catch the big tank into low orbit? Was hoping to see some ideas before providing the first clue... no, please humble us... [8-|] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
askbob1 Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 Tom, I think all of the production testing was done at Stennis in that time period, but there were 18 tests at Marshall between April 65 and August 66 to certify the engines. The test ran 1 to 5 engines up to full flight duration. This is from an ASME paper published when the engine test stand was designated an National historic monument. I didn't live in Huntsville at the time, but have relatives that did and remember the noise. This stand was also used to certify the Space Shuttle Main Engine before testing was moved to Stennis also. I would like to see the Stennis test stand, another historic monument. It's got to be huge as you said it was built to test 2 at a time. Five F-1 engines burned 7.5 million pounds of liquid oxygen and kerosene each second to produce 7.5 million pounds of thrust. Thirteen 2500 hp deisel locomotive engines turn water pumps that push 273,000 gpm from a 3.5 million gallon tank through the 96" pipe that Tom mentioned, to cool the flame deflector and quiet things down. We're talking large scale here. marshall space flight center is a neat place to see if you can get someone to take you through. large scale indeed jtkinney! for whatever reason, they were still doing tests on the shuttles main engines in the early 90's. i visually saw that on the stand in huntsville. as small as they may seem in comparison to the srb's, you can place a shuttles main engine on its side and easily stand inside of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 What about the big central tank of liquid fuel? That one gets let go at about 90 miles up and falls into the Indian Ocean. They don't recover that one, do they? In theory, there is a way to recover it while it is still up around 90 miles high, and put it into low Earth orbit. When it is released it still has quite a bit of liquid fuel in it, and having the tank structure in orbit has many excellent applications (nice bonus with some fuel in it) . Anyone care to guess the theoretical process for catching it at altitude and getting it into orbit? pauln, how high (or out, I guess) will it need to be for low Earth orbit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 Why can't the shuttle hang on to it, and let it go at L.E.O.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 fini, I think the Shuttle continues to use its own rockets after the big tank is released, low Earth orbit is anything up to about 3000 miles or so, but in this case the target orbit is about the same as the Shuttle up about 200 miles. Clue #1: "The Space Tether Experiment" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 I hope I didn't cheat using good ol' Google. I had never heard of the space tether experiment. Hmm...Magnetism and electric currents and motion. Kinda reminds me of speakers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 So, they strap a couple of Klipschorns to the booster tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted April 6, 2009 Share Posted April 6, 2009 One of the features of the tether is that you can raise or lower your orbit ( and thereby slow down or speed up) by discharging the potential that is built up, depending on which end is discharged. This would allow the whole thing to "swing low" and the lower end of the tether to intercept things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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