Rocket scientists, learning their trade

[OfftheRails]

As part of the SLS program, NASA looked into re-designing and re-engineering the colossal F-1 engines that powered the first stage of the Saturn V back in the 60s and 70s. These things really are spectacular. Here's how they've gone about it:

How NASA brought the monstrous F-1 “moon rocket” engine back to life | Ars Technica

It churns out about 31,000 pounds of thrust (138 kilonewtons), more than an F-16 fighter's engine running at full afterburner.

That's not the engine they're talking about, it's the fuel pump. The fucking fuel pump. The engine itself is rather more powerful... and the Saturn had five of them.

 

[HeatSurge]

The power generated by five of these engines was best conceptualized by author David Woods in his book How Apollo Flew to the Moon—"[T]he power output of the Saturn first stage was 60 gigawatts. This happens to be very similar to the peak electricity demand of the United Kingdom."

o_0

Really interesting article actually.

 

[Scout255]

Ah, another Arstechnica Fan

The part that just blew me away was this:

"As with everything else about the F-1, even the gas generator boasts impressive specs. It churns out about 31,000 pounds of thrust (138 kilonewtons), more than an F-16 fighter's engine running at full afterburner, and it was used to drive a turbine that produced 55,000 shaft horsepower. (That's 55,000 horsepower just to run the F-1's fuel and oxidizer pumps—the F-1 itself produced the equivalent of something like 32 million horsepower, though accurately measuring a rocket's thrust at that scale is complicated.)"

Its absolutely amazing that they can produce something like that without the aid of CAD programs or sophisticated fluid dynamics modeling.... everything was trial and error!

 

[Bob369963]

Took a tour of NASA when I lived in Florida. The engines are monstrous to say the least.