A Question

[arobie]

How much propellant did the Saturn IVB third stage of the Saturn V rocket burn in the trans lunar injection burn for the Apollo Missions?

 

[edkyle98]

I have an old "Apollo Mass Budget" note that says that 75.28 metric tons (tonnes) of propellant were assigned to the S-IVB TLI burn, which were placed into low earth orbit along with 17 tonnes of S-IVB and IU dry mass and residual propellants.<br /><br /> - Ed Kyle

 

[propforce]

So what is the equivalent delta-vee requirement for the TLI burn? <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[edkyle98]

"So what is the equivalent delta-vee requirement for the TLI burn? "<br /><br />On Apollo 17, the TLI burn provided 3,163 meters per second delta-v. The number was slightly different for each Apollo mission. The mass budget notes I mentioned earlier, which may not have been for Apollo 17 specifically, listed the total mass at the start of TLI at 137.58 tonnes, including 92.28 tonnes for S-IVB/IU and 45.3 tonnes for CSM and LM. Note that the 75.28 tonnes of TLI propellant accounted for nearly 55% of the "stack" mass at the start of the burn.<br /><br /> - Ed Kyle