SpX: Merlin 1C dev completed

[docm]

Link....<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p><b>SpaceX Completes Development of Merlin Regeneratively Cooled Rocket Engine<br /><br /><i>New, More Powerful Engine to Launch Both Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 Rockets</i></b><br /><br />HAWTHORNE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) announced today that it has completed development of its Merlin 1C next generation liquid fueled rocket booster engine. It is among the highest performing gas generator cycle kerosene engines ever built, exceeding the Boeing Delta II main engine, the Lockheed Atlas II main engine, and on par with the Saturn V F-1 engine.<br /><br />The Merlin 1C is an improved version of the Merlin 1A ablatively cooled engine, which lofted the Falcon 1 on its first flight in March 2006 and second flight in March 2007. The regeneratively cooled Merlin 1C uses rocket propellant grade kerosene (RP-1), a refined form of jet fuel, to first cool the combustion chamber and nozzle before being combined with the liquid oxygen to create thrust. This cooling allows for higher performance without significantly increasing engine mass.<br /><br />“We performed the final test in the development series, a 170 second long mission duty firing,†said Tom Mueller, Vice President of Propulsion for SpaceX, from their Texas Test Facility in McGregor, Texas. “This series of runs has verified the final design features. Total run time on this engine exceeded 3,000 seconds across 125 hot fire tests.â€<br /><br />“The SpaceX Texas test facility was critical to the rapid and efficient development of Merlin,†said Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX. “In August alone, we ran twenty-one major Merlin test firings, nearly one per working day, a rate we could not equal anywhere else. The success of Merlin is really due to the joint funct</p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[spacelifejunkie]

"A planned turbopump upgrade in 2009 will improve the thrust by over 20% and the thrust to weight ratio by approximately 25%."<br /><br />Nice added bonus!<br /><br />It looks like everyone's patience at SpaceX is slowly paying off. They might be behind their original schedule but I don't believe they've veered off course. Thanks for the update, docm. Your always on top of the news.<br /><br /><br />SLJ<br />

 

[docm]

N/P<br /><br />Movie files of test fires....<br /><br />This is also interesting;<br /><br /><font color="yellow">“We performed the final test in the development series, a 170 second long mission duty firing,†said Tom Mueller, Vice President of Propulsion for SpaceX, from their Texas Test Facility in McGregor, Texas. <b>“This series of runs has verified the final design features. Total run time on this engine exceeded 3,000 seconds across 125 hot fire tests.†</b></font>/safety_wrapper> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[thereiwas]

So the F1 launch next spring will be the first flight with the new engine. I hope they have fixed the video problems this time - that was fun to watch.

 

[thereiwas]

I just watched the 3 minute video (the one with a view from above). Interesting noises at startup.<br /><br />But what is with the burp during shutdown? Like a backfire. I remember during the discussions last spring of how to prevent the 1st stage from hitting the 2nd stage, to throttle back the 1st stage engine just before separation, and there was some reason they didn't want to do that.

 

[docm]

That burp could be air sucking back into the now low pressure chamber & igniting residual fuel. Not likely to happen in a vacuum or at high altitude. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[thereiwas]

But what about a shutdown half a second after ignition on the pad? Or is it already lifted off by then? (I don't know any details about SpaceX pad details. Explosive bolts?)

 

[docm]

Their hold down system uses 4 hydraulic clamps and it worked fine during the second Falcon 1's hot-shutdown, and they did launch an hour+ later so whatever they're doing it works. That said if it were really a problem they could likely just set the software to cut the fuel a bit sooner. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>