All Questions
Tagged with cryogenics rockets
13
questions
6
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What's the difference between cryogenic and Liquid propellant?
According to my understanding (which may be incorrect), the cryogenic form and liquid form of propellant both use a fluid as an oxidizer and fuel. Research tells me crygenic propellant is more ...
- 527
4
votes
1
answer
607
views
Why are propellant tanks filled from the bottom?
It seems that the norm is to (fast-) fill fuel and oxidiser tanks from the bottom. For example, on this drawing of the Saturn S-IC stage you can see the LOX and RP-1 fill valves at the bottom of the ...
- 14.5k
4
votes
2
answers
351
views
How does the open expander cycle separate the fuel for the pump and combustion chamber? [closed]
I'm designing a single open cycle expander rocket engine using propane. However, I've been unable to find out whether or not the fuel is split into the turbine and combustion chamber before or after ...
- 822
13
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Why did SpaceX swap the LOX and CH4 tanks between Mk1 and SN1?
According to most sources, the Starship Mk.1 had its LOX main tank (not talking about the header tanks here) on top and its main methane tank below. But it seems the SN1 revision, and all subsequent ...
- 131
3
votes
1
answer
899
views
How do Expander Cycle Engines Inject Liquid Fuel During Startup?
My understanding is that the H2 in an expander-cycle engine is vaporized by the heat from the combustion chamber and nozzle wall. This is used to power a turbine and then get injected, in gas phase, ...
- 135
2
votes
2
answers
459
views
Why are LOx plumbing not insulated?(ref: Huzel and Huang)
In the book Modern Engineering for Design of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines, the following excerpt appear in chapter 9 - Interconnecting Components and Mounts:
The liquid-oxygen lines were not ...
- 4,479
2
votes
1
answer
409
views
Filling the propellants in the rocket tanks
After putting the rocket on the launch pad the propellants are filled.
But before that how to maintain the lower temperatures of the tanks so that when filling the propellants don't boil off?
- 2,246
9
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How was the Centaur stage fueled in the Space Shuttle?
The Space Shuttle had the ability to launch Centaur booster stages stored inside of the Shuttle during launch. How was this stage fueled, being fueled with cryogenic fuels?
- 121k
3
votes
1
answer
415
views
Falcon-centaur or Falcon-ACES?
For very high delta-V missions (eg outer solar system) the Falcon family really starts to suffer from that fact that its second stage is still using RP-1/LO2 rather than LH2/LO2 with a consequently ...
- 19.6k
18
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How big a weight problem is ice sticking to a rocket?
Cryo tanks are so cold, they tend to condense moisture out of the air, creating ice covering a lot of the rocket.
I've seen many videos where this ice starts shedding at launch, but I still have to ...
- 4,596
10
votes
3
answers
1k
views
A cryo tank within another cryo tank...is it a sound engineering concept?
Here's the idea: A large spherical LH2 tank is placed inside a spherical LOX tank.
The reason I thought of this is so the inner tank doesn't need to be insulated. It doesn't need to be a double-...
- 4,596
20
votes
3
answers
5k
views
How are fuel tanks filled with cryogenic hydrogen?
Cryogenic hydrogen can react with the atmospheric Oxygen to produce an explosion:
as well as being cold enough to liquefy (and possibly solidify) atmospheric oxygen, which can be an explosion ...
- 18k
17
votes
3
answers
3k
views
In a cryogenic fuel rocket, at what pressure is the fuel injected into the engine?
The pressure in the Space Shuttle's main engines must be very high to get the vehicle off the ground (with the SRB assist, of course). With such high pressures inside the engine, how do you inject ...
user39