Xref: utzoo sci.space:24924 sci.space.shuttle:6472 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpfcso!hpldola!hp-lsd!frisbee!matt From: matt@frisbee.UUCP (Matt Taylor) Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle Subject: Some interesting SSME specifications. Message-ID: <344@frisbee.UUCP> Date: 9 Oct 90 16:41:51 GMT Organization: Maximum Storage, Colo Spgs CO. Lines: 103 One of our mechanical engineers used to be on the SSME team at Rocketdyne and has a lot of PR memos which he brings in from time to time. Although somewhat dated (1977 he says), I thought it to be of enough interest to post. (All grammar/spelling mistakes are mine). [ On a related note, wasn't there supposed to be a beefed up version of the current SSME due to be incorporated into the shuttle sometime soon? ] ============================================================ DID YOU KNOW??? The Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine operates at greater temperature extremes than any mechanical system in common use today. The fuel, liquified hydrogen at -423 F, is the second coldest liquid on earth. When the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are combusted, the temperature in the main combustion chamber is 6000 F, higher than the boiling point of iron. * * * * * Even though the complete Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine weighs one-seventh as much as one railroad diesel engine, the SSME high pressure fuel pump delivers as much horsepower as 28 diesel locomotives while the high pressure oxidizer pump delivers enough power for 11 more. * * * * * The energy released by the three Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engines at full power level, in units of watts, is equivalent to the output of 23 Hoover Dams. * * * * * If water were pumped at the rate fuel is pumped by the three Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engines, an average family- size swimming pool could be emptied in 25 seconds. This pump develops a pressure equal to that experienced by a sub- marine if it were three miles deep. * * * * * The Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine fuel turbopump weighs approximately the same as the V-8 engine of a modern automobile but develops 310 times the brake horsepower. * * * * * The Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine fuel turbopump develops as much torque as 18 V-8 automobile engines. * * * * * If one Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine could be scaled down so that it weighed less than three pounds, it could develop enough thrust to lift a grown man. * * * * * The combine full power level horsepower of the high pressure fuel and oxidizer pumps of only two of the three Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engines that will propel the Space Shut- tle is more than adequate to operate a 91,700 ton-Nimitz class aircraft carrier at cruising speed. * * * * * The fuel and oxidizer pumps of the three Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engines at full power level could propel the battleship Iowa and have enough power left over to cruise an additional 12 Ethan Allen class submarines. The engines are designed to supply this power for almost four hours without overhaul if enough propellant were supplied. * * * * * One Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine generates suffi- cient thrust to maintain the flight of two and one-half 747s, the aircraft being used for Shuttle captive tests and scheduled for use in ferry operations. * * * * * The combustion of the propellants of the three Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engines operating at full power releases energy at a rate greater than that produced by the combined foreign nuclear power plants in nine countries. * * * * * The power developed by the combustions or propellants in the Rocketdyne Space Shuttle Main Engine operating at full power is almost five times the rate of that to be generated by seven nuclear plants being activated in the United States in 1977. -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Matt Taylor @ Maximum Storage, Inc. A haven for WORMs. Colorado Springs, CO. 719-531-6888 {cbosgd,handel,hao,hplabs}!hp-lsd!frisbee!matt