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Rocketdyne H-1
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Rocketdyne H-1
The Rocketdyne H-1 was a 205,000 lbf (910 kN) thrust liquid-propellant rocket engine burning LOX and RP-1. The H-1 was developed for use in the S-I and S-IB first stages of the Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets, respectively, where it was used in clusters of eight engines. After the Apollo program, surplus H-1 engines were rebranded and reworked as the Rocketdyne RS-27 engine with first usage on the Delta 2000 series in 1974. RS-27 engines continued to be used up until 1992 when the first version of the Delta II, Delta 6000, was retired. The RS-27A variant, boasting slightly upgraded performance, was also used on the later Delta II and Delta III rockets, with the former flying until 2018.
The H-1 is one of a series of engines developed from the wartime V-2 ballistic missile. During the war, North American Aviation (NAA) was given several 59,600 lbf (264.9 kN) V-2 engines to examine and convert from metric to SAE measurements. They formed their "Propulsion Division" to handle this work, later becoming Rocketdyne.
NAA had also been given a wealth of technical documentation on the engine. Engineers studying them came across plans to improve the V-2 engine using a new "waterfall" fuel injector. The Germans were unable to get the design to work and it never went into service. NAA engineers decided to attack this problem and quickly came up with solutions. This allowed them to raise the thrust of the design to 75,000 lbf (330 kN), and then 78,000 lbf (350 kN) for the Redstone missile.
NAA had also been working on the SM-64 Navaho cruise missile project, which used the same engine as a booster to get the missile up to speed so its ramjet engines could light. The Air Force continually demanded higher performance from the Navaho, which forced NAA to build larger missiles, and larger boosters to launch it. By the early 1950s, the basic engine design had been enlarged to produce 120,000 lbf (530 kN).
All of these designs, like the V-2 that spawned them, burned ethanol, but other fuels had also been experimented with, including kerosene, diesel oil, paint thinner, JP-4, and JP-5 jet fuel. In January 1953 Rocketdyne started their "REAP" program to convert these engines to a specific and well-engineered kerosene fuel specifically for rocket engines, which became RP-1, officially specified in Military Specification MIL-R-25576 in 1954.
In 1955, the Air Force selected a JP-4 burning version of the engine to power their Atlas missile. The US Army requested a further boost to 150,000 lbf (670 kN) for their Jupiter missile, and the Air Force used the same version for their Thor, producing the Rocketdyne S-3D (or LR-79).
All of these engines were based on a similar design concept, featuring a "waterfall injector", where many small fuel injectors were used to spray burning fuel into the main combustion chamber. They also shared a complex system for starting the turbopumps, using a set of secondary fuel tanks and plumbing that fed the gas generator and main combustors while the pumps were still bringing the main fuel lines up to pressure. A complex series of electropneumatic valves operated the various fuel flows until the engine was fully started.
With the successful running of the S-3D for the Thor and Jupiter, the company turned their attention to a radically updated version, originally known as the S-3X, but later becoming the X-1. This engine replaced the complex valve system and all of its attended sensors and electronics with new valves that operated on the pressure of the fuel itself. This meant that the complex start-up procedure was entirely automated and driven off the fuel flow itself.
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Rocketdyne H-1 AI simulator
(@Rocketdyne H-1_simulator)
Rocketdyne H-1
The Rocketdyne H-1 was a 205,000 lbf (910 kN) thrust liquid-propellant rocket engine burning LOX and RP-1. The H-1 was developed for use in the S-I and S-IB first stages of the Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets, respectively, where it was used in clusters of eight engines. After the Apollo program, surplus H-1 engines were rebranded and reworked as the Rocketdyne RS-27 engine with first usage on the Delta 2000 series in 1974. RS-27 engines continued to be used up until 1992 when the first version of the Delta II, Delta 6000, was retired. The RS-27A variant, boasting slightly upgraded performance, was also used on the later Delta II and Delta III rockets, with the former flying until 2018.
The H-1 is one of a series of engines developed from the wartime V-2 ballistic missile. During the war, North American Aviation (NAA) was given several 59,600 lbf (264.9 kN) V-2 engines to examine and convert from metric to SAE measurements. They formed their "Propulsion Division" to handle this work, later becoming Rocketdyne.
NAA had also been given a wealth of technical documentation on the engine. Engineers studying them came across plans to improve the V-2 engine using a new "waterfall" fuel injector. The Germans were unable to get the design to work and it never went into service. NAA engineers decided to attack this problem and quickly came up with solutions. This allowed them to raise the thrust of the design to 75,000 lbf (330 kN), and then 78,000 lbf (350 kN) for the Redstone missile.
NAA had also been working on the SM-64 Navaho cruise missile project, which used the same engine as a booster to get the missile up to speed so its ramjet engines could light. The Air Force continually demanded higher performance from the Navaho, which forced NAA to build larger missiles, and larger boosters to launch it. By the early 1950s, the basic engine design had been enlarged to produce 120,000 lbf (530 kN).
All of these designs, like the V-2 that spawned them, burned ethanol, but other fuels had also been experimented with, including kerosene, diesel oil, paint thinner, JP-4, and JP-5 jet fuel. In January 1953 Rocketdyne started their "REAP" program to convert these engines to a specific and well-engineered kerosene fuel specifically for rocket engines, which became RP-1, officially specified in Military Specification MIL-R-25576 in 1954.
In 1955, the Air Force selected a JP-4 burning version of the engine to power their Atlas missile. The US Army requested a further boost to 150,000 lbf (670 kN) for their Jupiter missile, and the Air Force used the same version for their Thor, producing the Rocketdyne S-3D (or LR-79).
All of these engines were based on a similar design concept, featuring a "waterfall injector", where many small fuel injectors were used to spray burning fuel into the main combustion chamber. They also shared a complex system for starting the turbopumps, using a set of secondary fuel tanks and plumbing that fed the gas generator and main combustors while the pumps were still bringing the main fuel lines up to pressure. A complex series of electropneumatic valves operated the various fuel flows until the engine was fully started.
With the successful running of the S-3D for the Thor and Jupiter, the company turned their attention to a radically updated version, originally known as the S-3X, but later becoming the X-1. This engine replaced the complex valve system and all of its attended sensors and electronics with new valves that operated on the pressure of the fuel itself. This meant that the complex start-up procedure was entirely automated and driven off the fuel flow itself.
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