Rocket Engine Test Facility

Rocket Engine Test Facility

Infobox_nrhp
name =Rocket Engine Test Facility
nrhp_type = nhl



caption = 1982 photograph
location= Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio
locmapin = Ohio
area =
built =1957
architect= National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)
architecture= No Style Listed
designated = April 03, 1985
governing_body = NASA
refnum=85002800cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2008-04-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

Rocket Engine Test Facility was the name of a facility at the NASA Glenn Research Center, formerly known as the Lewis Research Center, in Ohio.The purpose of the Rocket Engine Test Facility was to test full-scale liquid hydrogen rockets at thrust chamber pressures of up to 2100 psia and thrust levels to at least 20,000 pounds. Work on the design of the facility began in 1954 under the auspices of NACA's Rocket Branch of the Fuels and Combustion Research Division. It was built at a cost of $2.5 million and completed in 1957.cite book|url=http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4306/sp4306.htm|title=Engines and Innovation: Lewis Laboratory and American Propulsion Technology|last=Dawson|first=Virginia P|series=NASA History Series|chapter=APPENDIX B|chapterurl=http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4306/app-b.htm] The facility was located at the south end of the Center, adjacent to Abrams Creek coord|41.404|-81.868|type:landmark_region:US-OH|display=inline. It was demolished in 2003 in order to make way for the runway expansion of the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

Capabilities

It consisted of two major buildings and several support service buildings. Test Stand A was designed for sea-level testing of vertically mounted rocket engines that exhaust into an exhaust gas scrubber and muffler. The A stand had the capability of testing engines with chamber pressures up to 4300 psia and thrust levels up to 50,000 pounds.

Test Stand B was designed by Anthony Fortini and Vearl N. Huff in 1959, but it was not built until after 1980. It could test horizontally mounted rocket engines exhausting into an exhaust diffuser, cooler, and a nitrogen-driven two-stage ejector system. The B stand, for altitude testing in a space environment, had the capability of testing engines with chamber pressures up to 1000 psia and thrust levels up to 1500 pounds.

The support systems included storage dewars for cryogenic fuels and a large water reservoir. Smaller buildings included a block house for observation, a pump house, a helium compressor shelter, and a liquid hydrogen pump vaporizer shelter. In 1984 the facility was modified to provide the capability for testing extremely large area ratio nozzles (to 1000:1).

National Historic Landmark

It was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1985, because of its significant role in the development of liquid hydrogen as a rocket fuel. It was used in the development of the Pratt & Whitney RL-10 engine for the Centaur upper stage, as well as for the the J-2 engine, with its 200,000-pound thrust, for the second stage of the Saturn V rocket. The hydrogen-oxygen engines currently used by the Space Shuttle were also tested in this facility. After the facility's 2003 razing, it was de-designated on April 4, 2005.cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/nhl/DOE_dedesignations/Rocket%20Engine.htm
title=Rocket Engine Test Facility |accessdate=2008-06-16|work=Withdrawal of National Historic Landmark Designation|publisher=National Park Service
]

References

* Dawson, Virginia P. [http://history.nasa.gov/retfpub.pdf Ideas into hardware] : A history of the Rocket Engine Test Facility at the NASA Glenn Research Center. (2004)


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Rocket engine test facility — A rocket engine test facility is a location where rocket engines may be tested on the ground, under controlled conditions. A ground test program is generally required before the engine is certified for flight. Ground testing is very inexpensive… …   Wikipedia

  • White Sands Test Facility — (WSTF) is a rocket engine test facility and a resource for testing and evaluating potentially hazardous materials, space flight components, and rocket propulsion systems. NASA established WSTF on the White Sands Missile Range in 1963. [cite web… …   Wikipedia

  • Rocket engine — RS 68 being tested at NASA s Stennis Space Center. The nearly transparent exhaust is due to this engine s exhaust being mostly superheated steam (water vapor from its propellants, hydrogen and oxygen) …   Wikipedia

  • Merlin (rocket engine) — Merlin 1C SpaceX Merlin 1A (shown) Country of origin United States Manufacturer SpaceX Liq …   Wikipedia

  • Rocket — This article is about vehicles powered by rocket engines. For other uses, see Rocket (disambiguation). A Soyuz U, at Baikonur Site 1/5 A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engi …   Wikipedia

  • engine — Synonyms and related words: AC motor, Corliss engine, Otto engine, Wankel engine, aeromotor, air engine, alembic, anvil, apparatus, appliance, arc jet engine, axial flow turbojet, beam engine, bearings, blowing engine, boiler, caldron, cam, cam… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • Rocket mail — For the webmail service that became Yahoo! Mail, see Rocketmail. The SSM N 8 Regulus cruise missile was used for one attempt to deliver mail. Rocket mail is the delivery of mail by rocket or missile. The rocket would land by deploying an internal …   Wikipedia

  • U.S. Space & Rocket Center — US Space Rocket Center Established 1965 Location Huntsville, Alabama Type Science museum Dire …   Wikipedia

  • Rotary Rocket — Rotary Rocket, Inc, was a rocketry company headquartered in a convert|45000|sqft|m2|sing=on facility at Mojave Airport that developed the Roton concept in the late 1990s as a fully reusable Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) manned spacecraft. Roton… …   Wikipedia

  • Delta IV rocket — Infobox rocket caption =Delta IV Medium launch carrying DSCS III B6 name =Delta IV (Delta 9000) function = Orbital launch vehicle manufacturer = Boeing IDS United Launch Alliance country origin = United States height =63 77.2 m alt height =206… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”