Fri, Mar 28, 2008
First Super-Size Rocket To Be Delivered By End Of Year
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. tells ANN it conducted the
first three-engine firing of its Falcon 9 medium to heavy lift
rocket at its Texas Test Facility outside McGregor, on March 8,
2008.
At full power the engines generated over 270,000 pounds of
force, and consumed 1,050 lbs of fuel and liquid oxygen per second.
This three-engine test again sets the record as the most powerful
test yet on the towering 235-foot tall test stand. A total of nine
Merlin 1C engines will power the Falcon 9 rocket.
The test series continues with the addition of two engines for a
total of five, then finally the full compliment of nine engines.
With all engines firing, the Falcon 9 can generate over one million
pounds of thrust in vacuum -- four times the maximum thrust of a
747 aircraft.
“The incremental approach to testing allows us to closely
observe how each additional engine influences the entire
system,” said Tom Mueller, Vice President of Propulsion for
SpaceX. “This ensures that we obtain as much data, knowledge
and experience as possible as we approach the full nine engine
configuration. To date we have not encountered any unexpected
interactions between the engines.”
The Merlin 1C next generation liquid fueled rocket booster
engine 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. It is the first new American booster engine in a decade and
only the second American booster engine since the development of
the Space Shuttle Main Engine thirty years ago.
In related news, SpaceX says its first Falcon 9 remains
on-schedule for delivery to the SpaceX launch site at Space Launch
Complex 40, Cape Canaveral, FL by the end of 2008.
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