Blue Origin has successfully tested its new hydrogen/oxygen rocket engine.
The competition heats up: Blue Origin has successfully tested its new hydrogen/oxygen rocket engine.
This would be the second new American rocket engine since the 1980s, following SpaceX’s Merlin engine. That it uses hydrogen/oxygen is also significant, as these fuels provide the highest ratio of power to weight. (As far as I remember, the shuttle was the only other spacecraft to use hydrogen/oxygen.)
Post corrected. Thanks Paul!
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
The competition heats up: Blue Origin has successfully tested its new hydrogen/oxygen rocket engine.
This would be the second new American rocket engine since the 1980s, following SpaceX’s Merlin engine. That it uses hydrogen/oxygen is also significant, as these fuels provide the highest ratio of power to weight. (As far as I remember, the shuttle was the only other spacecraft to use hydrogen/oxygen.)
Post corrected. Thanks Paul!
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Other way round, Bob! Highest power to weight ratio
I thought one of the engines used on Apollo was a Hydrogen/Oxygen engine (maybe not the main engines on Saturn V though) – ?? Anyone know?
LH2/LOX offers the highest ISP of commonly used rocket fuels.
Lots of US engines us Hydrogen, but not so many first stages.
Off the top of my head:
J2 – used on upper stages of Saturn V
RS-68 – Delta IV first stage
RL10 – Used in the Centaur upper stages, Saturn I, Atlas, Titan etc… Still used on Atlas V and Delta IV upper stages.
Thanks for that info Patrick – I figured someone here would know! This site is such a great resource – so many knowledgeable folks here. BTW – why are Hydro/Oxy engines used only for upper stages & not for main booster engines?
Some first stages use LOX/Hydrogen, notably the RS-68 on the Delta IV and the SSME on the space shuttle.
As to why LOX/LH2 is best suited for upper stages: as I understand it high thrust beats out efficiency on the first stage but lower gross weight and higher efficiencies win out once you’re in vacuum.
This favors RP1 for first stages and LH2 for upper stages.
This isn’t a hard rule and the devil is in the details. The Russians use RP1 on almost all their stages (I believe Energia was the exception).
… high thrust beats out efficiency on the first stage but lower gross weight and higher efficiencies win out once you’re in vacuum.
Makes sense to me – thanks !
Come to think of it, with the weight of all the propellant & large 1st stage at the start of the launch, a little extra engine weight would probably be more or less negligible. Once most of that is consumed & the vehicle’s outside most of Earth’s atmosphere, the remaining stage(s) & fuel would weigh much less (booster stage long gone at that point), the engine weight probably accounts for a bigger % of the total remaining vehicle weight & therefore makes a bigger impact on performance…