Originally published December 7 2005
Government resumes testing of next-generation liquid fuel engine
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A liquid fuel engine known as the Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator (IPD) has resumed testing at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi after being shut down by the recent hurricanes.
A program testing a next-generation liquid-fuel engine being jointly developed by NASA, the U.S. Air Force and two prime aerospace contractors is scheduled to resume testing after being temporarily suspended due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The engine, known as the Integrated Powerhead Demonstrator (IPD), was being tested at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
Stephen Hannah, the IPD Program Manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), said that testing for the engine will begin again shortly.
It does this by using unique "full flow" preburners that provide more thrust than traditional rocket engines while operating at cooler temperatures.
In current space shuttle engines, a liquid hydrogen fuel and a liquid oxygen oxidizer are both fed into a combustion chamber and ignited.
To move that much fuel that quickly, a turbopump with high-speed turbines is used.
In a traditional liquid-fuel rocket engine, a small amount of the fuel is "preburned," just enough to power up the turbopump so it can begin siphoning off the rest of the fuel into the combustion chamber.
A major advantage of this type of full flow engine is that it run cooler than traditional engines, which can reach temperatures of more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
"We're hoping for better fuel efficiency, higher thrusts-to-weight ratio, improved reliability---all at lower cost," Genge said.
Reducing operating temperatures could drastically extend the life of the rocket engines.
IPD engines are intended to fly 100 times or more between maintenance periods, and engineers hope to be able to boost that number to 200.
In addition to the full flow preburners, the IPD engine also sports hydrostatic bearings rather than traditional ball bearings in support of the turbo pump's rotors.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml