Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Space Shuttle external tank (ET) was the component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contained the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. During lift-off and ascent it supplied the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to the three RS-25 main engines in the orbiter .
Cutaway of Space Shuttle external tank. Autogenous pressurization is the use of self-generated gaseous propellant to pressurize liquid propellant in rockets.Traditional liquid-propellant rockets have been most often pressurized with other gases, such as helium, which necessitates carrying the pressurant tanks along with the plumbing and control system to use it.
A propellant tank is a container which is part of a vehicle, where propellant is stored prior to use. Propellant tanks vary in construction, and may be a fuel tank in the case of many aircraft. In rocket vehicles, propellant tanks are fairly sophisticated since weight is on a premium.
The first, shared with solid rocket motors, is that the casing around the fuel grain must be built to withstand full combustion pressure and often extreme temperatures as well. However, modern composite structures handle this problem well, and when used with nitrous oxide and a solid rubber propellant (HTPB), relatively small percentage of fuel ...
The fuel tank was pressurized with gaseous nitrogen at 400 psi (2.8 MPa), which provided the force to expel (positive expulsion) the fuel from the tank to the fuel distribution line, maintaining a positive fuel supply to the APU throughout its operation. In the APU, a fuel pump boosted the hydrazine pressure and fed it to a gas generator.
RP-1 (Rocket Propellant-1 or Refined Petroleum-1) and similar fuels like RG-1 and T-1 are highly refined kerosene formulations used as rocket fuel. Liquid-fueled rockets that use RP-1 as fuel are known as kerolox rockets. In their engines, RP-1 is atomized, mixed with liquid oxygen (LOX), and ignited to produce thrust.
Liquid rocket engines have tankage and pipes to store and transfer propellant, an injector system and one or more combustion chambers with associated nozzles.. Typical liquid propellants have densities roughly similar to water, approximately 0.7 to 1.4 g/cm 3 (0.025 to 0.051 lb/cu in).
It contains the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks for the ascent phase, the forward and aft solid rocket booster attach points, avionics, and the Main Propulsion System (MPS), an assembly of the four RS-25 engines, [17] associated plumbing and hydraulic gimbal actuators, and equipment for autogenous pressurization of the vehicle's tanks ...