On Wed, 2 Apr 2003, Hans Ulrich Ammann wrote:
> In the SSME there are two pre-burners one for the LOX turbopump and
> one for the hydrogen pump. The LOX side runs oxygen-rich and the Hydrogen
> side runs fuel-rich.
No, not so. Both SSME preburners run fuel-rich. And yes, this requires
truly elaborate shaft seals between the oxidizer-pump turbine and pump.
NASA has long *talked* about designs which run oxidizer-pump preburners
oxidizer-rich, to make the seals less critical, but has never done anything
about it. The materials problems in the turbine were thought to be
excessively difficult.
(When word first got out that the Russians routinely run preburners
oxidizer-rich, there were people in the West who were sure this must be
deliberate disinformation.)
Henry Spencer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
ERPS-list mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
