47 Years Ago Today:

13 Responses to 47 Years Ago Today:

1. Ronbo says:

   October 17, 2014 at 23:55

   Awesome achievement!

   Personally, I believe in good old Terra Firma – The more Firma the less Terror
2. Mathew says:

   October 18, 2014 at 06:50

   And that’s NOT 7 tons of biofuel greenies! Just sit there and squirm thinking about the climate change because of it. Yes, yes, it really is that bad.
   • KG says:

     October 18, 2014 at 07:08

     
3. Brown says:

   October 18, 2014 at 07:06

   And lands on skids – only has wheels at the front. The film of one going “bang” on the ground during an engine run is interesting – a plane of two halves.
4. Darin says:

   October 18, 2014 at 09:55

   Just one word-BALLS

   I read this book at the local library a few years ago,fun read and not at all politically correct.

   http://www.amazon.com/At-Edge-Space-Flight-Program/dp/1560981075/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

   Also this documentary,27 minutes worth of detail on the X-15 program.Well worth the watch.
   http://youtu.be/kBbZqeiU10s
   • KG says:

     October 18, 2014 at 14:49

     Great links! Thanks, Oswald.
     • Darin says:

       October 18, 2014 at 22:27

       Your welcome Gantt.
       • KG says:

         October 19, 2014 at 02:17

         
         • Darin says:

           October 19, 2014 at 03:08

           

           Could be worse,a budd of mine went shopping with his wife,they split up to save time getting what they needed in the store and on his way back to meet up with her he spotted her and walked up behind her.
           Put the stuff he had in the basket,sided up to her and patted her on the rear in the process.

           That’s when he found out it wasn’t her,but some other gal that looked like her from behind
           • KG says:

             October 19, 2014 at 03:15

             Done that……I’m not sure who got the biggest shock, the patter or the pattee…
             
5. KG says:

   October 19, 2014 at 03:16

   Darin, do you have any info on the X15 fuel pumps? I can’t find anything much, but they must have been remarkable.
   • Darin says:

     October 19, 2014 at 10:53

     They used a steam driven turbine pump.The pump was powered by a hydrogen peroxide steam generator.The steam generator was simply an expansion chamber where hydrogen peroxide under high pressure was passed through a silver catalyst screen the reaction between the two producing massive amounts of high pressure steam(same process used in the jet packs they played with for awhile).They could throttle the engine simply by controlling the amount of peroxide going through the steam generator.

     This webpage claims 10,000lbs of fuel per minute,which I don’t doubt-
     http://bobholland.com/me/xlr99.htm

     Checkout the main page too-
     http://bobholland.com/me/reaction.htm

     No telling how many rpm the turbines spun up on those,but I am betting at least 10k rpm.The Shuttle High pressure oxidizer turbopumps spun up at 28,000 rpm for example.

     I don’t know how much data was obtained and how much was used in developing the Saturn and Shuttle main engines,but they all used turbo pumps to move fuel and oxidizer.They were not steam driven however IIRC.

     On a side note one of my father’s friends in the Navy was a high speed photography expert.He had a famous picture in engineering circles.He once setup and captured a picture of a Garret ceramic turbine disc at the moment it self destructed at 111,000 rpm.
     He setup the shot by positioning a high intensity strobe behind the disc and a high speed film camera in front.Around the disc he mounted a fine copper filament wire on insulated posts.The filament was part of a circuit that controlled a relay.When the disc failed the resulting grenade effect would break the filament closing the relay which opened the camera shutter the film camera already up to speed somewhere around 140,000 frames per minute.

     The resulting picture was of the turbine disc stopped in time with light showing through a spider web of cracks radiating from the center of the disc out.To the untrained eye it just looks like a turbine disc,but to those who understand and appreciate the technical ability and the forces involved it is simply stunning.

     I’ve been looking for that picture for several years now with no luck.He died probably 20 years ago now and we’ve lost touch with his family.Wish I had a copy of it to share.
     • KG says:

       October 19, 2014 at 13:12

       Thanks for that.
       I’d too would love to see the photograph. Sometimes it seems as though that kind of stuff is no longer admired and appreciated. There’s no “app” for it, you see……