Youtor
SpaceX Starship Raptor Rocket Engine Turbopump Failure Analysis and Deep Dive
>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=au84pxx4pVs
Understanding the Raptor engines and how they can fail requires a deep dive into rocket and turbopump science. We all saw the death of Starship 11…There was an explosion in one engine as it was being restarted to land.This malfunction caused the entire rocket to blow apart.Elon Musk said that this started with engine number 2…Let’s watch what happened in flight…Here we see the engine bay from what we will call Camera 1As you can see Camera 1 is facing two Raptors with one in the background…He we see a bright flame tracing along something combustible…It reaches this engine, probably designated number 2, right here and seems to set this component on fire…Then we see the flame continuing to trace along to the other Raptors… • ----------------------------------------------------- • Update: I have been convinced by cogent analysis and discussion that I was wrong about the bright little flame. It is argued to be a pinhole light flare that just happens to trace the fire path. I am now convinced this argument is correct. I don't know why the fire affected two engines without a common element through which to spread. Any ideas? Post them please. • ---------------------------------------------------- • Now we go to Camera 1, which is facing one Raptor in the foreground and two behind…And we see the fire progress around to another engine…Let’s look at as many components of a Raptor that we can identify…We talked recently about rocket engine hard starts. You can also have a turbopump hard start.A hard start is where too much fuel and oxidizer are in the chamberWhen a spark ignites them.This can cause to much force to strike these blades blowing them apart,Then pieces of these spinning blades fly out as shrapnel and damage other components.That may be what happened with Starship 11…An explosion in a turbopump would not be powerful enough to blow apart a rocket.But if it severs fuel lines or punches holes through the propellant tanksIt could lead to a larger explosion.At some point these engines are going to have to carry people.That will mean isolating them in such a way that a turbopump explosionIn one engine does not lead to the loss of the entire ship.Not long ago a commercial jet engine blew apart in the air and the jetContinued flying to land safely…SpaceX may need to isolate the engines With flame retardant ballistic fabricso that a fire explosion in one has trouble effecting the others.That will be more and more of a priorityAs these fly.But first we need to get them flying,And landing.So, let’s do a recap…To start your engine, you need a fuel injection systemTo pump a very controlled amount of fuel and oxygen Into the turbopump preburner…Most rocket engines have only one turbopump.Making this much easier.Raptor has two in order to increase efficiencyBut it adds a lot of complexity. • TSA-SOV-TTM-SRT-21103 • Please help support our channel at / terranspaceacademy • Music credits: • Kevin MacLeod Lost Frontier
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