The RS-25 engines are the most powerful engines in the
world. Also they will be the first reusable engines in history. They were used
30 years ago on another mission, but now they know that they are the right ones
to carry with this mission. These engines are 200 feet long and have a diameter
of 275.6 feet of diameter. They will be the main engines powering the SLS. They
will also be the only ones to function on all of the missions while the
astronauts are in space.
The RS-25 will function with hydrogen and liquid oxygen
fuel. These engines are already in Florida for trials and they are installing
new technology like new hardware and a new battery.
Each engine will be equipped with a Main Engine Controller,
an integrated computer that controls all of the engine's functions and monitors
its performance.
These engines are very sophisticated because they have
50,000 parts. The engines produce a specific
impulse for 453 seconds in a vacuum, or 363 seconds at sea
level, consuming 1,340 L of propellant per second. They have a mass
of approximately 3.5 tones and are capable of throttling between 67% and 111%
of its rated power level in one percent increments. The RS-25 operates at
extreme temperatures, with the liquid hydrogen fuel being stored at 250 °C
while the temperature in the combustion
chamber reaches 3,315 °C
After 135 missions and more than 280 hours of trials, 100%
of missions succeeded. So before using this huge engine, that is referred to
with the nickname of “Clark Kent”, they will make further trials to show this
is not only the best engine in history but also the right one for the mission.
So these engines will allow the SLS to push 73 times faster than an
Indi-500 race car.
Here are some examples that NASA gives us on their official
page to know how powerful these engines are:
The fuel turbine that is on the RS-25 is so powerful that if
it were spinning an electrical generator instead of a pump, it could power 11
locomotives; 1,315 Toyota Prius cars; 1,231,519 iPads; lighting for 430 Major
League baseball stadiums; or 9,844 miles of residential street lights -- all
the street lights in Chicago, Los Angeles or New York City.
Pressure in the RS-25 is equivalent to the pressure of
submarine experiences three miles beneath the ocean.
The RS-25 engines will be starting their final trials
after they finish testing the J-2X, at the end of November 2014.
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