RS-84 Rocket Engine
As part of the Space Launch Initiative, Rocketdyne developed a plan for the RS-84 rocket engine. It would have been the first reusable, staged combustion cycle, liquid rocket engine produced by the US to use a hydrocarbon fuel. In contrast, the Soviet Union developed the RD-170 reusable staged combustion hydrocarbon engine for the Energia rocket in the 1980s.
The prototype engine would have 4,732 kN (1,064,000 lbf) at sea level; 5,026 kN (1,130,000 lbf) in vacuum; an 8-shift turn time; a specific impulse of 305 at sea level and 324 in vacuum. NASA cancelled further development in 2005.
Read more about this topic: Space Launch Initiative
Famous quotes containing the words rocket and/or engine:
“A rocket is an experiment; a star is an observation.”
—José Bergamín (1895–1983)
“There is a small steam engine in his brain which not only sets the cerebral mass in motion, but keeps the owner in hot water.”
—Unknown. New York Weekly Mirror (July 5, 1845)