Re: Stick/CEV Propulsion News

In article <Xns96E4AE59BAB6Bdamon161attbicom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Damon Hill <damonunoseisuno@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>P&W has supposedly tested their RL10 on methane (or was that
>propane?) with minor modifications.

Both, actually. :-) But the RL10 appears to be an unusually forgiving
engine.

>I'd guess converting a
>RS-68 or J-2 to methane might not be very difficult, but less
>optimal than starting a design from scratch.

The chamber etc. shouldn't be hard, but the turbopumps might be more of a
problem, e.g. you might get sooting from running the gas generator
fuel-rich.

>Converting an SSME
>to methane would be more complex because of the staged combustion design

That engine also is a very fussy, highly-tuned design with a whole bunch
of complex feedback loops in it. A methane conversion for it strikes me
as a lot of effort, assuming you could make it work at all.
--
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