Name Removed

AIRP2355-1001
Engine Project
RocketDyne RS-25 / Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME)
Throughout the history of mankind, we as a species have always been
fascinated with the heavens. In ancient times, we did not have a clue about
what went on in the sky. Eventually man began observing patterns of
celestial objects. Some, such as Galileo, began forming controversial ideas
based on those observations. Fast-forward to April 12, 1961 when Soviet
cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin forever linked mankind with the cosmos, by
becoming the first human in the history of mankind to leave Earths
atmosphere.
The vehicle used by Yuri was a Vostok 3KA capsule sitting atop a
Vostok 8K72K rocket. This engine had 118 seconds of burn-time and was
powered by kerosene. Much advancement in the technology of spacecraft
has occurred since the launch of Vostok 1. The U.S. space shuttle program
was the first of its kind, in the sense that it was a reusable aircraft that exited
Earth in the form of a rocket, and landed in the form of an airplane. What
made this possible was the development of the Rocketdyne RS-25, more
commonly referred to as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (or the SSME).
At launch, the Space Shuttle has quite
the array of horsepower. It has three
SSMEs, two Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs),
as well as dual AJ10-190 engines. The
weight of the spacecraft is entirely
supported by the solid rocket boosters while
it sits on the launch pad. The solid rocket
boosters provide extra thrust for the first
two minutes, or 150,000 feet of the ascent,
at which point they separate from the
orbiter and parachute into the ocean. The
auxiliary tank stays with the orbiter beyond
the atmosphere, and burns up upon reentry.
The AJ-10 engines are part of the Orbital
Maneuvering System. Earlier versions were
used in the Apollo Service Module. These
are smaller engines primarily used to
correct any off-course variations in the course of the shuttle through space,
as well as to guide the orbiter into its return path.

The basic operating principle behind rocket engines is that thrust is

provided via the express discharge of matter. Thrust is created by mixing a
fuel source, an oxidizer, and heat; and, in this case, is measured in pounds or
kilograms, depending on where you are from. The SSME produces around
between 375,000 and 475,000 pounds of thrust. Each SRB also produces
nearly three million pounds of thrust for the duration of its burn.
The SSME has many parts working together to create thrust. The fuel
used is liquid hydrogen, and the oxidizer is liquid oxygen. The boiling point of
oxygen is -183F and of hydrogen is -252.9F, meaning these elements can
exist as a liquid below these temperatures. The hydrogen and oxygen are
obviously stored in different compartments within the auxiliary fuel tank.
They enter the orbiter separately, flowing through the lines of the Main
Propulsion System (MPS) on separate paths. The fuel gets pumped into a
low-pressure fuel turbo pump, at about 276 psi, then into a high-pressure
turbo pump where it exits at around 6,500 psi. The high pressure produced
by these turbo pumps permits the high-speed operation of the oxidizer
turbines without defect. After the liquid hydrogen leaves the high-pressure
turbo pump, it enters the main fuel valve where it splits off into one of three
different paths.
The first possible path for the fuel is into the coolant system for
the Main Combustion Chamber (MCC). The engine has what is called
regenerative cooling systems, where the fuel itself is used as a coolant. As
with everything in spaceflight, the objective is to be as efficient as possible.
Why have separate coolants when the fuel itself works just as good? After
cooling the MCC the fuel flows through another low-pressure turbine where it
can either go through the hot gas manifold and on into the MCC, or it can go
pressurize an external tank.
The other two possible paths, after the initial high-pressure turbo
pump, are to the chamber coolant valve or to the nozzle-cooling valve. In
either case, these will flow through a pre-burner to provide power for the
high-pressure fuel and oxidizer turbo pumps, by using a fuel-rich mixture
inside these pre-burners. This turns the liquid hydrogen into a gaseous state,
where it is transferred into the hot gas manifold. This is the final step before
injection into the Main Combustion Chamber.

The oxidizer follows its own route into the MCC. After going through a
low-pressure oxidizer turbo pump, at 420psi, and also a high-pressure
oxidizer turbo pump at 4,300 psi, the flow of liquid oxygen branches into four
lines. The first is a heat exchanger, where presumably a fluid of some sort is
in an adjacent tank or line to transfer heat from the warmer tank into the
cooler one. The second path it can take is directly to the injectors of the
MCC. The third seems to accomplish the most, aside from providing lift. It
pushes through yet another high-pressure oxidizer turbo pump into the preburners. The expansion of the oxygen here powers the fuel turbo pumps, and
after it does so flows into the hot gas manifold, where it too is injected into
the MCC. The fourth path powers the low pressure turbo oxidizer pump.
Upon entering the MCC, the oxidizer and the fuel are in a gaseous
state, and are mixed together in the injector. The fuel-rich mixture comes
from the hot gas manifolds, mixing in the injector, where it is then introduced
to the Main Combustion Chamber. Inside the MCC itself, there is a small
augmented-spark igniter-chamber which is only active during the first
three seconds of the sequence. Beyond that, and the combustion of the
engine is self-sustaining. The shell of the MCC is made from an alloy made
specifically for the RS-25 during the 1970s. The shell contains channels
running through the sides which allows the liquid hydrogen to double as a
coolant, as previously mentioned.
Controlling this sequence is the Main Engine Controller, or the MEC. It
is mounted straight on the engine and consists of two Motorola processors.
The system is redundant, making a total of two MECs with a total of four
processors. These controllers are wired to the computers inside the cockpit of
the orbiter to be controlled by the crew. If one of these systems fails, it

automatically switches over to the other system. These systems were

designed with the knowledge in mind that they will be subject to excessive
G-loads, and have been effective in handling such environments.
The nozzle and gimbal are the piece of the
engine that we, as observers, are most familiar
with. The nozzle is the cone shaped extension that
directs the exhaust. The end of the nozzle is slightly
narrower than the widest portion, which is just
before it. This raises the pressure around the rim
slightly more than at the base of the nozzle. Liquid
hydrogen also runs through channels in the nozzle
cooling it down. The gimbal is a ball-and-socket type joint at the base of the
nozzle that allows for the direction of the nozzle to be varied on two axes
with variation 10.5 from it s original location, in turn varying the vector of
thrust, which ultimately steers the vehicle. The gimbal itself is made of a
titanium alloy.
The history of the space shuttle program used a total of 46 RS-25 engines.
There were 135 missions, multiply times three engines per mission for 405
total uses of the engine. Although there were several instances of problems
with the engine, there was only one single instance of an in-flight failure of
the RS-25. It was on the Challenger mission STS-51-F. This was NOT the
mission when the Challenger exploded, that was due to a problem with the
Solid Rocket Booster. The RS-25 functioned like it should have when we lost
the Challenger. Pratt & Whitney boast a 99.95% reliability rate from the RS25. By any standards, those numbers prove the RS-25 is an extremely well
designed, well built, and well performing engine. I think I speak for millions
when I say it was a sad day when the shuttle program ended.

REFERENCES
http://collectspace.com/review/sts133_ssmechart-lg.jpg
"The Cause of the Accident". Report of the Presidential Commission on the
Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. NASA. June 6, 1986.
http://www.pw.utc.com/products/pwr/assets/pwr_SSME.pdf
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/background/facts/ssme.html
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/prop/controllers.
html
ARMY SPACE REFERENCE TEXT
http://www.fas.org/spp/military/docops/army/ref_text/chap6im.htm
SPACE SHUTTLE MAIN ENGINE ORIENTATION from BOEING

http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2011/ph240/nguyen1/docs/SSME_PRESENTATION.p
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