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It
takes only about 8 minutes for the
Shuttle to accelerate
to a speed of more than 17,000 mph
(27,359 kph).
The
Shuttle main engine weighs 1/7th as much as a locomotive
engine but delivers as
much horsepower as 39 locomotives.
The
turbopump on the Shuttle main engine is so powerful it
could
drain an average family-sized swimming pool in 25 seconds.
The
Shuttle's 3 main engines and 2
solid rocket boosters
generate some 7.3 million lbs (3.3
million kg) of thrust at liftoff.
Compare that with America's
1st two manned launch vehicles,
the Redstone which produced 78,000
lbs (35,380 kg) of thrust,
and the Atlas, which produced
360,000 lbs (163, 293 kg).
Liquid hydrogen in the Shuttle main engine is -423 degrees
F (-253 degrees C),
the 2nd coldest liquid on
Earth, and when burned with liquid oxygen,
the temperature in the
engine's combustion chamber
reaches +6,000 degrees F. (+3,316 degrees
C.)
The
energy released by the 3 Shuttle main engines
is equivalent
to the output of 23 Hoover Dams.
Each
of the Shuttle's solid rocket motors burns 5 tons (4,536 kg) of
propellant
per second, a total of 1.1 million lbs (498,952
kg) in 120 seconds.
The speed of the gases exiting the nozzle
is more than 6,000 mph (9,656 kph),
about 5x
the speed of sound or 3x the speed of a high-powered rifle
bullet.
The plume of flame ranges up to 500 ft (152 m) long.
Combustion gases in a solid rocket motor burn at 6,100 F (3,371
C),
2/3rds the
temperature of the surface of the sun.
While that temperature is hot
enough to boil steel, special insulation
inside the motor protects the
steel case so well that the
outside of the case reaches only about 130 F. (54 C.).
A
stacked booster is the same height as the Statue of Liberty
(not
including pedestal) -- 151 ft (46 m) -- but weighs almost 3x as much.
4 engines of a Boeing 747 jet produce 188,000 lbs (85,275
kg) of thrust.
One SRM produces more than 17 x
as much thrust -- 3.3 million lbs (1.5 million kg).
A pair
of SRM's are more powerful than 35 jumbo jets at takeoff.
If
their heat energy could be converted to electric power,
2 SRMs
firing for two minutes would produce 2.2 million kilowatt hrs of
power,
enough to supply the entire power demand of 87,000 homes for a
full day.
The
Shuttle's
Remote Manipulator System (RMS), or robot arm, provided
by the
Canadian Space Agency, weighs about 905 lbs (411 kg) on
Earth
but can move cargo in space weighing 66,000 lbs (29,937
kg),
objects about the size of a Greyhound bus. |