The Unknowns of Aerojet Rocketdyne: Von Karman and William O’Neill
William O’Neill founded Aerojet Engineering Corporation, which later became Aerojet Rocketdyne. The company was originally founded in 1915 in Akron, Ohio, as General Tire & Rubber Company. Later, because of his interest in rocket engines, he founded Aerojet Rocketdyne in 1942 with the goal of developing rocket technology for peaceful space exploration. Aerojet Rocketdyne has a diverse history that includes ownership of everything from radio and television stations to movie studios to hotels and even at one time an airline company. Over the last century, the company has led efforts that have helped further our nation’s advancements in space and our development as a global superpower. During World War II, the company’s jet-assisted takeoff (JATO) units allowed military planes to launch from short runways and aircraft carriers.
He was instrumental in the development of the first rocket engine to use a castable, composite rocket propellant. O’Neill’s contributions to the field of rocketry and space exploration were significant, and he acted as a founding pillar of Aerojet Rocketdyne along with a group of enthusiasts from the California Institute of technology led by professor Theodore von Karman. Aerojet-General Corp. began by making jet-assisted takeoff (JATO) rocket in World War II.
After O’Neill left Aerojet corporation, Von Karman took charge as president and treasurer managed of all financial and engine development activities at Aerojet Rocketdyne. Notably, he is one the fewer entrepreneurs who started developing rocket engines before other private entities for government agencies. Once Von Karman took charge, space race was about to start between USA-USSR to reach space earlier. During early 1960s after getting a contract from NASA to develop engines to accelerate US Progress to become powerful space nation. Karman and his team started developing the most powerful engine M1 Liquid rocket engine powerful enough to send a manned spacecraft directly to the moon.
M-1 ROCKET ENGINE:
The M-1 offered a baseline thrust of 6.67 MN (1.5 million lbf) and an immediate growth target of 8 MN (1.8 million lbf). The M-1 was larger and produced more thrust than the famed Rocketdyne F-1 that powered the first stage of the Saturn V rocket to the moon. The M-1 was designed to be used on the upper stage of the Nova rocket, which was intended to send humans to the Moon. However, the development of the M-1 was abandoned at the pre-prototype stage. The M-1 was never tested as a complete engine, but its thrust chamber assembly was tested and remains the largest hydrogen/oxygen thrust chamber assembly ever tested. The development of the M-1 was plagued by cost overruns and technical difficulties.
The advantage of testing M-1 over F-1 engine is many of the former engine components were separate and could be tested seperately without requiring without requiring an entire engine to be constructed before it could be tested.
Gas-Generator Cycle:
The gas-generator cycle is one of the most commonly used power cycles in bipropellant liquid rocket engines. It is a type of staged combustion cycle in which fuel and oxidizer are burned in separate combustion chambers. In the gas generator cycle, a small amount of fuel and oxidizer is burned in a pre-burner, which drives a turbine to pump more fuel and oxidizer into the main combustion chamber. The gas generator cycle is also known as the open cycle because part of the unburned propellant is burned in a gas generator (or preburner), and the resulting hot gas is used to power the propellant pumps before being exhausted overboard and lost. The gas generator cycle exhaust products pass over the turbine first, and then they are expelled overboard. They can be expelled directly from the turbine, or they are sometimes expelled into the nozzle (downstream from the throat) for a small gain in efficiency.
The M-1 engine was a cryogenic liquid-fueled rocket engine that was designed to be used on the upper stage of the Nova rocket, which was intended to send humans to the Moon. The engine consisted of a single regeneratively-cooled thrust chamber, separate turbopump assemblies driven by separate gas generators, and a turbine exhaust cooled nozzle extension. The exhaust from the gas generators was relatively cool compared to the rocket exhaust, and so rather than dumping it overboard, it was directed into cooling pipes in the lower part of the engine skirt. It entered the skirt at about 700 degrees F (371 degrees C) and was heated to about 1,000 degrees F (538 degrees C) before being dumped through small nozzles at the end of the skirt. Thrust vector control was provided by gimbaling the entire engine assembly. The specific impulse, a measure of fuel efficiency, was 428 seconds, considerably more than the 263 seconds for the oxygen-kerosene powered F-1 engine. Because the M-1 was designed to operate in thinner air at high altitudes, it had a very large exhaust nozzle that was considerably bigger than the F-1 engine.
Development efforts on the engine began in 1960, and over the next two years, Aerojet’s engineers made significant progress, helped in part by the fact that the separate gas generators and turbopumps made it possible to build and test the components separately before they were all integrated together. Aerojet built eight combustion chambers, eleven gas generators, four oxygen pumps, and four hydrogen pumps that were not completed by the time the program was shut down due to cost overruns and technical difficulties. The M-1 was never tested as a complete engine, but its thrust chamber assembly was tested and remains the largest hydrogen/oxygen thrust chamber assembly ever tested.
In addition to the engine developments, Aerojet under the guidance of von Karman and other JPL Engineers constructed test facilities for supporting the development program. These included laboratories and fabrication and component test facilities. Aerojet also started construction on three engine system test stands in northern California.
By this study it has been found that Dr. Theodore von Karman and William O’Neill were pioneers in the field of rocketry and space exploration. They founded Aerojet Rocketdyne, a private aerospace organization, during the 1940s with the goal of developing rocket technology for peaceful space exploration. Their contributions to the field of rocketry and space exploration were significant, and they acted as founding pillars of Aerojet Rocketdyne along with a group of enthusiasts from the California Institute of Technology led by Professor Theodore von Karman. The M-1 rocket engine, which was designed to be used on the upper stage of the Nova rocket, was one of the largest and most powerful liquid-hydrogen-fueled liquid-fuel rocket engines ever designed and component-tested. Their work helped propel the moon rocket to explore the unknowns and laid the foundation for future space exploration. Their entrepreneurship and vision led to the creation of Aerojet Rocketdyne, which has been a major player in the aerospace industry for over a century.
