Dannie here. I build software to help you learn about rocket engine design interactively. Want more after Kerbal? Follow my journey!
London
Joined October 2021
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Meco retweeted
got some new tooling, so finally back to the liquid rocket project! this is the business end, more or less.
one piece = aft N2O bulkhead, N2O valve housing, e85/fuel manifold, injector, and N2O fill inlet
trying my best to not mess it up lol
Meco retweeted
Sound🔊on: epic fly-by footage of the ongoing Zenith engine testing and Stage 1 structural qualifications happening at our test site in Moses Lake. 🤘🚀
Meco retweeted
I almost broke my hand while celebrating this 🤕
Because on the 13th of May, after 6 months of relentlessly trying to find the right process to light up the engine with its turbopump, we finally did it right.
Not once, but multiple times. With reproducible results.
1/2
Meco retweeted
We go where we need to be, and today that was @NASAKennedy.
Some of my senior engineers and I spent time at @blueorigin with @JeffBezos and @davill, speaking with the workforce and seeing the damage at LC-36 firsthand. I appreciated the opportunity to hear directly from those working through the aftermath and better understand the challenges ahead.
There is a lot of work to do, but this is exactly why people choose careers in aerospace, whether at NASA, Blue Origin, or across the industry. The talent in this field thrives under pressure and performs at its best when solving the toughest problems.
We have been saying for months at NASA that we are not going to sit on our hands and wait for the capabilities necessary to achieve the nation’s most pressing objectives. We are going to take an active role alongside our partners, just as we did in the 1960s, to overcome setbacks, remove obstacles, and deliver the intended outcomes.
@NASA is committed to helping the Blue team recover, continue to advance their lunar lander and get New Glenn back to launching as soon as safely possible.
America’s greatest achievements in space were never the result of avoiding setbacks. They came from overcoming them. We have done it before, and we will do it again🇺🇸
Meco retweeted
🚀 Some engines move vehicles. Others launch rockets.
Motorcycle, car, truck, aircraft… and Vulcain® 2.1 all rely on propulsion, but not at the same scale.
Meco retweeted
A lot of that infrastructure is scrap, even if it stood. Lots of permanent thermal damage. at NG's scale, re-fabbing all of that is going to take a very long time
Would not be surprised to see NG 7-engine retired and immediately transitioned to 9 engine over rebuilding 36 as is
Meco retweeted
NASA is aware of the anomaly that occurred tonight at Launch Complex 36 involving Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets.
We will provide information on any impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base programs as it becomes available.
Meco retweeted
Holy s$%^... 🤯
Check out the explosion volume even at that distance. That was a hell of a blast.
Meco retweeted
As a note (from lived experience): blowing up the pad is generally about the single worst thing you can do. For most non-crew programs it's really the only way you earn a maximum risk rating
Probably a 12-18 mo setback, depends how much was compromised. Not much prior precedent
Meco retweeted
Hard to tell, but it looks like the explosion may have started in the ground support equipment and made its way to the vehicle. Video from @SpaceflightNow is below
Meco retweeted
$RKLB
One of my favourite Rocket Lab videos!
First and second stage separation of Rocket Lab's Electron launch vehicle during the Return to Sender mission on November 20th, 2020.
Beautiful, clean and it has sound! Never gets old.
Meco retweeted
Power pack testing 💪
@rfa_space is working on an upgrade to their Helix rocket engine, completing a set of tests at @SSCspace centre in Sweden.
Meco retweeted
these kids are cracked by the way
What does it take to design a rocket turbopump from the ground up?
This project walks through the development of a 5,000 lbf kerosene-oxygen turbopump using a conservative, low-risk design approach focused on reliability, manufacturability, and integration.
Built by a team of undergraduate engineers, the design leverages proven architectures, commercial tools like CFturbo and Dyrobes, and a balance of additive and subtractive manufacturing to move from concept to testing in an accelerated timeline.
Read more: empoweringpumps.com/white-pa…
@CFturboInc
#Engineering #Aerospace #Turbomachinery #PumpIndustry #Innovation
Meco retweeted
What does it take to design a rocket turbopump from the ground up?
This project walks through the development of a 5,000 lbf kerosene-oxygen turbopump using a conservative, low-risk design approach focused on reliability, manufacturability, and integration.
Built by a team of undergraduate engineers, the design leverages proven architectures, commercial tools like CFturbo and Dyrobes, and a balance of additive and subtractive manufacturing to move from concept to testing in an accelerated timeline.
Read more: empoweringpumps.com/white-pa…
@CFturboInc
#Engineering #Aerospace #Turbomachinery #PumpIndustry #Innovation
Meco retweeted
Every week, our team conducts fire tests to validate the performance, reliability, and endurance of COSMOS engine.
As the largest methane-fueled rocket engine developed in Japan, it requires a high-frequency testing to gather critical data rapidly, accelerating our development.
Meco retweeted
Home-built #Turbopump now integrated into the fully equipped flight #Navier #RocketEngine. Our teams worked side by side through trials, tweaks, and hard-won learnings to achieve a functional unit 🔥 Another major step toward flight testing. Now it’s time to light it up 🔜
Meco retweeted
As NASA plans to return humans to the moon to stay this time, they will need some pretty heavy rockets to get the job done.
Currently, there are three main launch vehicles for the Artemis Program, all of which are expected to receive larger, more capable variants.
Starship is from SpaceX and is the most powerful rocket to take flight. While it is currently in the testing phase, it is expected to land humans and cargo on the lunar surface with its HLS variant, which would become the largest lander to land on the lunar surface, being taller than the Saturn V first stage.
SLS is NASA’s rocket. SLS’s goal is to carry humans to the moon, by launching the Orion spacecraft. SLS has already successfully done this on Artemis II. SLS will eventually get a much larger and more capable upper stage. It is currently up in the air for what happens with Block 1B, however, I still decided to include it.
New Glenn is from Blue Origin. New Glenn is planned to be used to launch Blue Moon MK1 and Blue Moon MK2. MK1 will land cargo on the moon, such as the Viper Rover next year, and is expected to launch in the fall of this year! MK2 will be Blue’s human landing system also aiding with landing humans on the moon. Blue Origin is currently looking into a much more powerful variant of New Glenn, which they are calling the 9x4 variant.
Meco retweeted
if anyone ever asks why i want to be a propulsion engineer im just going to show them this picture
Onboard views from Starship and Super Heavy V3, which are equipped with upgraded cameras capable of streaming 4K video through every phase of flight via @Starlink
