Aerojet LR87

Last updated
LR87
Titan I XLR87 Rocket Engine.jpg
XLR87 engine
Country of originFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States
First flight1959 (1959)
Last flight2005 (2005)
Manufacturer Aerojet
ApplicationMain engine
Associated LV Titan
SuccessorD LR-91
Liquid-fuel engine
Propellant
  • LR87-3: RP-1 / LOX
  • LR87-5, LR87-7, LR87-9, LR87-11: Aerozine 50 / N2O4
  • LR87 LH2: LH2 / LOX
Cycle Gas-generator
Performance
Thrust, sea-levelLR87-11: 1,900 kN (430,000 lbf)
Chamber pressure 40–59 bar (4,000–5,900 kPa)
Specific impulse, vacuum290 s (2.8 km/s)
Specific impulse, sea-level256 s (2.51 km/s)
Dimensions
Length
  • 3.13–3.84 m (10.3–12.6 ft)
  • LR87 LH2: 4 m (13 ft)
Diameter1.14 m (3 ft 9 in)
Dry mass839 kg (1,850 lb)
References
References [1]

The LR87 was an American liquid-propellant rocket engine used on the first stages of Titan intercontinental ballistic missiles and launch vehicles. [1] Composed of twin motors with separate combustion chambers and turbopump machinery, [2] it is considered a single unit and was never flown as a single combustion chamber engine or designed for this. The LR87 first flew in 1959. [1]

Contents

The LR87 was developed in the late 1950s by Aerojet. [3] :82,319 It was the first production rocket engine capable (in its various models) of burning the three most common liquid rocket propellant combinations: liquid oxygen/RP-1, nitrogen tetroxide (NTO)/Aerozine 50 (a 50:50 mixture by mass of hydrazine and UDMH), and liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen. [4] The engine operated on an open gas-generator cycle and utilized a regeneratively cooled combustion chamber. For each thrust chamber assembly, a single high-speed turbine drove the lower-speed centrifugal fuel and oxidizer pumps through gearing, a configuration designed for high turbopump efficiency. This lowered fuel use in the gas generator and improved specific impulse. [3] :380-385 The LR87 served as a template for the LR-91, which was used in the second stage of the Titan missile. [5]

The LR87 was a fixed-thrust engine, which could not be throttled or restarted in flight. The LR87 delivered approximately 1,900 kilonewtons (430,000 pounds) of thrust in its hypergolic configuration. [1] Early LR87 engines used on the Titan I burned RP-1 and liquid oxygen. [6] [1] Because liquid oxygen is cryogenic, it could not be stored in the missile for long periods of time, and had to be loaded before the missile could be launched. For the Titan II, the engine was converted to use Aerozine 50 and nitrogen tetroxide, which are hypergolic and storable at room temperature. This allowed Titan II missiles to be kept fully fueled and ready to launch on short notice. [1]

For the Titan III and IV, which were larger, more capable space launch vehicles, the LR87 was modified further. Thrust and nozzle area ratio were progressively increased, requiring heavier turbopumps, pipes, and other parts. [3] :384

Variants

LR87-3

Used on the Titan I, the LR87-3 burned liquid oxygen and RP-1. [4] Following the retirement of the Titan missile program, these engines saw no further use.[ citation needed ] The LR87-3 was also operated with NTO/Aerozine 50 and ground tested with LOX/H2 (with a new fuel pump), making it one of very few engines to have been run on three different propellant combinations. [3] :383

LR87-5

Instead of liquid oxygen and RP-1, the Titan II used nitrogen tetroxide and Aerozine 50. This change was done for storability at the request of the US Air Force. [3] :381 The engine was generally lighter and simpler than its predecessor, partly due to the use of hypergolic propellants, which do not need an independent ignition system. The engines also had simpler controls, solid-propellant cartridges to start the turbopumps, simplified injectors, and autogenous pressurization, replacing the heavy tanks of cold helium gas. Instead, the fuel tank was pressurized with fuel-rich gas-generator exhaust, and the oxidizer tank with NTO evaporated in a heat exchanger using turbine exhaust. [3] :383

Beginning in 1984, Titan II missiles were decommissioned and became available as launch vehicles. Their engines were modified for this use. [3] :383

LR87-7

The LR87-5 was adapted to the needs of the Gemini program. The LR87-7 had added redundancies and safety features for human-rating certification. [3] :381 The performance was similar to the previous version, only reducing the chamber pressure and nozzle thrust to meet human-rating requirements. This version was only used on the Titan II GLV.

LR87-9

Used on the Titan IIIA, IIIB, and IIIC. [7]

LR87-11/LR-87-11A

Used on Titan 24B, 34B, IIIBS, IIID, 34D, 34D7, IIIE. The LR-87-11A was used on the Titan IV A/B.[ citation needed ]

LR87 LH2

Modified to burn liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The development coincided with other variants of the late 1950s. Compared to the -3, it had a number of changes associated with the use of lighter and colder liquid hydrogen. [3] :383 The fuel injectors were greatly modified, and the RP-1 pump was replaced with a purpose-designed single-stage hydrogen pump. Developed 1958–1961, a total of 52 static tests were performed without serious issue. Aerojet took part in the selection process for a new engine for the second stage of the Saturn IB and Saturn V. Though LR87 LH2 was the best in 10 out of 11 criteria, NASA selected Rocketdyne's J-2. Lessons learned were used during development of the Aerojet M-1. [8] It was only built with 1 chamber.[ citation needed ]

LR87 / Alumazine

The LR87 was also tested with a gelled Dinitrogen Tetroxide / Alumizine fuel. [9] [10] Though the earlier tests with the LR87 were terminated due to combustion instabilities and funding restraints development of gelled fuel and oxidizers continued to produce fuels for engines currently used in space. [11]

Engine comparison

EngineLR87-3LR87-5LR87-7LR87-9LR87-11LR87 LH2
Aerojet ModelAJ23-130AJ23-132AJ23-134AJ23-136AJ23-139
FuelLOX/KeroseneN2O4/Aerozine 50N2O4/Aerozine 50N2O4/Aerozine 50N2O4/Aerozine 50LOX/LH2
First flight19591962 [lower-alpha 1] 196219661968
Number built140212534
Thrust, [lower-alpha 2] V [lower-alpha 3] 733.9 kN1096.8 kN1086.1 kN1218.8 kN667 kN
ISP, V [lower-alpha 3] 290s297s296s302s
Thrust, SL [lower-alpha 4] 647.9 kN956.5 kN946.7 kN956.1 kN968.4 kN578 kN
ISP, SL [lower-alpha 4] 256s259s258s250s350 s
Burn time138s155s139s200s
Height3.13m3.13m3.13m3.13m [lower-alpha 5] 4 m
Diameter1.53m1.14m1.53m1.14m1.14 m
Mass [lower-alpha 2] 839 kg739 kg713 kg758 kg700 kg
Chamber pressure40.00 bar53.3 atm (54.01 bar)47.00 bar58.3 atm (59.07 bar)
Area ratio889158
TWR, V [lower-alpha 3] 89.2151.34155.33163.9697.14
Oxidizer/fuel ratio1.911.931.91.91
Coefficient of Thrust, V [lower-alpha 3] 1.84532.233.03
Coefficient of thrust, SL [lower-alpha 4] 1.64531.982.78
Propellant flow750 kg/s824.7 kg/s
Source [12] [2] [13] [14] [15] [8]
  1. ICBM; orbital Titan II launch 1968.
  2. 1 2 Per thrust chamber; two are mounted together on each Titan.
  3. 1 2 3 4 In vacuum
  4. 1 2 3 At sea level
  5. Height at top of turbopump assembly; 3.84m to top of thrust structure.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titan (rocket family)</span> Family of launch vehicles used in U.S. Air Force and space programs (1959–2005)

Titan was a family of United States expendable rockets used between 1959 and 2005. The Titan I and Titan II were part of the US Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) fleet until 1987. The space launch vehicle versions contributed the majority of the 368 Titan launches, including all the Project Gemini crewed flights of the mid-1960s. Titan vehicles were also used to lift US military payloads as well as civilian agency reconnaissance satellites and to send interplanetary scientific probes throughout the Solar System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hypergolic propellant</span> Type of rocket engine fuel

A hypergolic propellant is a rocket propellant combination used in a rocket engine, whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RP-1</span> Highly refined form of kerosene used as rocket fuel

RP-1 (alternatively, Rocket Propellant-1 or Refined Petroleum-1) is a highly refined form of kerosene outwardly similar to jet fuel, used as rocket fuel. RP-1 provides a lower specific impulse than liquid hydrogen (H2), but is cheaper, is stable at room temperature, and presents a lower explosion hazard. RP-1 is far denser than H2, giving it a higher energy density (though its specific energy is lower). RP-1 also has a fraction of the toxicity and carcinogenic hazards of hydrazine, another room-temperature liquid fuel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liquid-propellant rocket</span> Rocket engine that uses liquid fuels and oxidizers

A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket uses a rocket engine burning liquid propellants. (Alternate approaches use gaseous or solid propellants.) Liquids are desirable propellants because they have reasonably high density and their combustion products have high specific impulse (Isp). This allows the volume of the propellant tanks to be relatively low.

Aerozine 50 is a 50:50 mix by weight of hydrazine and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), developed in the late 1950s by Aerojet General Corporation as a storable, high-energy, hypergolic fuel for the Titan II ICBM rocket engines. Aerozine continues in wide use as a rocket fuel, typically with dinitrogen tetroxide as the oxidizer, with which it is hypergolic. Aerozine 50 is more stable than hydrazine alone, and has a higher density and boiling point than UDMH alone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rocketdyne H-1</span> American kerolox rocket engine

The Rocketdyne H-1 was a 205,000 lbf (910 kN) thrust liquid-propellant rocket engine burning LOX and RP-1. The H-1 was developed for use in the S-I and S-IB first stages of the Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets, respectively, where it was used in clusters of eight engines. After the Apollo program, surplus H-1 engines were rebranded and reworked as the Rocketdyne RS-27 engine with first usage on the Delta 2000 series in 1974. RS-27 engines continued to be used up until 1992 when the first version of the Delta II, Delta 6000, was retired. The RS-27A variant, boasting slightly upgraded performance, was also used on the later Delta II and Delta III rockets, with the former flying until 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGM-25C Titan II</span> US ICBM, in service from 1962 to 1987

The Titan II was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier Titan I missile. Titan II was originally designed and used as an ICBM, but was later adapted as a medium-lift space launch vehicle to carry payloads to Earth orbit for the United States Air Force (USAF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Those payloads included the USAF Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), NOAA weather satellites, and NASA's Gemini crewed space capsules. The modified Titan II SLVs were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, up until 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titan IV</span> Expendable launch system used by the US Air Force

Titan IV was a family of heavy-lift space launch vehicles developed by Martin Marietta and operated by the United States Air Force from 1989 to 2005. Launches were conducted from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titan IIIB</span> Model of Titan III launch vehicle

Titan IIIB was the collective name for a number of derivatives of the Titan II ICBM and Titan III launch vehicle, modified by the addition of an Agena upper stage. It consisted of five separate rockets. The Titan-3B Agena-D was a basic Titan IIIA with an Agena D upper stage. The Titan 23B was a basic Titan II with an Agena upper stage, and the Titan 24B was the same concept, but using the slightly enlarged Titan IIIM rocket as the base. The Titan 33B was a Titan 23B with the Agena enclosed in an enlarged fairing, in order to allow larger payloads to be launched. The final member of the Titan IIIB family was the Titan 34B which was a Titan 24B with the larger fairing used on the Titan 33B.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titan IIIC</span> Expendable launch system used by the US Air Force

The Titan IIIC was an expendable launch system used by the United States Air Force from 1965 until 1982. It was the first Titan booster to feature large solid rocket motors and was planned to be used as a launcher for the Dyna-Soar, though the spaceplane was cancelled before it could fly. The majority of the launcher's payloads were DoD satellites, for military communications and early warning, though one flight (ATS-6) was performed by NASA. The Titan IIIC was launched exclusively from Cape Canaveral while its sibling, the Titan IIID, was launched only from Vandenberg AFB.

The highest specific impulse chemical rockets use liquid propellants. They can consist of a single chemical or a mix of two chemicals, called bipropellants. Bipropellants can further be divided into two categories; hypergolic propellants, which ignite when the fuel and oxidizer make contact, and non-hypergolic propellants which require an ignition source.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aerojet M-1</span> One of the largest rocket engines to be designed

The Aerojet M-1 was one of the largest and most powerful liquid-hydrogen-fueled liquid-fuel rocket engines to be designed and component-tested. It was originally developed during the 1950s by the US Air Force. The M-1 offered a baseline thrust of 6.67 MN and an immediate growth target of 8 MN. If built, the M-1 would have been larger and more efficient than the famed F-1 that powered the first stage of the Saturn V rocket to the Moon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AJ10</span> Hypergolic rocket engine manufactured by Aerojet

The AJ10 is a hypergolic rocket engine manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne. It has been used to propel the upper stages of several launch vehicles, including the Delta II and Titan III. Variants were and are used as the service propulsion engine for the Apollo command and service module, in the Space Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System, and on the European Service Module – part of NASA's Orion spacecraft.

The SM-68 Titan was the designation of two intercontinental ballistic missiles developed for the United States Air Force. The Titan I and Titan II missiles were operational between 1962 and 1987 during the Cold War. These missiles, particularly the Titan II, were the basis of the Titan family of space launch vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titan II GLV</span> Expendable launch system

The Titan II GLV or Gemini-Titan II was an American expendable launch system derived from the Titan II missile, which was used to launch twelve Gemini missions for NASA between 1964 and 1966. Two uncrewed launches followed by ten crewed ones were conducted from Launch Complex 19 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, starting with Gemini 1 on April 8, 1964.

Rocketdyne's E-1 was a liquid propellant rocket engine originally built as a backup design for the Titan I missile. While it was being developed, Heinz-Hermann Koelle at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) selected it as the primary engine for the rocket that would emerge as the Saturn I. In the end, the Titan went ahead with its primary engine, and the Saturn team decided to use the lower-thrust H-1 in order to speed development. The E-1 project was cancelled in 1959, but Rocketdyne's success with the design gave NASA confidence in Rocketdyne's ability to deliver the much larger F-1, which powered the first stage of the Saturn V missions to the Moon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rocket propellant</span> Chemical or mixture used in a rocket engine

Rocket propellant is used as reaction mass ejected from a rocket engine to produce thrust. The energy required can either come from the propellants themselves, as with a chemical rocket, or from an external source, as with ion engines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aestus</span> Rocket engine

Aestus is a hypergolic liquid rocket engine used on an upper stage of Ariane 5 family rockets for the orbital insertion. It features unique design of 132 coaxial injection elements causing swirl mixing of the MMH propellants with nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer. The pressure-fed engine allows for multiple re-ignitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LR91</span> American gas-generator rocket engine used on Titan upper stages

The LR91 was an American liquid-propellant rocket engine, which was used on the second stages of Titan intercontinental ballistic missiles and launch vehicles. While the original version - the LR91-3 - ran on RP-1/LOX (as did the companion LR87-3) on the Titan I, the models that propelled the Titan II and later were switched to Aerozine 50/N2O4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rocketdyne LR-101</span> Vernier thruster developed by Rocketdyne

The LR-101 is a fixed thrust, single start vernier thruster developed by Rocketdyne in the mid-to-late fifties and used in the Atlas, Thor and Delta launch vehicles until 1990.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Aerojet-General LR87 Liquid Rocket". National Museum of the US Air Force. Archived from the original on 2010-12-25. Retrieved 2010-12-25.
  2. 1 2 "LR87-5". Astronautix. Archived from the original on August 5, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sutton, George P. (2006). History of liquid propellant rocket engines. Reston, Va.: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. ISBN   1-56347-649-5. OCLC   63680957 . Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  4. 1 2 "LR87". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 2021-08-22. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  5. "LR91". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 2021-08-22. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
  6. "Titan I". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  7. Brügge, Norbert. "Titan III/IV Propulsion". B14643.de. Norbert Brügge. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  8. 1 2 "LR87 LH2". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 2021-08-27. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  9. "LR87 Alumazine" . Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  10. "Gelled dinitrogen tetroxide composition" . Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  11. "A Comprehensive Study on Gelled Propellants" . Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  12. "LR87-3". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 2021-08-27. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  13. "LR87-7". Astronautix. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  14. "LR87-9". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 2021-08-27. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  15. "LR87-11". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 2021-08-27. Retrieved 2021-08-27.