TR-106 , also the Low Cost Pintle Engine , LCPE is an experimental rocket engine developed by TRW as part of the Space Launch Initiative program to reduce the cost of launch services and space flight. Using liquid oxygen as an oxidizing agent and liquid hydrogen as a fuel, the engine developed 2892 kN thrust during testing, which made it one of the most powerful engines in history [1] .
| TR-106 | |
|---|---|
 TR-106 at booth E-1 at the John Stennis Space Center | |
| Type of | liquid |
| Fuel | liquid hydrogen |
| Oxidizing agent | liquid oxygen |
| A country |  USA |
| Production | |
| Manufacturer | TRW |
| Oversized specifications | |
| Performance data | |
| Thrust | 2892 kN |
Content
General information
The purpose of the development of the engine was to create a powerful, inexpensive and easy to manufacture engine of the first stage (accelerator) of the launch vehicle. For this purpose, a coaxially located needle injector is used in the design (whence the name of the engine is “pintle” - “needle”). To cool the combustion chamber and nozzle, ablative heat protection is used instead of the more expensive one in the manufacture of a regenerative cooling system [1] .
The use of a needle injector allows the thrust engine in a wide range to be regulated by thrust, which is comparable to the capabilities of the lunar lander module of the Apollo series ships [1] .
Work Status
The lead engine designer was Tom Muller [2] [3] . In the summer of 2000, the engine passed successful bench tests, at which the level of 100% of the nominal thrust was achieved. The throttle of the engine was carried out in the range from 65 to 100%. The tests took place at the John Stennis Space Center in Mississippi [4] . TRW applied three differently designed injector needles during the tests to examine the engine in various designs. Once at the booth, the ablation chamber was replaced to demonstrate the simplicity of this operation. The test results showed that the engine is stable and is regulated in a wide range of traction of the ratio of fuel components [1] .
Due to the cancellation of the Space Launch Initiative program, further work on the engine was temporarily discontinued [1] . In 2002, TRW was acquired by Northrop Grumman and development of the TP-107 oxygen-kerosene engine, based on the TR-106 design, was started. The work was carried out under a contract with NASA for use on the next generation of launch vehicles and space vehicles [5] .
Legacy
Tom Muller was supposed to become TRW's vice president of engines, but in 2002, at the invitation of Elon Musk, he joined the newly created SpaceX company, where he took over as head of the propulsion division. Together with him, several other former employees of TRW came to the company [6] .
The development experience of the TR-106 was used to create the Merlin engine [7] [8] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 TR-106 (inaccessible link) . Astronautix.com (September 26, 2000). Date of treatment February 17, 2014. Archived December 30, 2013.
- ↑ Company . SpaceX (December 8, 2010). Date of treatment February 17, 2014.
- ↑ Mueller, Tom; Dressler, Gordon. TRW 40 klbf LOX / RP-1 low cost pintle engine test results. 35th AIAA / ASME / SAE / ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Huntsville, Alabama, July 24, 2000
- ↑ Stennis Space Center . Spinoff.nasa.gov (May 1, 2011). Date of treatment February 17, 2014.
- ↑ [1] Archived May 23, 2010 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ Reingold, Jennifer. Hondas in Space, Fast Company, February 2005
- ↑ Seedhouse, Eric. SpaceX: Making Commercial Spaceflight a Reality, Springer Science & Business, Jun 15, 2013, p. 36
- ↑ Air & Space Magazine, December 2011 / January 2012, p. 25