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 Dryden Home > Collections > Photo Home > Linear Aerospike SR Experiment (LASRE) |
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Information from the LASRE experiment helped Lockheed Martin maximize its design for a future potential reusable launch vehicle. It gave Lockheed an understanding the performance of the X-33 lifting body and linear aerospike engine combination. SR-71 LASRE Home Page Additional Information Linear aerospike rocket engines have been laboratory and ground tested many times over the past thirty years, but have yet to fly. The LASRE project will actually test fly a scale model containing the engine. The aerospike engine and half-span scale model are mounted on a housing known as the "canoe," which contains the gaseous hydrogen, helium, and instrumentation gear. The model, engine, and canoe together are called the "pod." The entire pod is 41 feet in length and weighs 13,800 pounds. Linear aerospike rocket engines have been around for over thirty years. Rocketdyne developed the technology for both linear and annular aerospike engines during the mid-1960s, ground testing various designs into the 1970s. Rocketdyne proposed the aerospike engine for use on the Space Shuttle, but the engine was turned down because the technology was considered too immature at the time. Since then, Rocketdyne has accomplished 73 laboratory and ground test firings, with over 4,000 seconds of operation of this type engine. In addition, the company has spent over $500 million to test and improve aerospike engine technology. The linear aerospike engine is very similar to normal rocket engines in it's plumbing and accessories, utilizing similar components, such as turbopumps. However, one of the major differences, and the most notable, is the absence of a bell-shaped nozzle. The linear aerospike engine uses the atmosphere as part of it's nozzle, with the surrounding airflow containing the rocket's exhaust plume. This keeps the engine at optimum performance and efficiency along the entire trajectory of ascent to orbit. Traditional rocket engines cannot compensate for atmospheric changes, from low altitude and high atmospheric pressure, to high altitude and low atmospheric pressure. So, they are designed for a particular performance range in an effort to get the best performance from them. Another major difference is that linear aerospike engines are 75 percent smaller than normal rocket engines of comparable thrust. The smaller design means less engine weight and less engine support structure required, which allows for lighter spacecraft. This will result in lower cost to launch a vehicle into orbit. Other Links LASRE Movie Collection
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