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Merlin 1D Engine production line at SpaceX HQ today.
10 responses to “SpaceX Bells”
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Doogsonai – the Merlin 1D integrates the regenerative cooling channels into the bell design (versus the discrete pipes in earlier designs). This outer shell covers another shiny layer underneath:
(each of these photos is clickable for enlarging and more info)that has the channels etched vertically in it for the fuel to run down and back up, keeping the nozzle from melting during use. Then nine of them are connected to each core:
And here is the 3×3 arrangement
Here is what one of them looks like on ignition (more photos and video there):
Now imagine 27 of them!
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So is there a technical reason for this mirror finish and are they purposefully polished, or is the machining these days just so good that it simply comes out that way? Or maybe the space industry is so competitive now that they have to add bling to sell their spaceships? 😉
… hey, maybe Tesla should release a "SpaceX edition roadster" with chrome finish 🙂
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And ship directly to the UAE…
Yet another overlay comes later, and so it looks more mainstream in the end, like the rocket engines in our office and the ones I will share tomorrow.
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeany7] — it”s all part of the master plan
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Wow. That bell looks beautiful. When could you take a close up picture of the cluster of (9) Merlin 1D-R engines? That would be so outstanding to see. I wish SpaceX employees success on the several attempts to re-use their boosters.
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Yes, reusing the boosters… This evening, putting my son to bed, I read a fascinating passage from Arthur Clarke:
Enter Citizen Astronauts
Escaping from Earth will not always be astronomically expensive; the energy needed to reach space is remarkably small.“About 800 pounds of kerosene and liquid oxygen, costing some $25, will liberate enough energy to carry a man to the moon. The fact that we currently burn a thousand tons per passenger indicates that there is vast room for improvement. This will come… most important of all, through the development of reusable boosters, which can be flown for hundreds of missions, like normal aircraft. We have to get away, as quickly as possible, from today’s missile-oriented philosophy of rocket launchers which are discarded after a single flight.”
When I wrote these words in July 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts were on their way to the moon.
I envisaged that the true Space Age would dawn “…and projects which today are barely feasible will become not only relatively easy but economically self-supporting. The closing years of this century should see the beginnings of commercial space flight, which will be directed first toward giant manned satellites or space platforms within a thousand miles above the Earth’s surface.” [think ISS]
Well in those heady days of Apollo, I couldn’t have anticipated all the detours and distractions of the 1970s that delayed our optimistic projections.
Commercial space flight is now beginning to be technologically feasible and soon will become economically viable. The rise of citizen astronauts has already begun — this time, I doubt if politics can hold up progress because it is no longer so closely tied to the fluctuating interests and resources of national governments.
Fortunately, we need not rely solely on governments for expanding humanity’s presence beyond the Earth.
In that sense, space travel is returning to where it started: with maverick pioneers dreaming of journeys to orbit and beyond, some carrying out rocket experiments in their own backyards.
— Sir Arthur Clarke, October 4, 2007, Foreward to Linehan’s SpaceShipOne
He died five months later. He did not get the chance to see any of SpaceX’s successful launches… making his dream manifest.
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And…on July 22, 2007 of that year, Mavericks held our first competition because of your leadership and generous support, as shown in your photo posts. Thus was created, the first act of "KONGING" We gotta get the true Maverick, Elon Musk, Konging on the Falcon Heavy!!!! That would be a truly awesome photo for the archives!!! Elon is THE Mavericks Maverick.
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