Why is LOX on top in the Space Shuttle external tank instead of the other the way round?Why does a rocket...
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Why is LOX on top in the Space Shuttle external tank instead of the other the way round?
Why does a rocket engine provide more thrust in a vacuum than in atmosphere?Why was the Shuttle's LOX tank on top of the LH2 tank, since that makes it more top-heavy?Why wasn't the space shuttle fully Liquid fueled?Why did the External Tank not have its own engines?Combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygenWhy spray LOx into combustion chamber, if GOx is more effective?Why didn't the space shuttle use non-foam-shedding external tanks?Why does the Falcon 9 use RP-1/LOx and not LH2/LOx?How big of an external tank to replace the shuttle SRBs with more LH2 and LO2?Cheapest rocket to go to space?
$begingroup$
Why is oxygen placed on top of hydrogen? Does this have anything to do with letting the warmer and not the colder liquid have a non-spherical bulkhead and thus more surface area to reduce boil-off?
rockets space-shuttle fuel
edited 1 hour ago
Organic Marble
63k4169266
asked 2 hours ago
Meatball PrincessMeatball Princess
1836
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Why is oxygen placed on top of hydrogen? Does this have anything to do with letting the warmer and not the colder liquid have a non-spherical bulkhead and thus more surface area to reduce boil-off?
rockets space-shuttle fuel
edited 1 hour ago
Organic Marble
63k4169266
asked 2 hours ago
Meatball PrincessMeatball Princess
1836
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Why is oxygen placed on top of hydrogen? Does this have anything to do with letting the warmer and not the colder liquid have a non-spherical bulkhead and thus more surface area to reduce boil-off?
rockets space-shuttle fuel
edited 1 hour ago
Organic Marble
63k4169266
asked 2 hours ago
Meatball PrincessMeatball Princess
1836
$endgroup$
Why is oxygen placed on top of hydrogen? Does this have anything to do with letting the warmer and not the colder liquid have a non-spherical bulkhead and thus more surface area to reduce boil-off?
rockets space-shuttle fuel
rockets space-shuttle fuel
edited 1 hour ago
Organic Marble
63k4169266
asked 2 hours ago
Meatball PrincessMeatball Princess
1836
edited 1 hour ago
Organic Marble
63k4169266
asked 2 hours ago
Meatball PrincessMeatball Princess
1836
edited 1 hour ago
Organic Marble
63k4169266
edited 1 hour ago
Organic Marble
63k4169266
edited 1 hour ago
Organic Marble
63k4169266
63k4169266
asked 2 hours ago
Meatball PrincessMeatball Princess
1836
asked 2 hours ago
Meatball PrincessMeatball Princess
1836
asked 2 hours ago
Meatball PrincessMeatball Princess
1836
1836
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
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$begingroup$
Having the colder tank lower in the stack is marginally helpful for the thermal design, but in the case of the space shuttle, aerodynamic considerations dominate.
For aerodynamic stability, it's desirable to put the center of gravity well forward of the center of aerodynamic pressure (which means roughly "where the drag is happening"). Think about a throwing dart, with its heavy forward end and draggy fins at the back; the drag force on the fins keeps it from tumbling.
The wings of the space shuttle orbiter are a big source of drag, so the center of gravity needs to be forward of that. Liquid oxygen is about 16 times as dense as liquid hydrogen, so forward it goes, to move the overall CG forward of the wings.
answered 1 hour ago
Russell BorogoveRussell Borogove
91.6k3306390
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add a comment |
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$begingroup$
Having the colder tank lower in the stack is marginally helpful for the thermal design, but in the case of the space shuttle, aerodynamic considerations dominate.
For aerodynamic stability, it's desirable to put the center of gravity well forward of the center of aerodynamic pressure (which means roughly "where the drag is happening"). Think about a throwing dart, with its heavy forward end and draggy fins at the back; the drag force on the fins keeps it from tumbling.
The wings of the space shuttle orbiter are a big source of drag, so the center of gravity needs to be forward of that. Liquid oxygen is about 16 times as dense as liquid hydrogen, so forward it goes, to move the overall CG forward of the wings.
answered 1 hour ago
Russell BorogoveRussell Borogove
91.6k3306390
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Having the colder tank lower in the stack is marginally helpful for the thermal design, but in the case of the space shuttle, aerodynamic considerations dominate.
For aerodynamic stability, it's desirable to put the center of gravity well forward of the center of aerodynamic pressure (which means roughly "where the drag is happening"). Think about a throwing dart, with its heavy forward end and draggy fins at the back; the drag force on the fins keeps it from tumbling.
The wings of the space shuttle orbiter are a big source of drag, so the center of gravity needs to be forward of that. Liquid oxygen is about 16 times as dense as liquid hydrogen, so forward it goes, to move the overall CG forward of the wings.
answered 1 hour ago
Russell BorogoveRussell Borogove
91.6k3306390
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Having the colder tank lower in the stack is marginally helpful for the thermal design, but in the case of the space shuttle, aerodynamic considerations dominate.
For aerodynamic stability, it's desirable to put the center of gravity well forward of the center of aerodynamic pressure (which means roughly "where the drag is happening"). Think about a throwing dart, with its heavy forward end and draggy fins at the back; the drag force on the fins keeps it from tumbling.
The wings of the space shuttle orbiter are a big source of drag, so the center of gravity needs to be forward of that. Liquid oxygen is about 16 times as dense as liquid hydrogen, so forward it goes, to move the overall CG forward of the wings.
answered 1 hour ago
Russell BorogoveRussell Borogove
91.6k3306390
$endgroup$
Having the colder tank lower in the stack is marginally helpful for the thermal design, but in the case of the space shuttle, aerodynamic considerations dominate.
For aerodynamic stability, it's desirable to put the center of gravity well forward of the center of aerodynamic pressure (which means roughly "where the drag is happening"). Think about a throwing dart, with its heavy forward end and draggy fins at the back; the drag force on the fins keeps it from tumbling.
The wings of the space shuttle orbiter are a big source of drag, so the center of gravity needs to be forward of that. Liquid oxygen is about 16 times as dense as liquid hydrogen, so forward it goes, to move the overall CG forward of the wings.
answered 1 hour ago
Russell BorogoveRussell Borogove
91.6k3306390
answered 1 hour ago
Russell BorogoveRussell Borogove
91.6k3306390
answered 1 hour ago
Russell BorogoveRussell Borogove
91.6k3306390
answered 1 hour ago
Russell BorogoveRussell Borogove
91.6k3306390
91.6k3306390
add a comment |
add a comment |
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