[AR] Mulready on Engine Development at P&W (was Re: SSTO
- From: Henry Vanderbilt <hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2018 18:14:13 -0700
On 2/15/2018 12:38 PM, Henry Vanderbilt wrote:
Norman Yarvin <yarvin@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
By the way, the engine for the Suntan project used a somewhat similar
heat exchanger, with no intermediate helium stage and "four and one
half miles of 3/16-inch diameter tubing... Hasteloy R because of its
compatibility with hot hydrogen." (quote from Dick Mulready, in
_Advanced Engine Development at Pratt & Whitney_.) The engine was
built and tested, albeit only on the ground.
(The Project Suntan airbreathing LH2-fueled recon aircraft engine, of
course, famously evolved into the RL-10 LH2/LOX rocket engine that is
with us still.)
Interesting looking book, BTW. $100 used on Amazon, alas. I may have
to see if interlibrary loan can dig up a copy for me...
Bless the Phoenix Public Library; they may not be able to maintain a
sprinkler system (they flooded their main building when the roof flexed
in a windstorm last summer) but their interlibrary loan people can dig
up obscure books. I'm now holding a copy of Advanced Engine Development
At Pratt & Whitney: The Inside Story Of Eight Special Projects,
1946-1971, by Dick Mulready.
Written by an engineer, many years later, but with good access to source
materials and fellow workers. No math, but still quite technical - if
you're not already an aerospace propulsion weenie, your eyes will
quickly glaze over. If you are, though - heaven.
I'm through the description of the Suntan engine development, with lots
of tech detail, photos of engine components and test setups, some
overall project context, and a few paragraphs at the end on how the
A-11/J58 eventually sidetracked Suntan. There's also (so far) much
about the management of the projects described, including customer
considerations and interactions.
I'm now about eighty (of 200+) pages in, at the point where the RL-10
development was transitioning from USAF to NASA (and Mulready's part of
P&W was transitioning from fixed-price to cost-plus.) Pending a more
detailed review, let me just say that I am experiencing multiple deja vu
on both the technical and organizational aspects Mulready reports.
I wish I'd read this before I walked into project-managing a
tech-demonstrator engine for NASA. It might or might not have helped
outcomes much, mind - hard to say without more time to digest - but it
certainly would have eased the pain, knowing others had been through the
same customer ordeals before.
Very much worth reading just for the organizational lessons, if you
expect to ever be involved with an advanced development team. All the
cool advanced propulsion tech history is a bonus.
Henry
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