Firing direction

John Carmack · Posted on: Sat Apr 23, 2005 6:17 pm

We have already had one instance where downward firing has probably prevented an explosion. We noticed on one test that there was a trickle of liquid draining out of the nozzle before we started. The fuel solenoid for the preburner was leaking methanol under pressure. Replacing the solenoid fixed it, but if that had been pointing upwards, it would have put a few hundred ml of alcohol into the preburne, and there is a good chance it would have gone BOOM when the lox flowed in and the spark went on.

I think downward testing is worth the hassles with the blast deflector.

John Carmack

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John Carmack Spaceflight Participant Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2004 7:54 am Posts: 94 Location: Dallas, TX	Firing direction Posted on: Sat Apr 23, 2005 6:17 pm We have already had one instance where downward firing has probably prevented an explosion. We noticed on one test that there was a trickle of liquid draining out of the nozzle before we started. The fuel solenoid for the preburner was leaking methanol under pressure. Replacing the solenoid fixed it, but if that had been pointing upwards, it would have put a few hundred ml of alcohol into the preburne, and there is a good chance it would have gone BOOM when the lox flowed in and the spark went on. I think downward testing is worth the hassles with the blast deflector. John Carmack
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tom karns Spaceflight Participant Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2004 1:35 am Posts: 59	How high is it? Posted on: Sun Apr 24, 2005 12:54 am Saw you all were lining up to do a demo for the Xprize people. That's great. So, just how high do you think it will go? _________________ The Magic Helmet
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