LiveChat Round Up 11/29/12

By Jim Gerard, NASA INSPIRE Specialist, KSC, FL

Do you like technology? Is 'T' your favorite part of STEM? Then you should have been with us last night to hear Dayna Ise of Marshall Space Flight Center present on An Introduction to Liquid Fueled Rockets! 60 OLC members were on hand to learn the whys and hows of designing and testing liquid fueled rocket engines.

Scattered through her presentation, which delved into the physics and chemistry of rocket propulsion, were a selection of 'baseball cards' depicting various rocket engines in use to day. These provided a way to see the practical applications of the theories behind rocketry.

The chat ended with this summary:

• It is the responsibility of propulsion to propel the launch vehicle to its destination or hold it at an intended destination by providing a force (push) referred to as “Thrust” 
• This thrust, in most modern rockets, is delivered by engines burning liquid fuel 
• Liquid rocket engines are barely controlled explosions that provide extremely high energy for very small mass and volume 
• Failures with liquid rocket engines are inevitable, but when they’re on a test stand, fun!

The fun was emphasized with a video showing various mishaps testing the SSME.

The rocket science continues all month, with next weeks presentation be Eddie Jefferies, also of MSFC. Remember, no sign up needed, just click the link on the Home page calendar or the INSPIRE Cafe button to join us! See you there!