Back in April, we covered the efforts of Huntsville-based Dynetics to design a new, monstrous, liquid-fueled engine for NASA's Advanced Booster Competition. The engine is a new high-thrust, kerosene/liquid oxygen design based on the F-1 engine that powered the Apollo-Saturn V launch vehicle in the 1960s, and getting up to speed on building a new kerosene/liquid oxygen engine has relied on some creative and exciting rocket archaeology by NASA.
The Advanced Booster Competition's goal is to design the two strap-on boosters that will attach to NASA's upcoming Space Launch System heavy lift rocket. There are several competitors in the contest; the popular front-runner is Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster manufacturer ATK, with its solid fueled Dark Knight booster. However, Dynetics (with their Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne partners) hopes to win the competition with its liquid-fueled booster, currently codenamed Pyrios after one of the fiery horses that drew Apollo's chariot across the sky.
This is archaic rocket propulsion technology. We can do MUCH better, if we so desire. To read more, click here.