239 – The Saturn V Launch Vehicle
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Guest: David Woods Host: Markus Voelter Shownoter: Stefaan Rillaert
David Woods has a new book out, so of course he has to talk about it on omega tau :-) His recent book is about the Saturn V launch vehicle, i.e., this time it is about the rocket, not about the spaceship. In this episode we dive into lots of details that we did not cover in the two Apollo episodes (episodes 83 and 97) — make sure you have listened to those before you listen to this one.
Introduction
00:05:34David Woods | David's book, NASA Saturn V Manual (OT83 - How Apollo Flew to the Moon | OT97 - How Apollo Explored the Moon) | Apollo Flight Journal | Launch vehicle | Space vehicle | Rocket equation | Saturn V | N1 rocket
Overview stages
00:11:07Saturn V stages | Multistage rocket | Orbit insertion | Saturn I | Saturn IB
First stage
00:21:19First stage : S-IC | F1 engine | Rocket engine | F1 thrust chamber | RP-1 Kerosene | Turbopump | Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch Camera | Presentation about the fuel cycle used on the engine for going to Mars | Elon Musk on going to Mars | SpaceX Falcon 9 | Manned Orbiting Laboratory | Hypergolic propellant | Jeff Bezos' recovery of (parts of) F1 engines
Engine second and third stage
00:59:16J2 engine | Hydrogen | RL10 engine | Episode on the Apollo Guidance Computer | Liquid-propellant rocket | Space Shuttle main engine
Second stage
01:16:04Second stage : S-II | Problems with stage 2 in 'Stages to Saturn' | Ullage motor
Guidance and control
01:34:37Control system | Saturn V Instrument Unit | IMU | Gimbal | Saturn Launch Vehicle Digital Computer | About the computer in 'Stages to Saturn' | Embedded system | Magnetic-core memory
Apollo flights
01:47:46Saturn V Flight Manual | Lunar Rover Manual | Retrorocket | All-Up testing | Pogo oscillation | Apollo 6 | Apollo 13
Interesting sidelines
02:13:59O2/H2 Burner on the S-IVB stage | S-IVB stage impact on the moon | Audio recording of a Saturn V launch with the microphone at the PA system | Apollo Flight Journal
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I seriously enjoy this David Woods on the OT thing you’ve got going.
This episode sent me to searching my HDD’s for a 1960’s NASA documentary where (although not overly technical) did have an extended item showing the women weaving the memory modules – a completely staggering tech to behold!
Sorry, I should have typed ‘on the wt thing’ :)
I like anectodes in podcasts a lot … so this kind of podcasts are highly welcome, I enjoyed it very much. :)
I love this podcast. Of course, this is an interesting topic for me, which I’ll happily share on my Twitter.
Here’s 30 seconds of the dumb first stage ignition and liftoff explained over 8 minutes by Mark Gray, Executive Producer for Spacecraft Films: https://vimeo.com/4366695?ref=tw-share.
I see also, almost the entire stack is now Boeing heritage.
Wow! Just wow! I ordered the book immediately, what a fantastic episode. My favourite Omega Tau.
Unfortunately, I “misclicked” when rating this episode (3 instead of 5 stars, don’t think this can be undone?!?).
Great episode!
I changed it to 5. There’s nothing the DB admin cannot do :-)
I can’t tell you (although I’m obviously trying) how much I’m enjoying these Apollo-related podcasts. I’m going on Facebook now to recommend these to my fellow space enthusiasts.
So this is how all the good ratings happen. ;-)
Just kidding.
The episode has been great as always. Really enjoyed it. Bought one copy of the book for myself and send one to a friend of mine who is always asking me about rocket stuff, assuming physicists have to know that kind of thing… :-) So although I know authors of books like that do not tend to get a big share of the sellings, it should at least be a little bit gratifying that people are interested in David Woods books.
Thank you for all the great work!
This edition, of course along with the other episodes in which you two talked about the Apollo program, is my absolute omegatau-favourite. thank you so much for doing it! This morning two copies of David’s books arrived and after I have leafed through them briefly, I am sure that there is still enough interesting stuff left to fill a 4th episode ;)
And for those of you who are interested in (detailed) space-history I would like to point you to the likewise great podcast called “space rocket history” done by Michael Annis.
Again, thanks for your effort David, Markus and the team!
Here’s the link: http://spacerockethistory.com/
Just finished listening to the three Apollo episodes – absolutely fascinating,
Maybe an interesting addition to this episode:
How Did the Saturn V End Up in Florida?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXvuxbM6vno
You can’t beat a Scottish accent for engineering topics! Sorry, Marcus, Swabian does not even come close ;-). Very good podcast!
I’m not sure the reason why H2/O2 stages don’t burn a stoichiometric mixture of hydrogen and oxygen was made entirely clear. The reason is that for rockets we are not interested in the energy produced, but in the impulse delivered. Burning 2H2 per one O2 does indeed produce the maximal energy per unit of propellant. But the resulting gas is all H20, which has a molecular mass of 18 u. Temperature of a gas is the measure for the average kinetic energy of its constituent particles. But kinetic energy is 1/2mv^2. So at the same temperature, a lighter particle will have (on average) a higher speed, i.e. a higher exhaust velocity, i.e. a higher specific impulse. If you use a a mixture richer in H2, the temperature of the gas goes slightly down, but the average molecular mass goes way down, giving you more thrust per unit of propellant.
For the same reason, Hydrogen/Oxygen engines are more efficient than Kerosin/Oxygen engines – the product of burning hydrocarbons is some water, but also a lot of CO2, which has a molecular weight of 40 u.
Thanks for the clarification Stephan. And shut up about my Schwäbisch :-)
Awesome episode again, thank you very much! It’s a pleasure to hear you guys talk about these things in detail, and David is such a fabulous guest. But how on earth did you dare even suggest that “incompetence” might have been the reason for the problems with the second stage… I mean, it’s North American, the guys that built the X-15, XB-70. and the Space Shuttle!! Speaking of which… how about an episode about the Valkyrie?
As a space geek who lived through the sixties, and a retired technical college teacher, this was an awesome episode.
I’m staggered by the problems that the NASA folks overcame. So much detail on that amazing machine that I never knew before.
And I’m very, very impressed by David Woods’ ability to explain a very technical subject so that anyone can understand it.
An outstanding episode, Markus.
Thankyou.
Thx Rob :-)
what an amazing episode! Learned so many things. Well done!
I can listen to David Woods and Markus for hours, (and frequently do!) On Friday, the physics teacher in my school came running in from his after school Astronomy class and asked for help, ( I am the lab tech, known for being old enough to remember Apollo)
His class were doubting the moonlandings and he had no reasonable answers to convince them (even though we had hired some lunar samples from NASA for science week). These kids needed concepts and analogies and armed with the knowledge gained by listening to the Omegatau podcasts, I was able to convince them that it was all possible and that it did all happen. They were very interested and I will pass on the website details to the class for them to hear first hand.
Nice :-)
I have only discovered mega Tau recently, after a friend pointed it out to me, and I am hooked.
I have been listening to all the Apollo episodes over the last two weeks and have enjoyed them all immensely. The depth of knowledge of David Woods and his way of delivering the information makes for compelling listening.
Thank you Markus for putting this all together!!