World Top 5 Best Rocket Engines

 

Introduction 

Newton 3rd Low proves that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This is the major concept of making Rocket Engines. They are producing thrust by ejecting mass rearward as Newtons Low. Usually, rockets use stored propellant as their reaction mass. Also, most rockets use a separate oxidizer or oxidized fuel to power up their engines because we already know, space is an empty area and there is no oxygen to burn by rocket engines to make their reaction mass. Chemical rocket engines can be categorized into a few categories according to their propellent,

1.       Solid Fuel Rocket Engines - these rocket engines use their fuel in solid-state
2.       Liquid-propellant Rocket Engines - these rocket engines stored most of their fuel in the liquid state. 
3.       Hybrid Rocket Engines - these rocket engines use a solid and liquid state of fuel to their engines. Usually, the oxidizer is the liquid one.  
4.       Monopropellant Rocket Engines - these engines use a single propellant to their engines, mostly the oxidizer and fuel mixture. 

History Of Rocket Engines

    The first sign of rockets engines was found in Rome by a person called Archytas. He made a mysterious pigeon made of wood. That flying pigeon uses the technique of Newton's 3rd low as rocket engines did.

Also, the Chinese gunpowder bamboo weapons had the structure of a rocket engine concept. However, the most matching model of modern rocket engines was found in Germany by the 2nd world war. It is a German missile called V-2 and it uses an oxidizer and a liquid propellant as its reaction mass. This led to the development of modern rocket engines. But these V-2 rockets were never used in the 2nd world war because of the fallen of Germany. Also, most of the legendary Rocket science engineers moved to the United States Of America and Russia like Wernher von Braun and Robert H. Goddard.

credit by: www.grc.nasa.gov

5. RD-180 Rocket Engine 

  RD-180 is the 5th best rocket engine by 78.46 of the trust-to-weight ratio according to its mass and thrust. RD-180 Rocket Engine was designed and manufactured by NPO Energomash in Russia. This engine was used for the first stage of the American Atlas V launch vehicles. This rocket engine used 27% of RP-1 and 73% LOX oxidizer mixture as the rocket propellant. This engine is much like its earlier RD-170 and uses a dual chamber with 26.7% chamber pressure and a high-pressure combustion cycle. RD-180 has four hydraulic actuators to control the engine nozzle, this can be throttled from 47% to 100% of nominal thrust. 

Engine Thrust Details...

•   Thrust in sea-level:                 930 000lbf

•   Specific Impulse in sea-level: 3.05km/s

•   Thrust in vacuum:                   933 000lbf

•   Specific Impulse in vacuum:   3.31km/s

•   Burn Time:                              270s

   

•   Mass : 11 890
•   Thrust (thrust to weight ratio)/Mass: 78.46

4. RD-170 Rocket Engine

   RD-170 is the 4th best engine by getting 80.60 scores for its mass and thrust ratio, however, this engine considers as the world's most powerful liquid-fuel rocket engine. This engine is also designed and produced by the Russian company NPO Energomash same as RD-180.  This engine uses a Russian variant of RP-1 and LOX oxidizer in 2.63 mixture ratios as the propellant. Also, this engine uses four combustion chambers with 3 556psi and turbine turbopumps.  RD-170 using an oxidizer-rich-staged-cycle, the engine can be throttled from 100-40%. This rocket engine has a long generation with new upgrades, like RD-171, RD-171MV, RD-180 that we discussed above. 

Engine Thrust Details...

•    Thrust in sea-level:                 1 630 000lbf

•    Specific Impulse in sea-level: 3.03km/s

•    Thrust in vacuum:                   1 733 000lbf

•    Specific Impulse in vacuum:   3.30km/s

•    Burn Time:                              150s

  

•     Mass:  21 500lb
•    Thrust (thrust to weight ratio)/Mass: 80.60

3. Rocketdyne F-1 Rocket Engine

     F-1 Rocket Engine is the best 3rd rocket engine by 94.38 the thrust-to-weight-ratio. F-1 is a world popular rocket engine that is used to power up the Saturn-V rocket that is used for an unforgettable Apollo moon mission. This rocket engine is produced by the American aerospace company Rocketdyne. This engine still has the place of the single combustion chamber liquid-propellant engine ever made. This incredible engine uses 31% RP-1 and 69% LOX as the oxidizer with a turbopump. F-1 developed with a closed gas-generator cycle with 1 015psi of chamber pressure. 

Engine Thrust Details...

•     Thrust in sea-level:                 1 522 000lbf

•     Specific Impulse in sea-level: 2.58km/s

•     Thrust in vacuum:                   1 746 000

•     Specific Impulse in vacuum:   2.98km/s

•     Burn Time:                              150-163s

•    Turbopump Power:                  55 000

•     Mass: 18 499lb
•     Trust (thrust to weight ratio)/Mass: 94.38

2. NK-33 Rocket Engine

      2nd best engine on the list is the NK-33 rocket engine by getting a 141.05 thrust-to-weight ratio. This engine was built between 1960 and 1970. This engine was manufactured by a Russian rocket manufacturer JSC Kuznetsov. This rocket engine was the best rocket engine by having a higher specific Impulse for lower structural mass in the time that the engine was made. This engine uses a staged combustion cycle with Kerosene and LOX oxidizer mixture as its propellant. This rocket uses turbopumps and a controlled chamber pressure of about 2151psi  with 50-105% of the throttle range. 

Engine Thrust Details...

•      Thrust in sea-level:                 340 000lbf

•      Specific Impulse in sea-level: 2.91km/s

•      Thrust in vacuum:                   380 000lbf

•      Specific Impulse in vacuum:   3.25km/s

•      Burn Time:                               600s

•      Turbopump power:                  46 000hp(horse power)

•      Mass: 2694lb
•      Trust(thrust to weight ratio)/Mass: 141.05

Credit by:www.russianspaceweb.com

1.  Merlin 1D Rocket Engine

       SpaceX Merlin Engine is the top engine with its unbelievable thrust-to-weight ratio of 186.40. This engine was made by the American company SpaceX to their huge rocket series 'Falcon'. This engine uses an RP-1 and liquid oxygen as its propellant with a gas-generator power cycle. This engine is so especially in more sides, it is reducible and can be useful even boosters fall to the sea. This engine has a 1410psi of chamber pressure with a dual-impeller-turbopumps. 

Engine Thrust Details... (these are 2013 details because 2020 details are not available currently)

•    Thrust in sea-level:                  192 000lbf

•    Specific Impulse in sea-level:  2.77km/s

•    Thrust in vacuum:                    221 000

•    Specific Impulse in vacuum:    3.05km/s

   

•    Mass: 1030lb
•    Trust(thrust to weight ratio)/Mass: 186.40