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The Design and Development of the Thiokol XLR99 Rocket Engine for the X-15 Aircraft*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

Harold Davies
Harold Davies*
Affiliation:
Project Engineering, The Thiokol Chemical Corporation, Reaction Motors Division
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Extract

This paper describes the design and development of the Thiokol XLR99-RM-1 rocket engine for the North American X-15 research aircraft. The engine is a turbopump-driven unit of 58,000 lb. thrust at vacuum conditions utilising liquid oxygen as the oxidiser and anhydrous liquid ammonia as the fuel. The design is notable for a number of features incorporated into a rocket engine of this size, in that it is primarily an aircraft engine with all of the control and safety attributes pertaining to conventional manned flight.

The general development of the engine is reviewed on a component basis with brief digressions into the historical and political background.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 67 , Issue 626 , February 1963 , pp. 79 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1963

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Footnotes

*

The 44th Lecture to be given before the Astronautics and Guided Flight Section of the Society—on 26th July 1962.

References

* The 44th Lecture to be given before the Astronautics and Guided Flight Section of the Society—on 26th July 1962.