Rockets have limited resources and unlike planes cannot utilize external air. Their efficiency relies on the pressure and temperature difference between the combustion chamber and the outside. Higher the difference better the efficiency. Turbo pumps are good in that sense while they isolate the low-pressure tanks from the high-pressure combustion chamber. However, scaling them is not that easy. Having a lot of small rocket engines instead of bigger ones is not that efficient and easy to control.
Tesla turbine is a much simpler pump that has lower efficiency compared to advanced turbo pumps, but can be scaled up easily. The fuel consumption on the rocket pumps is way smaller than the fuel consumed by the rocket itself. Therefore, relatively inefficient pump wouldn’t result in lower overall efficiency. As the rockets get bigger, the proportion of casing weight to the propellent weight gets lower. As a result, overall efficiency of a rocket would be improved by larger rockets and engines.
The latest technological advancements would improve the performance of Tesla turbine. The disks can be made of carbon nanotube that is strong, light and can withstand high temperatures. Tesla turbine may not be suitable for very long operations. However, a rockets engine only runs for a couple of minutes.
My new rocket design would have cascaded propellent tanks, tesla turbine pumps, a unibody graphite nozzle section and use hydrogen as the pressurizing gas. Four engines and nozzles by differential throttling would negate the need for complex gimbaled nozzles. Hydrogen would be cheaper and lighter than helium, wouldn’t react with the propellent at cryogenic temperatures and serve one additional purpose where helium can’t. I will explain it on my next article.
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