nasa facts lewis research center, cleveland, ohio

8/8/2019 NASA Facts Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio

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Lewis Research Center is studyingadvanced air-breathing propulsionsystems for applications to futureaircraf t. Here, a research engineerexamines an external compression inlet

mounted for environmental testing inLewis’ 10x10-foot supersonic windtunnel. In addition to enginecomponent studies such as this inletprogram, the Lewis center is

conducting research on other prob!emareas including lubrication and cooling,materials, noise, fuel ignition andfuel stability.

medium weight launch vehicles used for un-manned scient i f ic missions including the Atlas-Centaur, Atlas-Agena and Thor-Agena. Lewis was

responsible for the succes sful development of th eCentaur vehicle which pioneered in l iquid hydro-gen technology, and for developing a standardiza-

tion program for Atlas boosters used with Centaurand Agena upper stages.

The Lewis Center is or iented to advancing the

technology of chemical, nuclear and electricrockets, air-breathing engines, and of space elec-

tr ic power systems for a wide spectrum of power

requirements. Included in this work is the back-ground research and technology in metallurgy,

basic chemistry, plasma physics, fuels, f luid flow,

heat transfer, electronics, control dynamics, nucle-

onics and other areas pert inent to propulsion andpower generation systems.

Lewis, originally known as the Aircraft EngineResearch Laboratory, was renamed the LewisFlight Propulsion Laboratory in 1948 in honor ofDr. George W. L ewis, form er NACA Dir ect or of Aero-

nautical Research. The Center became the LewisResearch Center in 19 58 when NASA was crea tedby Congress.

Dur ing World War II Lewis’effor ts were direc ted

toward problems concer with impro ving the

performance of U.S. m ry aircraft. Achieve-ments included: development of fuel componentswhich great ly increased the am ount of 100 octane

aviation gasoline available; development of waterinject ion systems to increase the power of aircra ftengines; and key contributions toward the develop-

ment of turbo superchargers.After the war L ewis’ work was pr ima r i ly con-

cerned with turbojet propulsion. Dur ing this era,the Lewis staff pioneered many im portant jet in-novations and designs: thrust reversal devices,

turbojet afterburners, high altitude compressors,

supersonic inle ts, and transon ic compressors. Bythe t ime commercial jet service was init iated,

vir tual ly every propulsion system in mil i tary andcommercial jet aircraft had been put through itspaces in Lewis research facilit ies.

The Lewis staff was also involved in rocket pro-pulsion research and by the late 1940’s Lewisengineers were moving beyond conventionalrocketry into high-energy propulsion systems using

liquid hydrogen, hydrazine, diborane and liquidfluorine. By the mid 1950’s, Lewis engineers hadsucc essfu lly tested a 5,000-lb. th rus t hydrogen-

fueled engine, thus pa ving the way for the propul-sion technology that made possible current U.S.plans to land men on the moon. Hydrogen provedto be the ult imate fuel necessary to accomplishmissions of the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Lewis’ Plum Brook Stat ion was establ ished by

the NACA in 1 956 fol lowing a decision to cons tructa research reactor to study problems associated

with nuclear propulsion. The 60,000 ki lowatt re-



Technicians inspect a 1,500-lb.experiment being prepared for testingin Lewis’ 510-foot deep Zero Gravity

Research Facility . The facility is usedto augment research on fluids in aweightless environment. The shaft is28 feet in diameter. By droppingexperiments from the top, five secondsof weightlessness can be produced.This zero-G time is doubled whenexperiments are propelled upwardsfrom the bottom by a high-pressureaccelerator, permitted to fail free, thenretrieved by a large decelerator cart.The facility can handle experimentsweighing up to 6,000 Ibs.

This shows the Plum Brook60-megawatt research reactor faci ity.Built on a 6,000-acre site, the reactoris being used for numerous basicphysics, materials and componentstests leadine. to the develooment o f anuclear rockei engine syst‘em.

actor went into operation in 1963 and is cur rent ly

used in support of the U.S. program to develop anuclear rocket for space exploration. Other work

at Plum Brook involves test programs of rocket en-gine systems, components an d high-energy fuels.

Lewis’ largest single development effort is thehydrogen-fueled Centaur upper stage, which isboosted by an Atlas. Centaur, whic h com pleted thef irst successful f l ight of a vehicle fueled with high-

energy propellants in 1963, was developed to

launch the Surveyor spacecraft to the moon tostudy potent ial landing sites for U.S. astronauts.Centaur also has been selected to launch the Ap-pl icat ions Technology Satel l i te, Orbit ing Astro-

nomical Observatory and the Mariner Mars 1969mission.

The Atlas-Agena vehicle, also a Lewis-managedproject, has demo nstrated i ts effectiveness dur in gmany NASA scientif ic space missions: the Ranger

spacecraft whic h returned our f irst close-up photosof the Moon; the M ariner I I and V spacecraft whichf lew past Venus in 196 2 and 1967; M ariner IV

which made our f irst successful f lyby of Mars in1965; the Lunar O rbiter spacecraft which are sys-tematica l ly mapping the Moon; and a series ofOrbit ing Geophysical and Astronomical Observa-tories.

Lewis propulsion effor ts in chemical rocketry

are not restricte d to liquids. The Center also hasmanaged the 260- inch diameter sol id propellant

motor research program dur in g which three ground

fir ing tests were conducted. The third f ir ing in1967 produced more than 5.6 mil l ion pounds of

thrust.The Lewis Center also is support ing the joint

NASA-Atomic Energy Commission program to de-velop a nuclear rocket, and is cond uct ing pioneer-ing work in electric propulsion. Objective of theseadvanced systems is to use propellants more ef-f icient ly than chemical rockets; that is, to derive

more thrust for each pound of propellant carr ied.Electr ic propulsion systems may provide the

power for future long durat ion f l ights, requir ingengines that wil l operate for thousands of hoursunattended or m issions requir in g small, preciseapp licatio ns of thrust: A Lewis engineer designedand developed the first ion engine flown success-ful ly in space. In 1969 the SERT I I (space electricrocket test) mission wil l test electr ic engines in

space for per iods up to six months,Lewis propulsion experts are also at work on

air-breathing engine technology in s upport of sub-

sonic, supersonic and hypersonic aircraft. Effortsin this f ie ld are directed toward solving pacingproblems associated w ith var ious air-breathing en-gine components; compressors and turbines, com -bustors, materials, bearings, seals and lubricants.

Although much emphasis in the space program

is on propulsio n technology, e lectric power genera-tion work is equa lly importan t. For once a space-



craft separates from its launch vehicle, it m u s tdepend on i ts own source of electr ici ty to operateon-board systems. Solar cells wh ich co nvert solar

energy to electr ic energy continue to provide thebasic source of power for m ost spacecraft. At onet ime, solar cel ls re subject to severe radiat ion

damage but a r t ion resistant solar cel l wasdeveloped by a Lewis scie ntist and is used today o n

all satel l i tes equipped with solar cel ls for power.

Other advanced power concepts include thin;f i lm solar cel ls, of interest because of their light

weight and f lexibi l i ty. Wotk is also underway onBrayton and Rankine sysiems and their compon-

ents. The Ran kine cycle, si m ila r to t,hat used in

earthbound power generating stations, heats a

l iquid to vapor, then superheats it and expands it

through a turbine to generate elec tr ici t

cycle, which is l ike a gas turbine, wothe same way as a Rankine unit except that the

Brayton system uses a gas rather than a l iqu id asthe work ing f luid.

oints beyond 4,000 degrees.development act iv i t ies a t

Lewis are broad: from basic laboratory work to

launch pad hardware. The Center 's mission and

objec tives are-and always have been-pre-

dom inantly propulsioD and power, and the staff canpoint with pr ide to work that helped inf luence the

outcome of World War I I ; helped guide the nat ioninto supersonic flight; pioneered early rocketry;solved many complex chemical rocket problems;

and continues to improve the propulsion tech-nology available to the nat ion. 0

DIRECTOR: DR. ABE SILVERSTEINLewis Research Center

National Aeronautics and Space Administrat ion

21000 Brookpark Road

Cleveland, Ohio 44135

4

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nasa facts lewis research center, cleveland, ohio

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