Partnership to Launch 'New American Rocket Engine'

550,000 lbs of thrust? Further down the article is claims 1,100,000 lbs of thrust. What is it?

Nevertheless, the F1 engine on the Saturn V produced 1,550,000 lbs of thrust.

Why do we keep reinventing the smaller wheel?

"550,000 lbs of thrust? Further down the article is claims 1,100,000 lbs of thrust. What is it?"

From the article: The BE-4 is a liquid oxygen, liquefied natural gas (LNG) rocket engine that delivers 550,000-lbf of thrust at sea level. Two BE-4s will power each ULA booster, providing 1,100,000-lbf thrust at liftoff. So, that's answered.

"Why do we keep reinventing the smaller wheel?" According to our friends who edit Wiki, it's due to "...uncertainty about the future of the Russian RD-180 engine that has been used in the ULA Atlas V rocket for over a decade."

Why do we keep reinventing the smaller wheel?

Really? You ask that on an engineering website? New materials, new methods of design and manufacturing, new electronics, new ways of using raw materials, new insight into strengths of materials, etc. -- all of these allow more to be done with less. That cell phone in your pocket is smaller, lighter, and has more features than the rotary dial phone that hung on the kitchen wall when you were a kid.

There is a difference between a derivative design, one from scratch, and one driven by politics.

My point is that there seems to be a lot of good past engineering that has been thrown out in favor of political points. I understand that there are private enterprises designing these engines, but they are doing it at the behest of NASA, which, incidentally, has always been the case with all of NASA's projects.

While NASA had and arguably still retains some of the best minds on the planet, that organization is still governed by a fickle political entity (essentially Congress). One can only wonder what it would have been like if NASA was run with the vision and drive of someone like Steve Jobs.

I read somewhere recently that all the design information for the Saturn V F1 engine had been 'lost' ......... I can't vouch for the accuracy of that ..... however

I heard similar, but it was intentionally scrapped to force work on the Shuttle. Again, I can't vouch for the accuracy of that, either, but it would not be an unheard of technique.

Yes, We'll probably never know the full true story.......I have wondered why they did not either use F1 engines on the shuttle or further develop them for the shuttle since they were proven, reliable and the most powerful......

Because like all projects, Congressional person / Senators somewhere had another idea as to where the money really need to go. I want that for my guys who gave me all the money fr this job. Time to pay it back so to speak. You know how it works. So we through away good shit for some political reason.

Wow - only a year in design and only two to application.

That Ladies and Gentlemen; is truly a breath of fresh air.