rocket exhaust

[Supermalthe1000]

 

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with this basic picture can you quickly recognise what fuel a rocket use (i know that its only two by now but if you got another kind of fuel the please tell me so we can make the chart bigger)

thx for all the feedback

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Edited August 10, 2017 by Supermalthe1000

[razark]

That's not Apollo 7.

[Bill Phil]

15 minutes ago, razark said:

That's not Apollo 7.

Yeah... 7 was a Saturn IB flight...

[ZooNamedGames]

22 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

Yeah... 7 was a Saturn IB flight...

According to a 30 second google search based solely on image results, the Space Shuttle is Atlantis' maiden flight (ironically got the shuttle right despite being a 20% chance anyway) and the Saturn V is from Apollo 11, not 7 by a longshot especially since it launched on a S-1B and not a Saturn V.

That is of course skipping over that the "chart" (loosely accurate) misses many alternative propellants. In fact the Space Shuttle itself doesn't solely use hydrolox for fuel during launch, it also burns PBAN-APCP in the white solid rocket motors. Plus the Saturn V burned kerolox only during the first stage. The latter two stages were hydrolox just like the Space Shuttle.

Other fuels are etholox (ethanol and oxygen) used with the V-2 and Aerozine50/Dinitrogen Oxide used during launch of the Titan II rocket (famously known for launching the Gemini capsule)(and the latter burned clear).

Kerolox is dirty and comes out a more reddish/orange (please be easy on me I'm partially colorblind it looks red to me) with hydrolox coming out as a more bright blue as the energy contained in it is far more potent than in the former (hence the higher spectrum color).

Edited August 10, 2017 by ZooNamedGames

[Supermalthe1000]

8 hours ago, razark said:

That's not Apollo 7.

oh yeah thats right sry i ill just fix that

 

[Benjamin Kerman]

I think it was the Bell X-1 that used ethenol/lox propellent for breaking the speed of sound. 

[Grand Ship Builder]

Shouldn't it be dark brown/red or dark brown/dark red instead of dark/brown red?

[MaverickSawyer]

LOx/CH4:

Granted, this is just a turbopump test, but the color should be fairly close.

And another, daylight shot of a different engine on Metholox:

 

[Grand Ship Builder]

18 minutes ago, MaverickSawyer said:

LOx/CH4:

Granted, this is just a turbopump test, but the color should be fairly close.

And another, daylight shot of a different engine on Metholox:

 

Interesting. Changing colors as the exhaust cools down is truly a display!

[Gaarst]

Fuel is not the only determining factor for a rocket exhaust colour. The RS-68 has a bright orange plume despite burning hydrolox because of the nozzle ablative coating.

Also the shot of the F-1 in the test stand is darkened by a great factor. An F-1 kerolox plume appears solid white under normal lighting conditions because it's opaque and very bright, the picture of the Saturn V taking off shows this. Other kerolox engines have a redder exhaust and generate a lot less smoke (RD-107, RD-180, Merlin...), it's probably something to do with incomplete combustion because of the F-1s massive thrust.