SSME is really a turbo-jet engine and other trivia and questions

Keatah

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Mmm.. Thinking about it more.. As a child I learned that a jet engine gets its oxidizer from the atmosphere. A rocket engine brings its oxidizer with it. This holds true for an observer like a kid watching airplanes at the airport and rocket launches from the Cape.

From the point of view of the turbomachinery - it doesn't matter where the oxidizer comes from - it's a jet.
 

Sbb1413

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From the aerospace POV, it matters where the oxidiser comes from. You can't fly a commercial aircraft with a rocket engine (uses onboard oxidiser). You can't fly a rocket more than 10-20 km using a jet engine (uses atmospheric oxidiser).
 

Urwumpe

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Mmm.. Thinking about it more.. As a child I learned that a jet engine gets its oxidizer from the atmosphere. A rocket engine brings its oxidizer with it. This holds true for an observer like a kid watching airplanes at the airport and rocket launches from the Cape.

From the point of view of the turbomachinery - it doesn't matter where the oxidizer comes from - it's a jet.

Well, except that its a different kind of structure. A turbojet with afterburner would be more like a rocket engine topologically, since most of the combustion happens behind the turbine. In a rocket engine, you can even have NO compressor at all. No turbine. And it is still one, since it is propelled by the products of the combustion chamber.
 
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