Confirmed: F-1 Rocket Engine Salvaged By Amazon's Bezos Is From Apollo 11

willith writes "The folks at Bezos Expeditions have confirmed that faintly visible serial numbers on one of the large engine components they lifted from three miles below the ocean's surface match the serial number of F-1 engine F-6044, which flew in the center position on Saturn V number SA-506 — Apollo 11. With the 44th anniversary of the first lunar landing coming up tomorrow, the confirmation comes at an auspicious time. The F-1 engine remains to this day the largest single-chamber liquid fueled engine ever produced — although NASA is considering using a newer uprated design designated as the F-1B to help boost future heavy-lift rockets into orbit."

There's just one thing to say.

[LateArthurDent]

It belongs in a museum! </Indy>

Re:Interesting indeed

[K. S. Kyosuke]

The problem is that back then, all the stuff was essentially hand-built. These days, you let CNC machines do the dirty work. That essentially means that while the geometry of the nozzle etc. is still valid, you can't simply manufacture old stuff the new way. So the "lost paperwork" probably wouldn't be all that helpful anyway. Also, if you want to learn from the Saturn V hardware, you don't need to learn to swim. [wikipedia.org]

Designs were not lost but tooling is gone

[perpenso]

Why would he have to reverse engineer it? The designs are property of the United States citizenry.

And contrary to urban myth the designs were not destroyed or lost. However while we may have blueprints we no longer have the tooling, the machines and tools that make the Saturn 5 parts. Nor do we have the hands on expertise. That is the real reason we don't just crank out some more of these rockets.

Re:i wonder...

[amicusNYCL]

does this mean his company can reverse engineer the rocket and sell the design to the highest bidder?

Are you asking if he can reverse-engineer an entire Saturn V rocket because he recovered a used and damaged engine that was sitting on the bottom of the ocean for 44 years? Do you understand how large a Saturn V is? Here is a component view of the Saturn V [jleslie48.com]. That's not even a blueprint, not even close, it just shows where selected components are in the rocket. Look all the way at the bottom, at those engines, that's what he recovered. Why would you think he could reverse-engineer the rest of the rocket because he has an engine that has been corroding for 44 years?

Re:There's just one thing to say.

[dacut]

They remain the property of NASA, and Bezos acknowledges as much [bezosexpeditions.com]: "If we are able to recover one of these F-1 engines[...], I imagine that NASA would decide to make it available to the Smithsonian for all to see. If we're able to raise more than one engine, I've asked NASA if they would consider making it available to the excellent Museum of Flight here in Seattle."

Re:There's just one thing to say.

[compro01]

I agree, but the U.S. government made no real attempt to recover it for that purpose.

They didn't need to. They had 2 complete Saturn V rockets leftover from the cancelled Apollo 19 and 20 missions. You can see them on display at the Johnson and Kennedy Space Centres. They also have a standalone F-1 in the rocket garden at the latter.

Re:i wonder...

[Kilo Kilo]

No, the B-1 design belongs to Rockwell [wikipedia.org]. The F-1 design belongs to Rocketdyne [wikipedia.org]. Just because it was built for NASA, doesn't mean that NASA (or by extension, the American people) have any claim to the designs.

Re:Interesting indeed

[willith]

Probably too late to pick up any moderation points, but no. The CAD files are considered export-controlled technology and are not publicly available. I asked this specifically when I was talking with the engineers involved in the effort. It's also why the article I wrote (linked up-thread) lacks images of the disassembled F-1 engine and its components. I desperately wanted to photograph the lab and its awesome assortment of rocket parts, but NASA and the US government did not allow pictures of export-controlled technology.