My dad worked on the Space Shuttle main engine program in the 80s. One of the things they built was the turbopump [0], which generated 23,000HP (and could drain your average home swimming pool in one minute).

Seeing the test firings of the pump was pretty amazing, draining one "swimming pool" and filling another in a minute.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-25#Turbopumps

▲ stinkbeetle 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

The numbers on rocket engines are just ridiculous. The turbine on the F1 engines on the Saturn V's first stage generate about 40MW just to pump the fuel and oxygen. 5 of them on the rocket is 200MW which is a respectablly sized power plant, or about 1/2 of a Nimitz aircraft carrier (which is able to push a floating city through the water at nearly 40mph).

	▲	dredmorbius 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		The comparisons which stick in my head are that the Saturn V's first-stage fuel pumps were roughly equal in power to a naval destroyer's engines, and the five F1 engines delivered as much energy as France's entire electrical grid (presumably contemporaneously). This from books read as I was a wee lad.

▲ interroboink 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

To say nothing of the launchpad sound suppression water system[1] that dumps 7,300 gal/sec (about 2–3 seconds for one swimming pool)!

Though that's just gravity-fed, of course. Still pretty cool though, I think (:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_suppression_system

▲ jauntywundrkind 3 days ago | parent [-]

The article uses various measures, so here's a quick table:

  Baikonur Cosmodrome: 4,800 gal/s (peak)
  Space Shuttle Launch Complex 39: 7,317 gal/s (net)
  Wallops: 4,000 gal/s (?)
  SLS: 18,333 gal/s (peak)

  Mack Super Pumper (this article): 146 gal/s (net)
  Replacement new Super Pumper 1: 87.5 gal/s (net)

▲ HPsquared 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

That's always blown my mind about rocket engines. If the FUEL PUMP has that much power, the overall machine energy flow must be insane. Especially in such a small package.