Did you know that the SpaceX Merlin engines were born from the NASA-developed Fastrac engine design (part of the X-34 program)? One more time for the folks in the back: NASA & SpaceX are COLLABORATORS NOT COMPETITORS
@DrChrisCombs Not really. The Merlin turbopump development was taking too long so we asked NASA if we could buy the 7 Fastrac pumps they had from the cancelled program. It was going to take forever so we went to the company that built the Fastrac pumps for NASA, Barber Nichols.
@lrocket So you’re saying the only thing that came from Fastrac was the turbopumps? Is the nasa press release being misleading about heritage?
@DrChrisCombs The only thing that came from the Fastrac was the turbine wheel. We used the same design. Everything else was redesigned, including new pump impellers which Ray Furst of SSME fame helped us design.
@lrocket @DrChrisCombs And in another iteration Bogdan designed a better turbine too. (But he did use NASA's Phantom CFD code as part of the process. Dan Dorney's strong V&V made those code's predictions some of the best out there!)