V2 Turbopump

V2 Turbopump, German, 1944. The V2 motor was the first large rocket engine to use a turbopump. The pump moved almost 9,000kg of alcohol (fuel) and liquid oxygen (oxidizer) – together these make up the propellant used in the V2 – from the tanks to the combustion chamber during the burning time which lasted 50 seconds. Turbine wheels in the centre of the pump powered the impellers for the propellant. An impeller is the rotating component which increased the pressure, keeping the fuel flowing into the combustion chamber.

Turbopumps are essential for liquid-fuel rockets as they inject the propellant (fuel and oxidizer) under pressure into the motor’s combustion chamber. They are essential for reaching the high thrust needed to launch into space. It is an efficient delivery of fuel needed for rockets specifically – the alternative would be a heavy pressurized tank which would be too large for a rocket.

While this turbopump was essential for rocket launches to space, the V2 rocket was first used during World War II by Nazi Germany. Starting in September 1944 and lasting six months, 1,100 V2 missiles hit England killing 2,700 people. The Belgian city of Antwerp was also subjected to heavy bombardment. However, it was very expensive to develop and build and strategically was insignificant during the war. The V2 was assembled in part by forced and slave labour from the Nazi camp systems. More than twice as many Allied prisoners died building the factory and producing the rockets than civilians and soldiers hit by the V2 bombs in Antwerp and England.