A4 / V2 Rocket in detail: Turbopump
Astronomy and Nature TV3 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2019–2022
documentary · intermediate · evergreen · 2019–2022 on HN
A very long, detailed look at the A4/V2 rocket turbopump, the steam-turbine-driven twin propellant pump system. It covers the peroxide and permanganate catalysis that drives the turbine. This is part 1 of a series on V2 components.
HN commenters recommend the series for its in-depth, hands-on explanation of how V2 turbopumps and peroxide decomposition work.
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3 comments from Hacker News
If that interests you then this series of videos is definitely worth watching. It details several parts of the German V2 missile, the grand father of all modern liquid propellant rockets. This one is about the turbopump which is one of the most interesting parts. ▶ this video
The German V2 rockets also used hydrogen peroxide and a catalyst (sodium or possibly potassium permanganate) to drive their turbopumps (which pumped LOx and alcohol into the engine.) Here's a pretty good 2.5 hour long documentary about the V2 turbopumps specifically: ▶ this video (The H2O2/catalyst system is discussed/demonstrated around the 45 minute mark.)
For an in-depth and interesting explanation of how that works, I enjoyed this video: ▶ this video Includes a demonstration of the potassium permanganate and hydrogen peroxide at around the 52 minute mark.