Mercury Spacecraft Thrusters
  • Mercury spacecraft 24-pound and 1-pound rated thrusters.
  • The illustration shows thruster assemblies as used in the automatic system, with solenoid valves at the ends. The manual system used proportional control throttle valves operated by the astronaut’s control handle.
  • To operate, the thrusters expelled hydrogen peroxide over a catalyst bed, which caused the fuel to decompose and produce thrust.
  • Mercury spacecraft photo shows a set of yaw thrusters with 1-pound and 24-pound thrusters from the automatic system, and a 24-pound thruster from the manual system.
  • Thrusters can be seen in the cylindrical nose section of the cutaway handbook illustration.
  • This 1-pound thruster is a type used on Friendship 7. The design was modified for the Aurora 7 mission (Spacecraft 18), as detailed in the list below, to reduce heat to the solenoid valve and to eliminate problems with screen failure.
  • Compare the Mercury 24-pound thruster with the Gemini 25-pound thruster and the Apollo 100-pound thruster (in photo below).

1 lb. thruster: 0.25 lbs. (0.11 kg)

24 lb. thruster: 0.94 lbs. (0.42 kg)

Mercury_24lb_thruster

Mercury_24lb_thruster_nozzle_close

Mercury_24lb_thruster_close

Mercury_1lb_thruster

Mercury_1lb_thruster_close

Mercury_1lb_thruster_nozzle_close

Mercury_thrusters_installed600

mercury_1-lb_thruster_mod_600

mercury_1-lb_thruster_mod_description_600

thrusters_comparison_600

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