Really bad fuel consumption

[Rawwr]

I was watching Science Club the other night and they mentioned that when Saturn V launched it achieved 13cm per gallon, which is worse than a Ford V6. That little fact got me wondering about other giant machines, rockets, vehicles and if there's anything that can beat Saturn V? Over to you, nerds.

[TaRD]

My MGB did 0 miles per gallon once, but that's mainly because the fuel line had split. So I guess that doesn't count.

[pilchardthecat]

I think the average container ship does about 50m per litre, so that really is bad

[Beartato]

Monster trucks do 7 gallons per mile, which is surprisingly close to a Saturn 5 (14cm/gal vs 13cm/gal.)

Edited by Beartato on Thursday 29th November 18:10

[tank slapper]

Beartato said:

Monster trucks do 7 gallons per mile, which is surprisingly close to a Saturn 5 (14cm/gal vs 13cm/gal.)

Don't think your maths are quite right there. Using 7 gallons a mile means that it can cover 1/7th of a mile using one gallon. Last time I looked, a mile was a little bit more than 1 metre!

The Saturn 5 fuel consumption is probably not as bad is that figure if you take into account the total journey distance. The majority of the fuel is used accelerating it in the initial stages of flight, with the remainder mostly coasting.

[Beartato]

Boy howdie that was quite the brain fart I had there. In my defence I am currently in France and most of my brain is being used up hating the French.

[Caruso]

The Space Shuttle managed 0.5mpg which is quite respectable really, but doesn't include the solid fuel element, only the liquid fuel.

Edited by Caruso on Thursday 29th November 21:48

[Mr E]

pilchardthecat said:

I think the average container ship does about 50m per litre, so that really is bad

They do move some significant mass while doing it. From an efficiency point of view big 2 stroke marine engines are pretty close to the best made.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Beartato said:

Boy howdie that was quite the brain fart I had there. In my defence I am currently in France and most of my brain is being used up hating the French.

[Simpo Two]

Beartato said:

In my defence I am currently in France and most of my brain is being used up hating the French.

I've always found it easy to hate the French; doesn't take much effort at all!

[Eighteeteewhy]

MX-5

[Nimby]

At least the Saturn V was gaining kinetic and potential energy.
Its crawler did about 1/100 mpg.

[Hooli]

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

Beartato said:

Boy howdie that was quite the brain fart I had there. In my defence I am currently in France and most of my brain is being used up hating the French.

I can't fault that use of brain power.

[Eric Mc]

Rawwr said:

I was watching Science Club the other night and they mentioned that when Saturn V launched it achieved 13cm per gallon, which is worse than a Ford V6. That little fact got me wondering about other giant machines, rockets, vehicles and if there's anything that can beat Saturn V? Over to you, nerds.

The miles per gallon of a rocket varies tremendously depending on what part of the launch you are referring to. The initial consumption is massive but matters improve as the weight comes off through fuel burn and staging and the speed increases.

[The Wookie]

pilchardthecat said:

I think the average container ship does about 50m per litre, so that really is bad

1000 litres for 50km... To be fair that doesn't sound that bad in a massive container ship when our old twin petrol V8 40 footer chews through that much in 350-400km!

[annodomini2]

Eric Mc said:

Rawwr said:

I was watching Science Club the other night and they mentioned that when Saturn V launched it achieved 13cm per gallon, which is worse than a Ford V6. That little fact got me wondering about other giant machines, rockets, vehicles and if there's anything that can beat Saturn V? Over to you, nerds.

The miles per gallon of a rocket varies tremendously depending on what part of the launch you are referring to. The initial consumption is massive but matters improve as the weight comes off through fuel burn and staging and the speed increases.

Yup depends how fast it's going at the time.

The first stage consumed 12,885kg of propellant and oxidiser per second.

Probably the average over the entire launch profile.

Additionally, when in a very stable orbit, it can keep increasing with time as the distance travelled is increasing without adding any fuel.

[Eric Mc]

Once the final stage of the Saturn V had boosted what was left of the spacecraft to 25,000mph, the mileage rate was fantastically good as the spacecraft was effectively freewheeling.

[2fast748]

pilchardthecat said:

I think the average container ship does about 50m per litre, so that really is bad

I seem to remember watching a program about ships that stated the biggest container ships do something like 1000 mpg per tonne carried, which makes them pretty efficient.