The Saturn V rocket was a multistage launch vehicle used by NASA during the Apollo and Skylab programs to send astronauts to the Moon. The Saturn V had several stages, each powered by different rocket engines. The main engines of the Saturn V’s first stage (S-IC) were F-1 engines, and the second stage (S-II) was powered by J-2 engines. The specific details of the engines varied, and each stage had different performance characteristics.
For a specific rocket engine or stage, the total energy at the nozzle exit can be expressed as the sum of the enthalpy and kinetic energy of the exhaust gases.
The total energy () at the nozzle exit can be expressed as:
where,
- E is the Total Energy, i.e sum of kinetic and potential energy
- Â is the static enthalpy at the nozzle exit,
- is the velocity of the exhaust gases relative to the reference frame of the rocket.