horsepower gone crazy?

Question

The space shuttle produces 1 million foot pounds of torque and 37 million horsepower, the saturn 5 that took the astronauts to the moon had 7.5 million foot pounds of torque and 160 million horsepower. Why did the saturn 5 have more power? Was if because of weight?

Yes, I meant "did it need more power because of it's weight"

thrust, not torque

Answer 1

What's your source on the torque numbers? You don't commonly see torque associated with rocket engines.

The saturn V was larger and more powerful because it had to be. It lifted two manned space craft to beyond earth's escape velocity. The space shuttle merely has to achieve a low earth orbit.

Answer 2

The Saturn V rocket did not have more horsepower as a direct result of being heavier. Instead, it NEEDED more horsepower because it was heavier, so the engineers gave it larger engines. The heavier a rocket is, the more power you need to lift it out of Earth's gravity. Making something heavier does not magically give it more power, though.

Additionally, the space shuttle was designed to go into low Earth orbit. The Saturn V was designed to go to the moon. This means the Saturn V climbed "higher" out of Earth's gravitational well.

Answer 3

Shuttle engines produce 0 ft lbs of tourque.