Saturn V Engines – Looking Back to Move Forward

I make no secret about the fact that I love the Saturn V. It’s the rocket of my formative years. Elegant and powerful, in forty years it remains a technological marvel. It’s now getting a serious second look. No, not the rocket, but the engines that made it go. The second- and third-stage engines, the J-2, has been under updated development for a while now. What’s new is that the mighty F-1 engines may be getting a second life as well.

Here’s a link to a very good article on the process of bringing the F-1 out from mothballs:
How NASA brought the monstrous F-1 “moon rocket” engine back to life – The story of young engineers who resurrected an engine nearly twice their age.

What are we going to see from the updated engine? That’s covered here:
New F-1B rocket engine upgrades Apollo-era design with 1.8M lbs of thrust – Dynetics and Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne rebuild the F-1 for the “Pyrios” booster.

I’d love to see the F-1 descendants become part of a new generation of launch vehicles.

For those who don’t remember what the fuss is about. Here is video from a Saturn V first stage test from around 1965 (at 2:00 the close-up power is clearly evident — but I encourage you to watch the whole video). For scale: each engine bell is a bit over 12 feet across at the bottom.