Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 Test Advances Exploration Efforts
January 16 2018 - 6:42PM
Today, NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne hot-fired an RS-25 engine in a
test that marked another milestone toward the first crewed flight
of the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) while laying groundwork
for future production of the heavy-lift launch vehicle’s main
propulsion system.
The 365-second test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St.
Louis, Mississippi qualified the controller for the third of four
RS-25 engines that will power the SLS first stage on Exploration
Mission-2 (EM-2), which will send astronauts to an area near the
Moon in the early 2020s. It will be humankind’s first foray beyond
low Earth orbit in nearly 50 years.
Also on the test engine was an additively manufactured component
designed to dampen engine vibrations that could create stability
issues during flight. The pogo accumulator assembly, the engine’s
largest additively manufactured component to date, has now
performed successfully on two successive RS-25 hot-fire tests. The
first test was on Dec. 13, 2017.
“Aerojet Rocketdyne is playing a vital role in the nation’s
effort to expand the frontiers of humankind,” said Eileen Drake,
Aerojet Rocketdyne’s CEO and president. “This test is the latest
example of our steady progress, not only toward EM-2 but also
toward putting the nation’s exploration program on a sustainable
path for the future.”
Additive manufacturing is a key element of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s
plan to reduce the manufacturing costs of future versions of the
RS-25 by 30 percent. The RS-25 engine is based on the Space Shuttle
Main Engine that powered NASA’s space shuttles into orbit. Future
versions will incorporate design simplifications and modern
manufacturing processes such as additive manufacturing for
affordability and sustainability.
The RS-25 program has 16 engines left in its inventory from the
space shuttle program that are currently being repurposed for SLS,
which will make its debut in 2019 carrying an uncrewed version of
NASA’s Orion spacecraft.
These legacy engines are being upgraded and modernized for the
first four flights of the SLS. Thrust is being increased from
491,000 pounds on space shuttle missions to 512,000 pounds for SLS.
The new controller – essentially the brain of the engine – weighs
less and has far more processing power than previous versions,
making the engine more responsive to vehicle commands.
“We ended 2017 with a successful engine test in December and
have now maintained that momentum into 2018,” said Dan Adamski,
RS-25 program director at Aerojet Rocketdyne. “Future testing this
year will continue to add to the program’s inventory of flight
controllers and will bring additional development hardware into the
test program to demonstrate design, manufacturing and affordability
improvements. Our pogo accumulator assembly is just one of the
first of these efforts to be hot-fire tested.”
Aerojet Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings,
Inc. (NYSE:AJRD), is an innovative company delivering solutions
that create value for its customers in the aerospace and defense
markets. The company is a world-recognized aerospace and defense
leader that provides propulsion and energetics to the space,
missile defense and strategic systems, tactical systems and
armaments areas, in support of domestic and international markets.
Additional information about Aerojet Rocketdyne can be obtained by
visiting our websites at www.Rocket.com and
www.AerojetRocketdyne.com.
Contact: Mary Engola, Aerojet Rocketdyne,
571-289-1371Mary.Engola@Rocket.comSteve Warren,
Aerojet Rocketdyne,
703-650-0278Steven.Warren@Rocket.com
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