Jane Edwards
NASA has concluded a 500-second, live-fire test of an Aerojet Rocketdyne-built RS-25 engine for the Space Launch System heavy-lift vehicle at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
The initial fire-test on Aerojet-made E2059 engine sought to evaluate the engine’s new controller, high-pressure fuel turbopump and the calibration of engine flowmeters, the company said Thursday.
SLS’ first launch into space is scheduled for September 2018 and its second is set for 2021.
Eileen Drake, president and CEO of Aerojet Rocketdyne, said NASA’s SLS rocket is designed to launch astronomical observatories into space and perform other scientific missions.
NASA will put four other RS-25 engines through a series of tests by late 2017 for SLS’ Exploration Mission-1.
Aerojet Rocketdyne designed the RS-25 engines to operate at temperatures of between negative 423 and positive 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit and at pressures of more than 7,000 pounds per square inch.
