Scott Nicholas
Aerojet Rocketdyne has tested a third development jettison motor built to support the launch abort system of NASA‘s Orion spacecraft at the company’s Rancho Cordova, California facility.
The company said Wednesday its jettison motor will be integrated alongside an attitude control and abort motor on the spacecraft’s next test flight called Exploration Mission-1 which covers travel of about 40,000 miles beyond the moon and return to Earth slated for 2018.
“Reliability of the jettison motor is critical to the safety and execution of the mission… Astronaut safety and reliability of our exploration systems is paramount at Aerojet Rocketdyne,” said Jim Paulsen, vice president of NASA programs at Aerojet Rocketdyne.
Cheryl Rehm, Orion program manager at Aerojet Rocketdyne, said the information collected from the test will be utilized to confirm the company’s test objectives and assess its readiness to begin the manufacturing of its qualification and production flight motors.
Orion’s prime contractor and constructor Lockheed Martin and NASA leaders visited the Aerojet Rocketdyne site to witness the test.
