Aerojet Rocketdyne Tests Hydrocarbon Boost Tech for Air Force; Shawn Phillips Comments

Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed a full-scale component test for a rocket engine the company is developing with the U.S. Air Force as part of efforts to end the nation’s reliance on Russian technology for satellite launch missions.

The Hydrocarbon Boost Technology Demonstrator, a major component in the Air Force’s Oxygen Rich Staged Combustion engine development initiative, underwent its first full-scale test at 100-percent power, the Air Force said Friday.

Aerojet Rocketdyne initiated the test on the demonstrator’s kick pump at a company facility in Sacramento, California.

“The completion of this test is a key milestone that has been years in the making,” said Shawn Phillips, chief of the  Air Force Research Laboratory’s rocket propulsion division.

“So far everything looks good; there were no anomalies and the data indicates that the pump is functioning nominally,” Phillips added.

The kick pump assembly consists of both a turbine and a pump and is designed to rotates at speeds required to address high efficiency space missions.