Jane Edwards
Aerojet Rocketdyne has delivered the initial set of propulsion system hardware to Boeing for integration with the latter’s Crew Space Transportation-100 Starliner spacecraft service module.
The hardware set includes starboard manifold assemblies and low-pressure port designed to distribute helium and move the propellants through the service module’s thrusters and engines, Aerojet Rocketdyne said Tuesday.
The space vehicle’s service module propulsion system works to perform launch-abort functions during ascent as well as support propulsion requirements during the separation of service and crew modules as the spacecraft performs its re-entry mission into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Boeing awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne a contract to design, develop, provide certification support and perform initial production of the propulsion system for CST-100 Starliner’s service module.
The agreement also calls for Aerojet Rocketdyne to produce shipsets of service module propulsion system hardware that include orbital maneuvering, launch abort, attitude control and reaction control system engines as well as tanks and valves.
Aerojet Rocketdyne also supplies propulsion hardware for Starliner’s crew module and United Launch Alliance-built Atlas V rocket.
Boeing will assemble and incorporate the hardware kits into the spacecraft’s service module through its facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Boeing expects Starliner to begin its crewed flight mission to the International Space Station in 2018 under the $4.2 billion Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contract that NASA awarded in September 2014.
