Aerojet Rocketdyne has concluded a test of a thruster system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft that will launch aboard the Space Launch System rocket as part of Exploration Mission-1. The company said Monday it conducted the qualification test at its Redmond, Wash.-based facility to demonstrate the reaction control system’s capability to withstand shock and vibration as […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has concluded a series of tests for a new dual-mode ramjet/scramjet engine in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, NASA and the U.S. Air Force. The company said Monday the DMRJ demonstrated its ability to power a vehicle from a dormant state to hypersonic flight regime of Mach 5 or higher […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO Eileen Drake has announced that the company plans to acquire more companies or product lines as part of its Competitive Improvement Program, Space News reported Wednesday. The firm is focusing on mergers and acquisitions as its debt load decreased from $464.4M in May 2015 to $102.2M in June 2018 and it earned […] More

NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne have completed a second ground-based assessment of an engine controller for the Space Launch System exploration rocket. Aerojet Rocketdyne said Monday the RS-25 engine underwent eight minutes of test firing as part of an effort to verify its flight readiness and the performance of its modified components. The engine features modernized hardware that include a vibration […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne and Sierra Nevada Corp. have concluded a four-month study that focused on modifying advanced solar electric propulsion vehicle concepts for future human exploration missions and deep space habitation. Sacramento, Calif.-based Aerojet said Wednesday it supplemented Sierra Nevada’s Lunar Gateway concept with an SEP module for the Power and Propulsion Element study under NASA’s Next […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed an early systems integration test of an electric propulsion technology designed to help NASA conduct deep space missions in the near future. The company said Tuesday it developed a 13-kilowatt Hall thruster string as part of the space agency’s Advanced Electric Propulsion System program and demonstrated the subsystem’s power elements that include discharge supply and […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has announced a $50 million project to expand the company’s manufacturing facility in Southern Arkansas for solid rocket motors and warheads. The rocket manufacturer said Wednesday it plans to invest in infrastructure at the site and aims to create as many as 140 positions through the expansion. Eileen Drake, president and CEO of Aerojet Rocketdyne, […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has conducted a hot-fire test of an engine technology the company built for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. The company said Tuesday it performed the RS-25 engine test at the agency’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and assessed the performance of the main combustion chamber during the 319-second engine fire test attended by NASA Administrator […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne and its partner Teledyne have delivered an electric generator system that would help power NASA’s Mars 2020 rover to an Energy Department facility. The Idaho National Laboratory will fuel, test and evaluate the flight readiness of the the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, Aerojet Rocketdyne said Tuesday. MMRTG is designed to convert plutonium-238 heat into electricity to power the […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has concluded two hot-fire tests of air-launch motors at the Air Force Research Laboratory, under the firm’s advanced tactical booster program. The company said Monday it designed the solid rocket motors to simulate extreme cold- and hot-soak launch conditions. The tested motors demonstrated the capacity to accelerate vehicles under extreme operational temperatures. Aerojet […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has started a series of 10 firing tests of an engine designed for use on Boeing’s Phantom Express unmanned vehicle as part of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s Experimental Spaceplane program, SpaceNews reported Tuesday. The company performs the 100-second test firings of the AR-22 engine at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne has received a $69.8 million modification under the company’s “other transaction” agreement with the U.S. Air Force to produce engines for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program. The Defense Department said Friday it expects the engine manufacturer to complete work on the AR1 booster engine on Dec. 31, 2019, and the RL10CX upper stage […] More