http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/asd/2011/09/14/01.xml&headline=PWR%20Plans%20Next-Gen%20Engine%20Test%20Rig
PWR Plans Next-Gen Engine Test Rig
Sep 14, 2011
By Guy Norris
LOS ANGELES – Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) is assembling parts for an RLXX demonstrator rig that it hopes will be a pathfinder for a next-generation U.S. upper-stage engine by around 2017.
Progress on the rig comes as the U.S. Air Force studies requirements for a next-generation engine (NGE) and as competitors such as Aerojet call for a competition to succeed PWR's venerable RL10.
The U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center issued a request for information in 2010 for an NGE to replace the RL10 by 2017 amid concerns that the engine is reaching its design limits and costing more as PWR's customer base shrinks with the retirement of the space shuttle. Two variants of the RL10 power the upper stages of the Air Force's Atlas V and Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV).
"We think the RLXX is the evolutionary path to the NGE. We don't think starting from scratch is the right way to go," says Steve Bouley, PWR's vice president for launch vehicle and hypersonic systems. The company has completed assembly of an advanced single-shaft turbopump and smooth-walled, copper-milled combustor, similar to those used in the RS-68 and J-2X. "We have hardware ready to go and we're putting together the demonstrator RLXX rig," Bouley says.
Aimed at a 35,000-lb.-thrust-class "sweet spot," the rig is a systems-level demonstrator, Bouley says, rather than a flight-weight prototype.
"Seeing as there isn't a hard configuration as far as the Air Force goes yet, we're building a systems-level demonstrator. We've been spending internal research and development money to reach a technology readiness level [TRL], and we'll be at TRL 6 [ready for full-scale development] at the entry point."
Testing is set to take place next year over the second and third quarters at the company's West Palm Beach, Fla., facility. "We're probably at the TRL 4-5 level today and we're honing them into a representative systems level," Bouley says. "The RLXX and NGE ought to capture as much of the heritage as they can, and we want to stay with the current cycle. It is right and the closest match to what the upper-stage capabilities are today."
PWR is testing an RL10C development engine as part of a program to convert RL10Bs for use in Atlas V launchers (Aerospace DAILY, April 13).
The conversion effort, which PWR views as forming part of the evolutionary path to NGE, also "gives us a chance for a production break," Bouley says.
PWR is meanwhile reworking the large number of excess RL10B-2 engines in the inventory into a new common RL10C variant that incorporates the best of the B-2 and A-4, and can be used on the Atlas V and potentially the Common Centaur.
The first RL10C development engine is running at West Palm Beach, and completed its sixth test in early September. "The engine is performing well and meeting predictions, so we're happy," Bouley says. The effort "will facilitate RL10C-1 conversion, which will allow the B-2 configuration to be converted and fly on the Atlas V," he adds. The C-2 conversions will fly on the Delta IV.
The Air Force plans to continue using the EELV family through 2030 and, according to the request for information, wants a new "upper-stage engine utilizing modern design and manufacturing methods ... that will demonstrate state-of-the-art operating margin and reliability and minimize life-cycle costs."
Bouley says that EELV-operator United Launch Alliance "does not see a hard requirement for an NGE." ULA has, however, begun a joint effort with XCOR Aerospace to develop a low-cost, flight-ready liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen upper-stage engine.
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18898237
Rocketdyne set to build engines to power rocket
By Gregory J. Wilcox, Staff Writer
Posted: 09/15/2011 01:00:00 AM PDT
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/81092.jpg)
The Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne next-generation J-2X engine undergoes a combined chill test and 1.9-second ignition test on July 14, 2011 at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center. (Photo courtesy Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne)
When and if astronauts finally blast off for deep space, their monster rocket would be powered by liquid-hydrogen engines designed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in Canoga Park.
According to plans unveiled Wednesday by NASA, five Rocketdyne RS-25D/E engines producing more than 2 million pounds of thrust would launch the 34-story rocket, while the company's J-2X engine would propel the second stage of the spacecraft.
"It was a long time coming, but we are really glad," Rocketdyne Vice President John Vilja said. "There is a lot open to question, but this is a great first step."
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/81093.jpg)
The Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne next-generation J-2X engine 10001 is fully installed in the A-2 Test Stand at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center. (Photo courtesy Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne)
Vilja said that is too early to estimate what kind of an economic impact Rocketdyne could receive from the Space Launch System, which depends on congressional approval and funding. The company also manufactured engines for the space shuttle, and had a round of layoffs after that program ended this summer.
"It depends on the launch rate more than anything else," he said. "It would be nice to recall some of those people we've laid off, but we'll just have to see how much funding comes from NASA."
The RS-25D/E engine is similar to those that launched the shuttle. It is being re-engineered to be only a single-use engine, which Vilja said will significantly reduce the production cost.
The company also is designing the new heavy-lift J-2X engine, which has had three successful tests at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
According to NASA, the giant rocket will be powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel.
NASA's timetable calls for the first unmanned test flight in 2017, a manned mission in 2021 and then voyages to an asteroid and Mars.
Vilja thinks testing could start sooner since the engine technology is close to ready.
"We'd like to work with NASA to see what we could do to bring that forward ... to get more bang for the buck," he said.
John Blank, deputy chief economist at the Kyser Center for Economic Research in Los Angeles, said NASA's decision could boost the region's economy.
"This is great news. We certainly need to have something turn around and this has to be part of that story. It's a shred of optimism," he said.
And the region is already participating in the privatization of space, he noted.
"However this evolves, we're part of both now. It's the perfect spot to be in," he said.
But blasting into space's next frontier comes with a $35 billion price tag and, given the current political landscape, is sure to generate sharp debate.
Blank said that price should not be an issue despite the nation's financial challenges.
"Thirty-five billion over the years is peanuts, frankly. It not going to change that (economic) dynamic one way or the other," he said.
In its announcement NASA said that the decision to go with the same fuel system for the core and the upper stage was based on an analysis demonstrating that the use of common components can reduce costs and increase flexibility.
That is going to be a hard sell to some.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, the only Californian on the congressional subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, is dead set against the new NASA launch system.
"This program is just fundamentally wrong," said Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach.
"What we're doing is investing, from my perspective, in old technology," he said. "This might as well be a Saturn rocket that we used in the 1960s."
He would like to see a system that uses space-based fueling platforms for NASA's next-generation effort.
"There are more viable and more creative ways of approaching the creation of a space transport system," Rohrabacher said.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/j2x/
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/528269main_J-2X_Facts2011.pdf
Pratt & Whitney рассматривает возможность продажи Rocketdyne, купленного в 2005 за $700 млн. Потенциальные покупатели - Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) или GenCorp Inc.
ЦитироватьWith support to explore outer space waning in Congress, Pratt & Whitney's president said the company is considering a sale of its Rocketdyne division.
David Hess, president of East Hartford-based Pratt & Whitney, told reporters at Reuters annual Aerospace and Defense Summit, that Pratt had fielded interest in the California rocket-making division.
Later, Hess clarified that the sale was not imminent, but was a possible option, matching comments by a local analyst that does not expect Pratt to let the company go at a bargain price.
"With the lack of a clearly defined future path for human space exploration we are exploring all of our options with Rocketdyne," Hess said in an emailed statement Wednesday. "Clearly we like the Rocketdyne technology that we've been able to leverage into our business and the highly skilled workforce. But, given the uncertainty in the space business today, we need to evaluate all our options and make decisions to ensure we're best positioned for profitability and future growth."
Pratt, a division of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp., acquired Rocketdyne in 2005 for $700 million. A sale of Rocketdyne would not impact Connecticut's work force, as Rocketdyne's facilities are in California, Florida, Mississippi and Alabama.
Shares in UTC gained $2.46, or 3.5 percent, to close at $72.96 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
...there are really only two companies that could probably buy Rocketdyne: Alliant Techsystems Inc. or GenCorp Inc. Other space operations are too new and lack the financial strength to buy Rocketdyne
Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Pratt-might-jettison-Rocketdyne-2159907.php#ixzz1YBsVP012
http://www.pratt-whitney.com/media_center/press_releases/2011/03_mar/3-14-2011_12012115.asp
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Successfully Hot-Fire Tests Launch Abort Demonstration Engine for Boeing's CST-100 Spacecraft
CANOGA PARK, Calif., March 14, 2011 – Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne successfully completed a series of hot-fire tests of the Bantam demonstration engine for an innovative "pusher" launch abort system on The Boeing Company's CST-100 spacecraft. The launch abort engine is a critical component of future commercial crew transportation to low-Earth orbit. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company.
A pusher launch abort system "pushes" or propels a spacecraft toward safety if a launch abort is needed and, if unused for an abort, the propellant can be used for other portions of the mission. The tests were conducted on a new test stand in the California desert.
"The successful engine test series was Boeing's last major milestone under our current Commercial Crew Development Space Act Agreement with NASA. It validates our technical approach for a pusher launch abort system," said Keith Reiley, deputy program manager, Commercial Crew programs, Boeing. "With this system, we can use the abort fuel to re-boost the space station orbit, which is an added benefit to NASA and Bigelow Aerospace. This is a significant step in our plan to provide safe, reliable and affordable crew and passenger transportation to the International Space Station and other low-Earth orbit destinations."
"The engine performance was stable during the full-duration tests, achieving 52,000 to 54,000 pounds of thrust, and the hardware was in excellent condition after the tests," said Terry Lorier, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's Bantam program manager supporting Boeing's Commercial Crew programs. "The tests validated operating conditions during engine start-up and shut down, provided key thermal and analytical data, and met or exceeded all contract requirements. We are extremely pleased with the latest test demonstration's rapid success in validating a key element of Boeing's launch abort system, and look forward to continuing our partnership with Boeing in pursuit of the next-generation, commercial human-rated spacecraft."
Boeing is advancing the design of the CST-100 under a Commercial Crew Development Space Act Agreement with NASA. When development is completed, the vehicle will be capable of transporting people to the International Space Station and other future low-Earth orbit destinations. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is operating under a fixed price contract to Boeing to reduce risk and demonstrate the applicability of the Bantam engine to Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft.
View related Bantam engine testing video footage (http://www.pw.utc.com/StaticFiles/Pratt%20&%20Whitney%20New/Media%20Center/Video%20Gallery/Static%20Files/Flashes/Bantam_Test_-_HiQual.wmv).
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a part of Pratt & Whitney, is a preferred provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovative system solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications, including the main engines for the space shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is headquartered in Canoga Park, Calif., and has facilities in Huntsville, Ala.; Kennedy Space Center, Fla.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Stennis Space Center, Miss. For more information about Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, go to www.prattwhitneyrocketdyne.com.
Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and commercial building industries
Pratt & Whitney Chief Applauds SLS Decision[/u] (http://www.spacenews.com/military/news-briefs.html)
ЦитироватьNASA's announcement that it will move forward with a heavy-lift launch vehicle that takes advantage of previous investments in the space shuttle and a now-defunct follow-on program could breathe new life into Pratt & Whitney's rocket propulsion division, a senior company executive said.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a major contractor on the now-retired space shuttle program, has been in limbo ever since the White House canceled a follow-on program dubbed Constellation, which was to leverage propulsion hardware built or under development by the company. Industry officials have acknowledged in recent months that Pratt & Whitney was considering a sale of the business.
Pratt & Whitney President David Hess said that while the company's liquid-fueled rocket engine business has been forced to lay off personnel, NASA's Sept. 14 Space Launch System (SLS) announcement offers new hope. Hess was speaking that same day here at a luncheon organized by the Aerospace Industries Association during which industry executives urged the government to spare the Defense Department from the deep |budget cuts apparently in |store for U.S. government |agencies.
"Looks like there is the new Space Launch System announcement going on as we speak right now," Hess said. "Maybe there is a direction now."
The multibillion-dollar Space Launch System, coupled with the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, is intended to support astronaut missions to deep space destinations while serving as a government-owned backup to commercially operated crew taxis for the international space station. Both vehicles were mandated by Congress in the NASA Authorization Act of 2010, which U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law in October.
Hess cautioned that even though NASA now appears to be moving forward on the Space Launch System, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is not yet ready to commit to rehiring employees who were laid off as the space shuttle program wound down. The space shuttle's last flight occurred in July.
"When we started letting go our engineers, those who worked on these model programs will retire or move on to other industries. Those reductions will continue until there is something that succeeds the [Space Shuttle program]," he said.
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(http://savepic.su/116819.jpg)
ЦитироватьNASA PR — NASA conducted a 40-second test of the J-2X rocket engine Sept. 28, the most recent in a series of tests of the next-generation engine sel ected as part of the Space Launch System architecture that will once again carry humans into deep space. It was a test at the 99 percent power level to gain a better understanding of start and shutdown systems as well as modifications that had been made fr om previous test firing results.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=22941&media_id=113620611
Видео:
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/09/30/nasa-conducts-j-2x-engine-test-firing/
http://www.spacenews.com/military/111007-aerojet-pw-contracts-interceptor.html
Fri, 7 October, 2011
Aerojet, Pratt & Whitney Win Contracts for Components of Next-gen Interceptor
By Rachel Bernstein
WASHINGTON — Aerojet and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne will design competing steering-thruster mechanisms for a planned next-generation missile interceptor under contracts announced Oct. 3 by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.
Each company will design a divert and attitude control system thruster assembly for possible use on the planned Standard Missile (SM)-3 Block 2B interceptor, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said. The thruster assemblies are used to steer the interceptor's warhead, or kill vehicle, to its target.
The SM-3 Block 2B, also known as the Next Generation Aegis Missile, is an upgraded variant of the Raytheon-built SM-3 Block 1A interceptor currently deployed aboard U.S. Navy ships. Slated for deployment around 2020, the Block 2B would have greater capability than previous SM-3 variants and is slated for a key role in protecting Europe in a ground-basing mode.
Aerojet of Sacramento will design and test components for its Block 2B steering assembly under a $15.4 million contract. Canoga Park, Calif.-based Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's competing contract is valued at $13.9 million.
The contracts run from September of this year through September 2013. At that point, one company's control system will be sel ected by the MDA's director for the final missile project.
Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, the SM-3 incumbent, are developing competing designs for the Block 2B upgrade. The MDA hopes to select a prime contractor for the next-generation interceptor in 2013.
The Senate Appropriations Committee proposed canceling development of the Block 2B missile in its version of the 2012 defense spending bill, which was drafted in September. The committee said the MDA has enough on its hands with two other SM-3 upgrades, the Block 1B and Block 2A, already in development.
The House version of the defense spending bill recommends fully funding the Block 2B program next year at $123.5 million.
MDA spokesman Richard Lehner said in an emailed response to questions that the agency is pressing ahead with Block 2B development despite the budgetary uncertainty.
"There is no [final] defense bill yet, so speculation about future funding for the 2B is pointless," Lehner said.
The MDA has developed guidelines to ensure the free flow of technical information between the companies competing for the SM-3 Block 2B prime contract and prospective component suppliers like Aerojet and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Lehner said.
By early 2013, Aerojet and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne are expected to have developed and tested parts of the control system. The companies also are expected to deliver prototype designs.
Meanwhile, the MDA awarded a $9 million contract to Alliant Techsystems (ATK) of Minneapolis to develop and test third-stage rocket motor technologies for the Block 2B. That contract runs through December 2012, according to the MDA. The agency has a previously announced contract with Aerojet for similar third-stage design work.
Lehner said the MDA opted to do early risk reduction work on the Block 2B third stage because it is expected to be more technologically challenging than the first two stages of the vehicle.
"Data fr om both Aerojet and ATK concepts will be made available to all three of the prime contracting teams," Lehner said. "The prime contractor who eventually gets the missile contract will determine who builds the third stage rocket motor."
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The Past, Powering the Future
ЦитироватьAll six Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne space shuttle main engines fr om Endeavour's STS-134 and Atlantis' STS-135 missions sit in test cells inside the Engine Shop at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For the first time, all 15 shuttle main engines are in the shop at the same time, being prepped for shipment to NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, wh ere they are being repurposed for use on NASA's next generation heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System.
Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2084.html
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/20747.jpg)
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/asd/2011/11/08/01.xml&headline=NASA%20To%20Try%20Full-Duration%20J-2X%20Engine%20Test
NASA To Try Full-Duration J-2X Engine Test
Nov 9, 2011
By Frank Morring, Jr.
Rocket engineers at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi are slated to attempt a 500-sec. hot-fire test of the J-2X engine this week, running the Saturn-heritage upper-stage propulsion system through a full-duration burn for the first time.
Formerly the pacing item in the development of the terminated Ares I crew launch vehicle, testing of the human-rated J-2X is being slowed to free funds for development of a throwaway version of the space shuttle main engine (SSME) that is also baselined for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) that NASA is building in lieu of the Ares launch family started under the Constellation program. But the upcoming test is a critical milestone in the development of what is planned to be the next U.S. government space launch vehicle.
The test comes after an unexpected automatic shutdown earlier this month 140 sec. into a hot-fire test of the sole J-2X development engine. The shutdown was attributed to a programming error. Mike Kynard, a NASA manager for liquid-propellant engine developments on the SLS, says the problem occurred when a redline designed to protect hardware during some propellant-pressure variations that started at the 140-sec. mark in the test was entered as a maximum rather than a minimum. As a result, the redline triggered the shutdown at the beginning of the planned pressure excursion. "It was simply human error," Kynard tells Aviation Week in an interview here.
With the redline reset and other specifics checked carefully, the program is ready to go for the full-duration burn on Nov. 9. "The engine was running strong, and we didn't have any indication that the engine couldn't have run for the full 500" sec. in the most recent test, Kynard says.
That test will set up a two-year trial series with four J-2X development engines and other test articles that will lead to a milestone the engine program calls "basic development complete." After that, the J-2X development essentially will be put on hold until 2017-18.
The change of pace from rapid development of the J-2X for Ares will allow the reorganized liquid-fueled engines office here to stay within its expected $250 million annual budget as it completes the upper-stage engine, prepares the 15 surplus RS-25D reusable SSMEs for early flights of the SLS, and works with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to develop a less-expensive RS-25E variant to power the core stage of the big new rocket.
"Because we don't know exactly what SLS will need from a certification standpoint now, we've taken the certification segment and said we'll push that out a little bit," Kynard says. "That allows us to get the yearly budget profile down to the point that we can focus on 25D and E and get those guys up and going."
The engine office will continue testing the J-2X at Stennis, running through the test series with the first engine — No. 10,001 — before moving on in January to detailed testing with a powerpack article consisting of the gas generator and turbomachinery.
After that work, which will push the powerpack to "the corners of the envelope," Kynard says, the program will move on to testing with the next three development engines: 10,002, 10,003 and 10,004
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/asd/2011/11/11/11.xml&headline=J-2X%20Engine%20Goes%20Full%20Duration%20In%20Test
J-2X Engine Goes Full Duration In Test
Nov 11, 2011
By Frank Morring, Jr.
NASA's J-2X upper-stage engine ran through a 500-sec. hot-fire test Nov. 9, achieving full duration for the terminated Ares I crew launch vehicle it was designed to power and passing a crucial hurdle for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) that will use it instead.
"Based on a quick look, it performed exactly as we expected it to," said Mike Kynard, SLS engines element manager at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, after the test at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. "If we find issues we'll take care of it; first look, it ran great."
The test came less than two weeks after another one cut short at 140 sec. because of what Kynard termed "human error" in setting software redlines to prevent damage to the sole J-2X development engine. Even so, the earlier test demonstrated that the engine was ready for a full-duration burn and cleared the way for the Nov. 9 test.
Based on the upper-stage engines developed for the Saturn V Moon rocket, the J-2X is designed to produce 294,000 lb. of thrust on ascent to orbit, and 242,000 lb. of thrust to move an upper stage beyond low Earth orbit.
The test was the eighth in the series with the engine designated 10001. Each development engine is built to withstand 28 tests.
Four complete engines are scheduled for the development-test series, plus an assessment with a powerpack article that includes the gas generator and turbomachinery.
During the test, the engine burned some 100,000 gal. of liquid hydrogen and 30,000 gal. of liquid oxygen, at a one-time cost Kynard put at $350,000.
NASA Fleshes Out SLS Development Schedule
Nov 14, 2011
By Frank Morring, Jr., Jefferson Morris
Marshall Space Flight Center, Washington
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/awst/2011/11/14/AW_11_14_2011_p39-392423.xml&headline=NASA%20Fleshes%20Out%20SLS%20Development%20Schedule&next=10 (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/awst/2011/11/14/AW_11_14_2011_p39-392423.xml&headline=NASA%20Fleshes%20Out%20SLS%20Development%20Schedule&next=10)
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/12/09/video-nasa-conducts-stability-test-firing-of-j-2x-engine/
Video: NASA Conducts Stability Test Firing of J-2X Engine
Posted by Doug Messier on December 9, 2011, at 6:42 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GylDxR78A2w
NASA conducted a key stability test firing of the J-2X rocket engine Dec. 1, marking another step forward in development of the upper-stage engine that will carry humans farther into space than ever before.
The Dec. 1 test firing focused on characterizing the new engine's combustion stability, a critical area of development. During the test firing, a controlled explosion was initiated inside the engine's combustion chamber to introduce an energetic pulse of vibrations not expected during nominal operations. Data from this and future combustion stability tests will help engineers understand more about the engine's performance and robustness during engine operation.
The J-2X engine was test fired on the A-2 Test Stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center, in south Mississippi. The engine is being developed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. It will provide upper-stage power for NASA's new Space Launch System. The SLS will carry the Orion spacecraft, its crew, cargo, equipment and science experiments to space — providing a safe, affordable and sustainable means of reaching the moon, asteroids and other destinations in the solar system.
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NASA Performs First J-2X Powerpack Test of the Year
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/j2x/12-016.html
Видео:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=132719361
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=132719361
http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=2169
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/asd/2012/03/13/05.xml&headline=PWR%20Analyzing%20CST-100%20Abort%20Engine%20Tests
PWR Analyzing CST-100 Abort Engine Tests
Mar 13, 2012
By Guy Norris
LOS ANGELES — Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) is analyzing data from the first hot-fire tests of a development launch abort engine (LAE) for Boeing's CST-100 commercial crew vehicle.
The engine is a lighter, higher-performance evolution of the Bantam demonstration engine tested in March 2011 for the "pusher" launch abort system, a critical component of the planned transport. Unlike the tower-mounted tractor abort system used by Apollo and other programs, a pusher system propels a spacecraft toward safety if an abort occurs. Tractor systems are ejected after launch, but pusher systems remain with the vehicle to orbit, and the unused propellant can go toward other portions of the mission, developers say.
The initial hot-fire tests, conducted at the Polaris-operated Mojave Test Range north of Edwards AFB, Calif. on March 8-9, were completed with a 5.5-sec. run on March 9. Fueled by pressure-fed nitrogen tetroxide/monomethyl hydrazine, the LAE is treated with ablative materials in the nozzle, throat and injector. "The original Bantam had film-cooling, so that decreased performance. With ablatives, we don't have that," says Terry Lorier, PWR launch abort program manager.
The LAE's heritage goes back to the 1990s when it was originally launched as part of NASA's search for a super lightweight engine under the Fastrac program. A derivative of the Bantam was later developed by Rocketdyne as the RS-88 for use on Lockheed Martin's Pad Abort Demonstration vehicle. Powered by four RS-88s, this was designed as the abort system for NASA's Orbital Space Plane planned as part of the Space Launch Initiative Cycle 2 TA-10 program.
Although the RS-88 ran a series of 14 successful hot-fire tests, the program was later canceled. "When Boeing approached us on CST-100, we looked at our heritage programs to see what would be the most logical bridge program and had the lowest risk. We pulled the Bantam engine out of storage at NASA Marshall," Lorier says.
The Bantam engine was "heavyweight and not optimized for performance, but rather for cost. So to adopt it to this application we need to improve performance a little and reduce the weight. So this is an incremental test along the way," Lorier adds. "We'll take the data from these tests and the next step will be a flight-weight engine."
PWR was selected by Boeing to help design the CST-100 service module and integrated launch abort propulsion system under Boeing's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Space Act Agreement with NASA. As well as the four main LAE engines, the system includes orbital maneuvering/attitude control engines and reaction control thrusters. A preliminary design review (PDR) for the service module was passed in January and Boeing completed the overall CST-100 PDR in February.
Companies pursuing NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability initiative, the follow-up to the current CCDev 2 phase, are expected to submit bids by March 23
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ЦитироватьAlexandrc пишет:
ЦитироватьNASA J2X engine no.10001 is back in the test stand at the Stennis Space Center. Testing of this engine for SLS will resume in the coming weeks.
около 7 часов назад
ЦитироватьAlexandrc пишет:
Продолжая новость про J-2:
ЦитироватьJ-2X Engine 10001 at Stennis Space Center
J-2X engine 10001 is returning back to the A-2 Test Stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center for its second round of tests. The developmental engine underwent an initial series of tests last year. Both the engine and test stand have been modified to begin simulated altitude testing in the coming months.
The J-2X engine is designed and built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. It is the first human-rated liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen rocket engine to be developed in 40 years. The J-2X will provide upper-stage power for NASA's Space Launch System, a new heavy-lift vehicle capable of missions beyond low-Earth orbit.
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А что это за огромная металлическая конструкция на заднем плане?
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http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1204/18dynetics/
Rocket companies hope to repurpose Saturn 5 engines
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: April 18, 2012
WASHINGTON -- Dynetics and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne announced Wednesday they are teaming up to resurrect the Saturn 5 rocket's mighty F-1 engine to power NASA's planned heavy-lift launch vehicle, saying the Apollo-era engine will offer significantly more performance than solid-fueled boosters currently under development.
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/24183.jpg)
Artist's concept of the Space Launch System with boosters powered by F-1 engines. Credit: Dynetics Inc.
"The ability to come back and offer NASA a resurrection of probably one of the most venerated successful engines ever, the F-1, is very neat," said Steve Cook, director of space technologies at Dynetics Inc. "The cool factor on this is very high."
NASA plans to award $200 million to multiple companies later this year for 30 months of design and risk reduction work on advanced booster concepts for the agency's Space Launch System, a powerful heavy-lifting rocket designed to dispatch astronaut crews to deep space destinations, including asteroids, Mars, and the moon.
The 30-month performance period is expected to begin Oct. 1 and run through early 2015. The first two flights of the Space Launch System will be boosted off the launch pad by five-segment solid rocket motors built by ATK and derived from the space shuttle program.
NASA hopes a bigger booster will be ready by the third SLS flight in the early 2020s.
Dynetics of Huntsville, Ala., is leading the contractor team proposing the F-1 engine design. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is the bid's propulsion partner and engine builder.
Cook, NASA's former manager of the scrapped Ares rocket program, said each of the two Dynetics boosters on an SLS mission would be propelled by a pair of kerosene-fueled F-1 engines.
"Each of those engines can get up to 1.8 million pounds of thrust," Cook said in an interview Wednesday. "This booster is a very simple, very standard booster. It's 18 feet in diameter. It uses the same attach points as the current five-segment solid rocket booster."
Pratt & Whitney is the prime contractor for the Space Launch System's core propulsion system, initially comprised of up to four hydrogen-fueled RS-25D/E engines. The cryogenic upper stage's J-2X engine, another redesigned engine from the Apollo moon program, is under development by NASA and Pratt & Whitney for SLS flights beginning in the 2020s.
The first two SLS missions, scheduled for 2017 and 2021, will be powered by an interim cryogenic upper stage, a four-engine core, and twin five-segment solid rocket boosters. The 2021 mission, planned to loop around the moon, will be the mammoth rocket's first crewed launch.
The earliest version of the Space Launch System will stand 30 stories tall and lift at least 70 metric tons, or 154,000 pounds, into low Earth orbit.
Subsequent long-duration missions to further destinations, such as asteroids or Mars, will require a more robust version of the Space Launch System using the J-2X engine and advanced boosters.
Along with the Dynetics and Pratt & Whitney team, ATK and other industrial contractors also submitted proposals for the advanced booster risk reduction awards.
"We're essentially flying out assets we have while we try to evolve to a more affordable and capable booster for the future," said Todd May, NASA's Space Launch System program manager, in an interview in February.
NASA plans a design and development contract for the advanced booster after the risk reduction phase ends in 2015.
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A Saturn 5 first stage with five F-1 engines inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. Credit: NASA
Cook said the F-1 engine-powered advanced booster will provide about 20 metric tons, or 44,000 pounds, more lift capacity into low Earth orbit over the heavy-lift launcher's baseline solid rocket boosters.
"We offer a domestic booster design that takes advantage of the flight-proven Apollo-Saturn F-1, still the most powerful U.S. liquid rocket engine ever flown," said Ron Ramos, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's vice president for exploration and missile defense. "PWR is the only company to have returned a Saturn-era engine, the J-2X, to production. We bring unique lessons to the advanced booster cost and performance trades."
Five F-1 engines flew on the first stage of each Saturn 5 rocket's upper stage. The Saturn 5 flew 13 times, launching astronauts to the moon and lofting NASA's Skylab space station into Earth orbit.
"That makes it one of the most reliable engines ever," Cook said. "You don't want to tinker with a design that you know works and has been successful."
Cook said the F-1 engine activities planned for the next 30 months, assuming Dynetics wins an award from NASA, include full-scale systems demonstrations and some hotfire testing.
The amount of progress depends on the level of funding provided by NASA, Cook said, adding the contractor team is already refurbishing some equipment with private capital.
"The risks associated with that [engine] were retired 40 years ago," Cook said. "What that allowed us to do was to focus our modifications and our changes around manufacturability, affordability and reliability. You take that engine and incorporate the lessons learned over the last 40 years of human, commercial and [military] spaceflight in propulsion systems, we think we can bring a very affordable package to the game. Largely, the design we're bringing is very similar or the same, and we've focused on manufacturability, bringing new processes and techniques that have been proven out."
"Cost wasn't a factor in the '60s," Cook said. "Cost is a huge factor today."
AW&ST: UTC Closes On PWR Sale (http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/awx/2012/04/19/awx_04_19_2012_p0-449857.xml&headline=UTC%20Closes%20On%20PWR%20Sale)
Apr 19, 2012
By Guy Norris guy_norris@aviationweek.com
COLORADO SPRINGS
United Technologies Corp. (UTC) is expected to complete the sale of its Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne rocket propulsion arm within the next two weeks as part of efforts to raise $3 billion to help finance its acquisition of Goodrich Corp.
Although the rocket maker declines to comment, Aviation Week understands final paperwork is in the process of being signed for the company's sale to a private investment group. UTC originally put Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne up for sale in 2011, and revived its offer in March following shareholder approval for the takeover of Goodrich on March 13.
Fellow U.S. rocket manufacturers Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and GenCorp's Aerojet were originally thought to be the most likely potential bidders for PWR, which UTC bought fr om Boeing for $700 million in 2005. However, sources at the 28th National Space Symposium being held here tell Aviation Week that unnamed investors are in the process of clinching the deal.
The group believed to be most strongly linked to the acquisition is thought to involve Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, former Scaled Composites CEO Burt Rutan and former NASA administrator Mike Griffin. The three are behind Stratolaunch Systems, the company founded in late 2011 to develop a next-generation, mobile, airborne launch system based on a hybrid aircraft formed from two Boeing 747s (Aerospace DAILY, Dec. 14). Another board member of Stratolaunch is Dave King, vice president of Dynetics, the Huntsville, Ala.-based company that will be responsible for integration of the launch vehicle and carrier aircraft systems.
Coincidently, Dynetics and PWR announced at the National Space Symposium a long-term partnership to compete for the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) Advanced Booster Engineering Demonstration and/or Risk Reduction (ABEDRR) procurement. Under this agreement, Dynetics and PWR will have exclusive rights to the use of the Saturn V F-1 rocket engine technology.
Sources close to the negotiations say that PWR does not require a partnership with an established propulsion company to fulfill its broader strategic objectives, and that work is going on to "disentangle" its operations from those of UTC. The challenge is hardest in West Palm Beach, Fla., wh ere the rocket maker shares production and test facilities with those of main engine maker Pratt & Whitney, and helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky. PWR is understood to be exploring separate entrances to the swampland site as part of the process.
In California, PWR has been busy consolidating its Canoga Park sites close to Los Angeles as part of drastic cost-cutting moves in the wake of the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011. "Between now and 2013 we'll cut the amount of fixed space in half, [where] the lion's share of square footage is in California. We'll be going from 2.1 million square feet to under 1 million square feet," says PWR President Jim Maser.
The company is also moving to a common set of assets that will serve "the entire production line," he adds. "We are basically redefining the organization as we transition into the future as we see it. The primary objective is reducing the cost of manufacturing in a low-volume environment, customer's risk posture and procurement strategy. We're also through the lion's share in reducing staff," Maser says. Overall employment, which peaked at 17,700 during the Apollo program in the mid-1960s, is now at 2,400, representing a reduction of around 1,000 over the past three years.
Saturn V To Mars? (http://www.aviationweek.com/Blogs.aspx?plckBlogId=Blog:04ce340e-4b63-4d23-9695-d49ab661f385&plckPostId=Blog%3a04ce340e-4b63-4d23-9695-d49ab661f385Post%3a0821ce8b-e1e4-491f-8107-6013dac9e649)
Posted by Frank Morring, Jr. 4:19 AM on Apr 18, 2012
Among the kerosene-fueled rocket engines NASA is considering as a powerplant for its planned heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) is the venerable F-1 engine that took 12 men to the Moon.
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Rocketdyne Archives
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, which owns rights to the massive engines built by its predecessor Rocketdyne, proposed it as an option to companies that have submitted risk reduction proposals to the U.S. space agency for a strap-on SLS booster.
The advanced booster would crank the lift capacity of the deep-space SLS up to at least 130 metric tons, from the targeted 70 metric tons after its first scheduled flights in 2017 and 2021. It's early days yet, to say the least, but the engine-maker had interest in the big old engine from some of the launch vehicle companies that submitted proposals, so it's on the table for the time being.
Rocketdyne built F-1 and F-1A variants of the first stage engine for the Saturn V Moon rocket, at 1.5 and 1.8 million pounds thrust, respectively. PWR has several F-1 turbopumps in stock, and the five flight engines built for the cancelled Apollo 18 mission are still around.
NASA will decide this summer what design options for the advanced booster that it wants to pursue, and the F-1 has some advantages. It's still the most powerful rocket engine ever built, and Rocketdyne engineers in the 1960s solved issues like combustion stability that would cost a fortune to recreate today.
The modern company also proposed the Russian-built RD-180 that it supplies under license to power the Atlas V, and a developmental engine designated the RS-84. Started for NASA's terminated Space Launch Initiative, that staged-combustion kerosene-fueled engine develops about 1.05 million pounds thrust, as does the RD-180, but it didn't draw the attention from the booster bidders that the completed engines did.
PWR is already upgrading the upper-stage engine from the Saturn V for the SLS upper stage. Known as the J-2X, it is undergoing tests on two different test stands at Stennis Space Center. As it has done with the J-2X, the company says it would upgrade the F-1 with modern manufacturing techniques to hold down production cost.
Current plans call for PWR to finish the J-2X development, and then put it on hold until NASA is ready to begin flying the upper stage, probably in the late 2020s. If the advanced booster is also flying then with an F-1 powerplant, the two Saturn engines' basic designs would be 60 years old.
But then, the basic design of the internal combustion engine for motor vehicles is older than that. Like automakers, rocket makers don't see the need to reinvent the wheel.
PWR Reducing Manufacturing Space by More than HalfЦитироватьCOLORADO, SPRINGS, Colo. — With business volume down sharply following the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet, liquid propulsion provider Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) is reducing its production footprint by more than half, mostly in California, company officials said.
Jim Maser, PWR's president, said that by the end 2013, the company will have shrunk its factory floor space from 189,000 square meters to less than 90,000 square meters. PWR has sprawling manufacturing and test facilities in Canoga Park, Calif., where it is headquartered, but Maser said operations in West Palm Beach, Fla., also are being consolidated.
Briefing reporters April 16 here at the National Space Symposium, Maser said the propulsion business has high fixed costs that can be offset by production volume. With volume down, PWR is working to reduce overhead and streamline operations, he said, adding that much of the company's infrastructure was set up for NASA's human spaceflight program, where work was done under cost-plus contracts in which the government assumes the risk of cost growth.
Maser said most of the work force reductions associated with the infrastructure overhaul have already been made. PWR, which is up for sale by parent company United Technologies Corp. of Hartford, Conn., now has about 2,400 employees, down about 1,000 from three years ago, he said.
Maser said PWR is looking for efficiencies wherever it can find them. Support functions are being consolidated, for example, and common tooling and facilities are being used across engine production programs to the extent possible, he said.
PWR is the largest U.S. maker of liquid-fueled rocket engines, and its biggest program was the space shuttle, which NASA retired last summer. The company built and refurbished the Space Shuttle Main Engine, three of which were used on each orbiter mission.
The shuttle's retirement has caused cost spikes on PWR's other products, most notably the engines it supplies for the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets built and operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) of Denver. These expendable rockets are used to launch the vast majority of U.S. government satellites, and the rising cost of this activity has brought ULA, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture, under intense congressional scrutiny in the past couple of years.
The U.S. Air Force's strategy for reducing its launch costs is a so-called block buy of Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets, the idea being to stabilize production and thereby reduce uncertainty in the supplier base while reaping the efficiencies associated with bulk production. The block buy options under consideration range from six to 10 booster cores annually over a period of three to five years.
PWR manufactures the RL10 upper-stage engine, different variants of which fly atop both the Atlas 5 and Delta 4, as well as the latter rocket's RS-68 main engine. The company also is a partner in the RD-Amross joint venture with Russia's Energomash propulsion manufacturer that supplies the Atlas 5's RD-180 main engine.
The Air Force favors using firm, fixed-price contracts throughout the ULA supplier chain for the block buy, but PWR executives say this is not necessarily the best way to save money. Such arrangements put the contractor on the hook for any program cost growth, and Maser said the company would have to protect itself by charging higher prices.
"We're happy to do fixed-priced contracts but it's going to cost the customer more," Maser said. There are factors in the cost of producing rocket engines that are unpredictable and beyond the company's control, he said.
For example, the company tests RS-68 engines at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and must lease that infrastructure and buy propellant from NASA. "We have no idea what they're going to be charging us in 2016," Maser said.
Steven A. Bouley, PWR's vice president for launch vehicles and hypersonics, said the company's Stennis-related RS-68 costs have grown by 12 percent to 15 percent in a single year.
Company officials said a more sensible approach is a hybrid featuring fixed-price contracts for products whose manufacturing costs and processes are well understood and predictable, and cost-plus arrangements for those with riskier cost profiles.
PWR has built its latest engine production proposals to ULA under the assumption that the Air Force will order eight rockets over a five-year period starting in 2013, with launches beginning in 2015. One proposal is for 31 RL10 upper-stage engines of various configurations; the other is for 21 RS-68 main engines, Bouley said.
ULA has a sizable number of RL10 engines in inventory, PWR officials said.
The Defense Department projects it will need 53 launch missions from 2015 through 2019, PWR officials said.
http://www.spacenews.com/launch/120427-pwr-reducing-manufacturing-space.html
http://www.sfvbj.com/news/2012/may/15/pratt-whitney-rocketdyne-begins-week-long-test-sch/
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Begins Week Long Test Schedule
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne today began testing its rocket engines in Mississippi and Florida.
The tests, which will continue through Friday, are significant for the company because they combine both development and production engines, said Jim Maser, president of the Canoga Park-based rocket engine developer and manufacturer.
"We'd like every week to be this way," Maser said.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engines have been used in four launches this year by the United Launch Alliance. The next launch using the company's engines on an Atlas V rocket takes place in mid-June, Maser said.
A development RS68A engine will be tested at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi today. On Wednesday, a test of a J2X engine at Stennis will focus on a modified nozzle extension that dissipates heat that is generated by the engine. The seven-second test is the first of 16 taking place throughout the summer months, Maser said.
An Atlas V rocket engine on Thursday will go through the standard acceptance test in West Palm Beach. Another J2X test takes place at Stennis on Friday; the goal is to push to the limits the gas generator and turbo machinery to see how they operate and meet engineering expectations, Maser said.
Mark Madler
http://www.pw.utc.com/media_center/press_releases/2011/04_apr/4-26-2011_00000.asp
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-68A Engine Configuration Meets All Customer Requirements for Flight
CANOGA PARK, Calif., April 26, 2011 – Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne successfully completed the Design Certification Review for the upgraded RS-68A engine configuration, demonstrating the world's most powerful hydrogen-fueled engine has met all requirements to power heavy-lift vehicles into space. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company.
"This is a stamp of approval for the RS-68A engine and major milestone for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, our United Launch Alliance customer and, most importantly, the nation," said Dan Adamski, RS-68 program manager, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. "The hard work and determination that everyone dedicated to the RS-68A program over the years brings a new large, liquid hydrogen-fueled engine to market – one capable of lifting heavy payloads into orbit and possibly beyond."
The Engine System Design Certification Review, conducted on March 31 and April 1 by the customer and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, evaluated the RS-68A engine configuration against detailed requirements and specifications. It was the culmination of a series of reviews that assessed the engine at the component, subsystem and system level, and confirmed compliance with requirements through analysis, test and hardware inspections of development engine 14001 and certification engines 30001 and 30002.
The first three RS-68A flight engines – 30003, 30004 and 30005 -- have successfully completed acceptance testing. Engine 30003 has already been integrated onto a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle in Decatur, Ala. Integration activities for engine 30004 have been initiated, and the third engine, 30005, has successfully completed its processing at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and is awaiting shipment to Decatur in May. The three engines are scheduled to boost a future Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle into orbit carrying a government payload.
The RS-68A, an upgrade of the RS-68 engine, is a liquid-hydrogen/liquid-oxygen booster engine designed to provide increased thrust and improved fuel efficiency for the Delta IV family of launch vehicles. Each RS-68A will provide 702,000 pounds of lift-off thrust, or 39,000 more pounds of thrust than a basic RS-68 engine, with increased combustion efficiency as well.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a part of Pratt & Whitney, is a preferred provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovative system solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications, including the main engines for the space shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is headquartered in Canoga Park, Calif., and has facilities in Huntsville, Ala.; Kennedy Space Center, Fla.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; Stennis Space Center, Miss; and ARDE, Carlstadt, N.J. For more information about Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, go to www.prattwhitneyrocketdyne.com.
Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and commercial building industries.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pratt--whitney-rocketdyne-continues-tests-on-department-of-defense-nasa-engines-130362743.html
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Continues Tests on Department of Defense, NASA Engines
CANOGA PARK, Calif., Sept. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In an impressive display of power and technology, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne successfully completed a series of hot-fire tests on the certified RS-68A engine, the world's most powerful hydrogen-fueled engine. The tests demonstrated the capability of the engine to operate for 4,800 seconds of cumulative run time – four times the design life of the engine and more than 10 times what's needed to boost a United Launch Alliance heavy-lift rocket into space. The tests took place at John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.
"We are proud to celebrate this success with our United Launch Alliance customer on a test series that went above and beyond in demonstrating the robustness and reliability of the RS-68A engine," said Dan Adamski, RS-68 program manager, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. "The RS-68A performed beautifully and as expected, and test results indicate no issues with the engine hardware, further demonstrating its readiness as a heavy-lift engine. The tests also provided invaluable data that improves our ability to predict the performance of the engine on launch day."
The RS-68A is a liquid-hydrogen/liquid-oxygen booster engine designed to provide increased thrust and improved fuel efficiency for the Delta IV family of launch vehicles. It evolved from the RS-68 engine, which was developed and certified for commercial use entirely on private company funds. Each RS-68A will provide 702,000 pounds of lift-off thrust, or 39,000 more pounds of thrust than the RS-68 engine, with increased combustion efficiency as well.
In addition to the successful margin demonstration testing of the RS-68A engine, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, together with NASA, has begun testing on the upper-stage J-2X engine. To date, five hot-fire tests have been conducted on the J-2X, which could be used to boost humans beyond low-Earth orbit.
Э... что самое интересое - нам практически ничего против этого зверинца делать не надо.
Все лазерные технологии элемернтарно парируются вращением РН вокруг своей оси.
И все.
Сбой
Э... что самое интересое - нам практически ничего против этого зверинца делать не надо.
Все лазерные технологии элемернтарно парируются вращением РН вокруг своей оси.
И все.
ЦитироватьЭ... что самое интересое - нам практически ничего против этого зверинца делать не надо.
Все лазерные технологии элемернтарно парируются вращением РН вокруг своей оси.
И все.
Не элементарно. Требуется всего лишь увеличить мощность лазера в пи раз.
ЦитироватьЦитироватьЭ... что самое интересое - нам практически ничего против этого зверинца делать не надо.
Все лазерные технологии элемернтарно парируются вращением РН вокруг своей оси.
И все.
Не элементарно. Требуется всего лишь увеличить мощность лазера в пи раз.
А мы ещё абляцию повесим :wink:
ЦитироватьЦитироватьЭ... что самое интересое - нам практически ничего против этого зверинца делать не надо.
Все лазерные технологии элемернтарно парируются вращением РН вокруг своей оси.
И все.
Не элементарно. Требуется всего лишь увеличить мощность лазера в пи раз.
Зависит от соотношения между диаметром пятна и диаметром ракеты, так что скорее всего больше. Это ж какой пи... эээ... мощный лазер иметь надо! :)
Цитироватьinstml пишет:
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/25314.jpg)
Throttle Up!
During a record-breaking test on June 8, 2012, engineers throttled the J-2X powerpack up and down several times to explore numerous operating points required for the fuel and oxidizer turbopumps. The results of this test will be useful for determining performance and hardware life for the J-2X engine turbopumps.
The J-2X engine will power the upper stage of the evolved NASA's Space Launch System, an advanced heavy-lift rocket that will provide for human exploration beyond Earth's orbit.
The test was conducted at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is developing the J-2X engine for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Image Credit: NASA/SSC
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2278.html
http://www.spacenews.com/launch/120615-delta-engine-variant-cost-cutting.html
Fri, 15 June, 2012
New Delta 4 Engine Variant is Part of ULA Cost Cutting Strategy
By Warren Ferster
WASHINGTON — The scheduled June 28 launch of a U.S. national security satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta 4 Heavy rocket will debut a new and more-powerful variant of the vehicle's RS-68 main engine that the company says will help cut costs and add flexibility to its fleet.
The RS-68A, also featuring better fuel efficiency than current versions of the engine, was designed specifically for the Delta 4 Heavy rocket that is used to loft the U.S. government's biggest satellites. But ULA plans to incorporate the RS-68A on all versions of the Delta 4 starting around 2015, thus eliminating manufacturing variability — both on the engine itself and on related first-stage hardware — that drives up costs, ULA spokeswoman Jessica F. Rye said in a written response to questions.
Цитироватьhttp://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=60153
(кликабельно)
Цитировать(http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/images/medium/2012-3495-m.jpg) (http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/images/large/2012-3495.jpg)
LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne tests a thruster destined for Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft. The thruster was fired in a vacuum chamber that simulated a space-like environment of 100,000 feet at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, N.M., to verify its durability in extreme heat, evaluate the opening and closing of its valves and confirm continuous combustion and performance. Twenty-four thrusters will be part of the spacecraft's orbital maneuvering and attitude control system OMAC, giving the CST-100 the ability to maneuver in space and during re-entry. The thrusters also will allow the spacecraft to separate from its launch vehicle if an abort becomes necessary during launch or ascent. In 2011, NASA selected Boeing of Houston during Commercial Crew Development Round 2 CCDev2) activities to mature the design and development of a crew transportation system with the overall goal of accelerating a United States-led capability to the International Space Station. The goal of CCP is to drive down the cost of space travel as well as open up space to more people than ever before by balancing industry's own innovative capabilities with NASA's 50 years of human spaceflight experience. Six other aerospace companies also are maturing launch vehicle and spacecraft designs under CCDev2, including Alliant Techsystems Inc. ATK, Blue Origin, Excalibur Almaz Inc., Sierra Nevada Corp., Space Exploration Technologies SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance ULA. For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew . Image credit: Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
ЦитироватьThruster Tests Completed for Boeing's CST-100
ЦитироватьPratt and Whitney Rocketdyne has successfully completed a series of tests on a thruster destined for Boeing's Commercial Space Transportation spacecraft, designated CST-100.
Boeing is one of several companies working to develop crew transportation capabilities under the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 agreement with NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The goal of the program is to help spur innovation and development of safe, reliable and cost-effective spacecraft and launch vehicles capable of transporting astronauts to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station.
Twenty-four thrusters will be part of the spacecraft's orbital maneuvering and attitude control system (OMAC), giving the CST-100 the ability to maneuver in space and during re-entry. The thrusters also will allow the spacecraft to separate from its launch vehicle if an abort becomes necessary during launch or ascent.
"Boeing and Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne know what it takes to develop safe systems and subsystems," said NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Ed Mango. "They're building on the successes of their past, while pushing the envelope with next-generation ideas to create a spacecraft for low Earth orbit transportation."
During tests conducted at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, N.M., an OMAC thruster was fired in a vacuum chamber that simulated a space-like environment of 100,000 feet. The tests verified the durability of the thrusters in extreme heat, evaluated the opening and closing of its valves and confirmed continuous combustion and performance.
"We're excited about the performance of the engine during the testing and confident the OMAC thrusters will affordably meet operational needs for safe, reliable human spaceflight," said Terry Lorier, Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne's Commercial Crew Development program manager.
All of NASA's industry partners, including Boeing, continue to meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities.
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/pwr_omac.html
ЦитироватьЭ... что самое интересое - нам практически ничего против этого зверинца делать не надо.
Все лазерные технологии элемернтарно парируются вращением РН вокруг своей оси.
И все.
А приводы рулевых двигателей на вращающейся ракете не отвалятся ?
Цитироватьinstml пишет:
ЦитироватьJ-2X testing continues
Eventually, Orion will ride an upper stage powered by the J-2X, a liquid-fueled engine that builds on the heritage of the J-2, which powered America's Saturn rockets. As NASA engineer William Greene explains on his J-2X blog, although the engine shares a name with the J-2, it has been re-designed almost entirely fr om scratch, offering significant improvements over the legacy engine. In another post, Greene lays out a spread of details from recent J-2X testing efforts. Test fires are currently taking place on two stands at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
On the A1 stand, J-2X powerpack testing is progressing. The powerpack is the top portion of the engine and excludes the thrust chamber and nozzle system. Testing with a lim ited set of components allows engineers the flexibility to 'play games' (as Greene describes it) with the engine, varying operations and conditions more than might be possible with the entire assembly, achieving a wider spread of test data. Here are some recent powerpack test results:
* May 10 / test A1J015: Fired powerpack 340 of 655 planned seconds, meeting most testing objectives.
* May 24 / test A1J016: Fired powerpack 32 seconds. The test was cut short due to a hydrogen leak in the facility (not related to the powerpack).
* June 8 / test A1J017: Fired powerpack for full duration, 1150-second test. The test set a duration record for stand A (stand B has a slightly longer record set by Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) tests.
At the A2 stand, the full J-2X development engine is being tested:
* April 26 / test A2J011: Fired engine 3 of 7 planned seconds. A seal in the apparatus used to simulate low pressure in the engine nozzle was damaged.
* May 16 / test A2J012: Fired engine 7 seconds (full duration).
* May 25 / test A2J013: Fired engine 40 seconds (full duration). First switch of the entire engine to secondary (throttled) mode.
* June 13 / test A2J014: Fired engine 260 seconds (full duration). Test started in secondary (throttled) mode and switched to primary mode.
Core stage moves from concept to design
Finally, the core stage of The Monster Rocket has moved from design requirements to blueprints, as NASA announced it had completed a major technical review last month. The stage will debut with four RS-25D engines pilfered from retired space shuttle orbiters. When those engines run out, they will be replaced with RS-25E engines -- 'E' for 'expendable' -- cheaper, non-reusable versions.
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/jason-davis/20120711-checking-in-on-the-space.html
http://www.spacenews.com/launch/120723-aerojet-parent-company-bids-550-million-for-rival-rocketdyne.html
Mon, 23 July, 2012
Aerojet's Parent Company Bids $550 Million for Rival Rocketdyne
By Brian Berger
WASHINGTON — Aerojet parent company GenCorp. Inc. said July 23 that it has signed a definitive agreement to buy Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne from United Technologies Corp. for $550 million.
GenCorp intends to finance the acquisition of Aerojet's chief liquid-propulsion rival with a combination of cash on hand and issuance of debt, the Sacramento, Calif., company said in a press release.
United Technologies Corp. has been looking to sell Canoga Park, Calif.-based Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and other noncore businesses to help finance its purchase of Goodrich Corp.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne provides the main propulsion systems for the United Launch Alliance Atlas and Delta launch vehicles. The company also is under contract to provide the core engines for NASA's Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket currently under development.
GenCorp Chief Executive Scott Seymour said buying Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne would nearly double the size of GenCorp's propulsion business.
"We see great strategic value in this transaction for the country, our customers, partners supply base and our shareholders," Seymour said in a statement. "The combined enterprise will be better positioned to compete in a dynamic, highly competitive marketplace, and provide more affordable products for our customers."
GenCorp said it expects the deal to close in the first half of 2013, assuming federal regulators approve the deal.
http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_07_23_2012_p0-479108.xml&p=1
GenCorp To Pay $550M For UTC's Rocketdyne
By Reuters Staff, Frank Morring, Jr. morring@aviationweek.com
July 23, 2012
GenCorp, a maker of aerospace propulsion systems, will pay $550 million for United Technologies Corp.'s (UTC) Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne unit, the two companies said July 23.
The deal will almost double GenCorp's size, while allowing UTC to pay down a portion of debt tied to its $16.5 billion acquisition of aircraft components maker Goodrich Corp.
The companies expect the deal, first reported by Reuters last week, to close in the first half of 2013.
Rocketdyne, the world's largest manufacturer of liquid-fueled rocket propulsion systems, has been facing an uncertain outlook following the end of the U.S. space shuttle program last year, and industry executives have said consolidation is needed for the space industry to survive a tough environment.
The sale comes more than seven years after UTC bought Rocketdyne from Boeing for $700 million in cash.
Rocketdyne makes liquid rocket motors to launch satellites into space, but also has begun to diversify into solar and gasified coal energy technologies. GenCorp's Aerojet subsidiary and Alliant Techsystems Inc. produce solid-rocket motors.
Several people familiar with the process told Reuters previously that UTC had received multiple bids for the Rocketdyne business in late March, with GenCorp and private equity firms among the interested parties. Talks resumed in earnest with GenCorp after a prospective deal with a private equity buyer fell through, the people told Reuters.
Defense consultant Jim McAleese said the deal was significant because it would help preserve "a critical, but atrophying, capability since Rocketdyne's liquid-rocket engines power both the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, and NASA's manned spaceflight."
He said he did not expect much objection to the deal since it would "immediately strengthen competition, by creating two strong competitors for liquid- and solid-rocket engines," the combined Aerojet-Rocketdyne business and Alliant Techsystems.
"This is exactly the type of modest consolidation that [the U.S. Department of Defense] has been publicly seeking to increase competition and reduce overhead, which could not be more timely given the growing threat of sequestration," McAleese said, referring to an additional $500 billion in defense spending cuts due to take effect in January.
GenCorp Chief Executive Officer Scott Seymour said the combined company would be better positioned for a highly competitive marketplace and could provide more affordable products to customers. "This transaction almost doubles the size of our company and provides additional growth opportunities as we build upon the complementary capabilities of each legacy company that has enabled a generation of human space travel and national security launch services," Seymour said in a prepared statement announcing the agreement. He added it would create a "combined enterprise ... better positioned to compete in a dynamic, highly competitive marketplace, and provide more affordable products for our customers."
Both companies have been in the rocket-engine business since the beginning of the Space Age. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne built engines for the Saturn V moon rocket and space shuttle, while Aerojet is on the verge of launching its first AJ26 — a modified Russian NK-33 — as the main powerplant for the new Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares medium-lift launch vehicle.
Both companies have been selected to conduct study work on kerosene engines for the advanced booster for NASA's planned heavy-lift Space Launch System, which will be powered by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's RD-25D and E space shuttle main engines, and the J-2X upper stage based on the Saturn V J-2 upper-stage engine. Aerojet is working on advanced kerosene-fueled propulsion for the advanced booster.
:)
ЦитироватьNASA Awards Space Launch System Advanced Booster Contracts [/size] 1.10. 2012
ЦитироватьWASHINGTON -- NASA has awarded three contracts totaling $137.3 million to improve the affordability, reliability and performance of an advanced booster for the Space Launch System (SLS). The awardees will develop engineering demonstrations and risk reduction concepts for a future version of the SLS, a heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
The initial 77-ton (70-metric-ton) SLS configuration will use two 5-segment solid rocket boosters similar to the boosters that helped power the space shuttle to orbit. The evolved 143-ton (130-metric-ton) SLS vehicle will require an advanced booster with more thrust than any existing U.S. liquid- or solid-fueled boosters. These new initiatives will demonstrate and examine advanced booster concepts and hardware demonstrations during a 30-month period.
The companies selected for SLS Advanced Booster contracts are:
-- ATK Launch Systems Inc. of Brigham City, Utah, which will demonstrate innovations for a solid-fueled booster. The contract addresses the key risks associated with low-cost solid propellant boosters, particularly in the areas of composite case design and development, propellant development and characterization, nozzle design and affordability enhancement, and avionics and controls development.
-- Dynetics Inc. of Huntsville, Ala., which will demonstrate the use of modern manufacturing techniques to produce and test several primary components of the F-1 rocket engine originally developed for the Apollo Program, including an integrated powerpack, the primary rotating machinery of the engine. Additionally, the contract will demonstrate innovative fabrication techniques for metallic cryogenic tanks.
-- Northrop Grumman Corporation Aerospace Systems of Redondo Beach, Calif., which will demonstrate innovative design and manufacturing techniques for composite propellant tanks with low fixed costs and affordable production rates. Independent time and motion studies will compare demonstration affordability data to SLS advanced booster development, production and operations.
Additional contracts may be awarded following successful negotiation of other proposals previously received for this NASA Research Announcement (NRA), subject to funding availability.
Designed to be flexible for launching payloads and spacecraft, including NASA's Orion spacecraft that will take humans beyond low Earth orbit, SLS will enable the agency to meet the Obama Administration's goal of sending humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s.
The first flight test of NASA's SLS, an uncrewed mission to lunar orbit, which will feature a configuration for a 77-ton lift capacity, is scheduled for 2017. As SLS evolves, a two-stage launch vehicle configuration will provide a lift capability of 143 tons and include the improved, more powerful advanced booster.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/oct/HQ_12-339_SLS_Awards_Contract.html
http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/AW_07_23_2012_p22-477250.xml&p=2
NASA Will Explore F-1 Upgrade For Heavy Lifter
By Frank Morring, Jr.
Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology
July 23, 2012
The powerful rocket engine developed in the 1960s to launch the first men to the Moon could be reprised in the 2020s as the powerplant for strap-on boosters that NASA hopes to use in heavy-lift human missions to Mars. Under a new NASA risk-reduction project, Dynetics Inc., a relative newcomer to space launch, will explore the idea for the U.S. agency in partnership with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
Rocketdyne built the 1.5-million-lb.-thrust F-1 engine for NASA, which mounted five of the kerosene-fueled behemoths in the Saturn V first stage to propel the massive Saturn/Apollo stack off the launch pad. The F-1—19 ft. tall, with a nozzle 12.5 ft. across—epitomized the scale of the flight hardware and ground infrastructure NASA used to beat the Soviet Uni on to the Moon. If NASA decides to fly it again, it probably will be tested in the same stands built for the F-1 at the agency's Marshall and Stennis field centers, stacked in the same 40-story Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center used for Apollo and the space shuttle, and launched fr om one of the pads built for the Moon program.
Dynetics scored big in a $200 million NASA effort to reduce the risk on advanced boosters for the planned Space Launch System (SLS) that Congress ordered as a government-owned deep-space alternative to the commercial vehicles the agency wants to use for transport to the International Space Station. Last week NASA sel ected the company to negotiate for three of six 30-month study contracts designed to reduce risk on the twin boosters that will be needed to raise the SLS capability from an initial 70 metric tons to the 130 metric tons the agency believes will be needed for human missions beyond low Earth orbit.
"With an F-1-based approach, we get significant performance enhancement beyond the 130 [tons], on the order of 20 metric tons," Steve Cook, Dynetics' director of space technologies and NASA's former Ares program manager, tells Aviation Week's Jefferson Morris.
Headquartered in Huntsville, Ala., near the World War II-vintage U.S. Army arsenal wh ere Wernher von Braun's team developed the Saturn V and its engines, Dynetics was selected for its risk-reduction proposals covering the F-1 engine itself, the main propulsion system for a strap-on booster and the booster structure. For the F-1, Cook says, risk-reduction tasks would include gas generator and powerpack evaluations. The company's main propulsion system proposal would involve cryogenic valve and line-in valve demonstrations, and the structures proposal would demonstrate low-cost cryogenic tank-manufacturing approaches.
"Those risk reductions are focused heavily around affordability . . . because a big deal on the Space Launch System is affordability, while also giving NASA additional performance margin above their 130-metric-ton requirement," says Cook.
NASA also selected a booster-tank proposal offered by Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems unit, which would build a subscale composite tank. Aerojet General Corp. has been working on a larger version of the surplus Soviet NK-33 kerosene-fueled rocket engine it modified for the new Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares, and NASA selected its proposal for a full-scale combustion-stability demonstration. NASA chose ATK Launch Systems—which built the four-segment solid-fuel motors used on the space shuttle and a five-segment version for the defunct Ares I crew launcher—to run an integrated booster static test.
NASA plans to use the five-segment solids with the first version of the SLS, a 70-metric-ton vehicle with a Delta IV upper stage. Later it will add a more powerful upper stage and whatever strap-ons it chooses to begin sending astronauts beyond low Earth orbit.
"We want to build a system that will be upgradable and used for decades," says William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration operations.
Завершение предыдущего поста:
If the Dynetics proposal to use the F-1 in the boosters is accepted, all of the engines on the SLS will have heritage in earlier human spaceflight missions, and all will already have been used for decades when deep-space human missions begin. The F-1 ran a full 2.5-min. test at Edwards AFB, Calif., in 1960 (see photo), before the A-1 and A-2 test stands at Stennis were built for it. NASA and Rocketdyne are testing the uprated J-2X variant of the Saturn V J-2 engine to power the SLS upper stage. And the main SLS engine will be a throw-away version of the reusable RS-25D space shuttle main engine, also built by Rocketdyne, once the 15 surplus shuttle engines are used up. Developed in the 1970s, it will be the newest basic engine design for what may one day be NASA's newest human launchers.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=158467851
ЦитироватьSaturn V F-1 Engine Gas Generator Blazes Back To Life
On Jan. 10, 2013, a resurrected gas generator from a Saturn V F-1 engine completed two hot-fire tests that are part of a series of tests at Test Stand 116 located in the East Test Area at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The primary test objectives are to gather performance data from the refurbished gas generator and to demonstrate new test stand capabilities for conducting future tests with liquid oxygen and rocket grade kerosene fuel. Data from the tests will benefit the development of advanced, affordable propulsion systems needed for the evolved Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket -- a launch vehicle designed to carry 130 metric tons (143-tons) and to send humans even farther than the moon. (NASA/MSFC)
По ссылке есть видео.
Aerospace Daily & Defence Report 12 April, 2003
PWR Moving Ahead On F-1 ResurrectionЦитироватьPratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is working toward a full-scale turbomachinery test next year of the F-1B kerosene fueled rocket engine it is developing with Dynetics as a potential power plant for the advanced side-mounted boosters NASA will need to meet the 130-metric ton congressional requirement for its planned Space Launch System.
The company displayed a vintage F-1 gas generator and turbo machinery unit at the National Space Symposium here.
The flight hardware, left over from the Saturn V program, dwarfed other full scale rocket engines the company had on display in its exhibition-hall booth.
The company has two more F-1A engines that it is using for its NASA work.
"We've torn them down and inspected them to see how they look," said main combustion chamber development lead Tom Martin. "We're refurbishing those. We're taking some of the components and using modern processes to replicate that hardware."
PWR is using the vintage gas-generator cycle to get the SLS off the pad, relying on its 1.8 million-lb. thrust capability to provide the needed boost even without the efficiency of a staged combustion engine that is also in the running under NASA's advanced booster program.
The proposed Aerojet AJ-1E6 is an oxygen-rich staged, two-combustion chamber configuration similar to the Atlas V's RD-180, but is less powerful than the F-1B. While two F-1Bs would
be used on each of the two SLS boosters, a total off our AJ-1E6s would be required for the same power.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and Dynetics' improved F-1 version incorporates a simplified F-1A turbopump and exhaust duct, as well as changes to the nozzle design and combustion chamber. Changes to the latter component include the adoption of a new hot-isostatic press-(HIP) bond assembly process for the main combustion chamber, as well as a new channel-wall nozzle made using simplified, less expensive manufacturing processes. "The HIP-bonded main combustion chamber gives us more thermal margin," says Ron Ramos, PWR's vice president for Exploration and Missile Defense.
PWR is also using additive manufacturing selective laser melting techniques to develop an optimized injector for the gas generator. "Designing and making the part is in the scope of the
program, but is not part of the scope of the hot fire element," says Ramos who adds the company may attempt to include the injector when this takes place.
Gas generator
PWR took over testing of a heritage F-1A gas generator earlier this year from NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center, and has subsequently refurbished the engine components using the company-developed improved manufacturing techniques. "We will take the gas generator that we and Marshall tested, and do a power pack test at [NASA] Stennis. It will be the largestflow test," said Martin. The exercise will wrap up the 30-month program and is scheduled for "late 2014," he said.
With the proposed $550 million Aerojet purchase of PWR still awaiting Federal Trade Commission approval, PWR President Jim Maser says "until that decision is made we're pursuing a strategy independent of that decision.We believe we have the winning strategy."
Maser adds that beyond this issue bigger questions are facing the future of the entire launch architecture. "Does SLS continue to have enough funding? Are we going to go through risk reduction, and is NASA still willing to do full rate development through March 2015 – which is the timeline for the whole advanced booster risk reduction strategy." Maser also confirms that, in view of possible budget cuts, NASA "has asked us to look at several 'what if' scenarios."
Frank Morring, Jr. (morring@aviationweek.com) and
Guy Norris (guy_norris@aviationweek.com)
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2013/04/27/hot-fire-tests-steering-the-future-of-nasas-space-launch-system-engines/
ЦитироватьHot-fire Tests Steering the Future of NASA's Space Launch System Engines
Posted by Doug Messier
on April 27, 2013, at 5:53 am
in News
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/67218.jpg)
A J-2X engine test firing on April 4, 2103, at Stennis Space Center. (Credit: NASA/SSC)
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, MS (NASA PR) — Engineers developing NASA's next-generation rocket closed one chapter of testing with the completion of a J-2X engine test series on the A-2 test stand at the agency's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and will begin a new chapter of full motion testing on test stand A-1.
The J-2X will drive the second stage of the 143-ton (130-metric ton) heavy-lift version of the Space Launch System (SLS). The rocket will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration and send humans in NASA's Orion spacecraft into deep space.
J-2X engine 10002 was fired for the last time on the A-2 test stand at Stennis on April 17. This engine set a duration record for J-2X engine firings at Stennis' A-2 test stand on April 4 when it fired for 570 seconds, beating the previous mark set less than a month earlier on March 7, when the same engine ran for 560 seconds.
This is the second J-2X engine Stennis has test fired. Last year, test conductors put the first developmental J-2X engine, called 10001, through its paces. According to J-2X managers, both performed extremely well.
When the engine is eventually used in space, it will need to be able to move to help steer the rocket.
"The A-1 is designed to allow us to gimbal, or pivot, the J-2X during a live firing and test the range of motion for the engine's flexible parts," said Gary Benton, manager of the J-2X test project at Stennis. "This type of testing hasn't been performed since the space shuttle main engines were tested on the stand."
Those space shuttle main engines, also called RS-25s, will make a return to the test stand in 2014. A collection of RS-25 engines, which were used to launch 135 space shuttle missions, will be rated to operate at a higher power level and used to launch the core stage of the SLS.
"While we will get valuable data on the engine fr om the firing and gimbaling of the J-2X, we're also re-testing the function of the A-1 stand," said Mike Kynard, manager of the SLS Liquid Engines Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., wh ere the SLS Program is managed. "Using A-1 to work on the J-2X gives us a great opportunity to ensure the stand will be capable and ready to test the RS-25s."
The March 7 test, which set the short-lived duration record, was remarkable for another reason in that it marked the first time a 3-D printed part was hot-fire tested on a NASA engine system.
The prime contractor for the liquid engine, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., built a maintenance port cover for the 10002 engine using an advanced manufacturing process called Selective Laser Melting. This construction method uses lasers to fuse metal dust into a specific pattern to build the needed part.
"This demonstrates affordable manufacturing in a revolutionary way," Kynard said. "The maintenance port cover built with Selective Laser Melting cost only 35 percent of the cost to make the same part using traditional methods. It performed well enough that we have started building other rocket engine parts using this advanced process, which takes days instead of months. It is a significant savings and one that we'll take advantage of when we build engine parts in the future."
The SLS will first launch during Exploration Mission-1 in 2017, a flight test that will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon.
Chris Bergin: The engines that refused to retire – RS-25s prepare for SLS testing
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/06/engines-refused-retire-rs-25s-prepare-sls-testing/
http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/35738ftc-approves-aerojet-pratt-whitney-rocketdyne-merger#.UbdonNiBXTo
ЦитироватьFTC Approves Aerojet-Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Merger
By Mike Gruss | Jun. 11, 2013
WASHINGTON — GenCorp Inc. is free to proceed with its $550 million acquisition of rocket engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne from United Technologies Corp. after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) closed an investigation into whether the transaction would lead to an anti-competitive marketplace.
An FTC investigation had found the merger would give Sacramento, Calif.-based Aerojet, and its parent company GenCorp., a monopoly in liquid divert and altitude control systems, or LDACS, which are used for missile defense interceptors. Such an arrangement could lead to higher prices for the U.S. Defense Department, the FTC said.
In January, GenCorp said Aerojet planned to divest its LDACS business.
But in a June 6 letter, the Defense Department asked the FTC to allow the merger, claiming it could help space launch requirements and that the divestiture of the LDACS business would be "impossible due to highly unusual national security circumstances."
Citing the Defense Department's position, the FTC announced June 10 it had closed its investigation and would allow the merger to proceed unchallenged.
East Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies Corp. and Aerojet announced the deal for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., in July 2012. The merger will create a dominant U.S. supplier of liquid-fueled rocket engines in addition to in-space and missile propulsion systems.
Aerojet also is one of two U.S. suppliers of solid-rocket motors, the other being ATK Aerospace of Magna, Utah.
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2013/06/14/gencorp-completes-acquisition-of-pratt-whitney-rocketdyne-from-utc/
ЦитироватьGenCorp Completes Acquisition of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne from UTC
Posted by Doug Messier (http://www.parabolicarc.com/author/doug/)
on June 14, 2013, at 4:19 pm in News (http://www.parabolicarc.com/category/news/)
(https://img.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/86964.jpg) (http://www.parabolicarc.com/2009/11/30/pratt-whitney-rocketdyne-tests-miniaturized-thrusters-robot-lunar-landers/pratt_whitney/)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (GenCorp PR) – GenCorp Inc. (NYSE: GY) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of substantially all operations of the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne business (Rocketdyne) from United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX). GenCorp will combine Rocketdyne with Aerojet-General Corporation (Aerojet), a wholly-owned subsidiary of GenCorp, and the combined businesses will operate as Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc., headquartered in Sacramento, California.
As part of the Rocketdyne transaction, GenCorp will acquire UTC's 50% interest in the RD Amross joint venture following receipt of Russian regulatory approvals.
"Today is an exciting milestone in the history of GenCorp. This landmark transaction signals the transformation of two rocket propulsion companies into one extraordinary opportunity for the future," said GenCorp President and CEO, Scott Seymour. "The addition of Rocketdyne almost doubles the size of our company and provides additional growth opportunities as we build upon the complementary capabilities of each legacy company, including their talented people and innovative technologies."
"Combined, we bring decades of history that launched the first space age and put mission-critical technology into the hands of our warfighters," Seymour continued. "Our vision for the future is a shared one. We have the best workforce in the industry and we are committed to 100% safety and mission success as we continue to deliver performance, drive innovation and create opportunity. We will continue to be a leader in the next space age."
For more information about Aerojet Rocketdyne, please visit: http://www.rocket.com.
About GenCorp
GenCorp is a diversified company providing innovative solutions to its customers in the aerospace and defense, energy and real estate markets. Additional information about the company can be obtained by visiting the company's website at http://www.gencorp.com.