SLS - space launch system (3-я попытка)

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Stennis Space Center‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASAStennis 21 мин. назад

Update: The RS-25 Engine Test is now targeted for 2:45 p.m. (CST) @ SSC. Don't forget to tune in for our FB Live event! #SLSFiredUp

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 50 мин. назад

ARTICLE: RS-25 heads into next phase of hot fire testing with 3D printed Pogo - https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/12/rs-25-next-phase-testing-stennis-hot-fire/ ...

 - By Philip Sloss

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RS-25 heads into next phase of hot fire testing with 3D printed Pogo

December 13, 2017 by Philip Sloss

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 13 мин. назад

IGNITION! RS-25 (E0528 ) roars into life at Stennis. Full duration hot fire taking place. Watch Live on NASA TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwMDvPCGeE0 ...

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 11 мин. назад

NASA making the weather. This is generating a rain cloud....and it will rain on the locals shortly.

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 12 мин. назад

RS-25 Hot Fire complete! E0528 full duration firing - with 3D printed pogo - for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS).

ARTICLE: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/12/rs-25-next-phase-testing-stennis-hot-fire ...

UPDATES: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=35220.msg1758855#msg1758855 ...

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Видеоповтор на Мордокниге

https://www.facebook.com/NASAStennis/videos/vb.134512156591701/1590255451017357/

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Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 10 мин. назад

Article updated. The test did not run through to full duration. Facility issue caused an abort with 70 seconds to go. Not a big issue. Engine not at fault and all objectives completed.

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NASA Conducts Final RS-25 Rocket Engine Test of 2017

NASA Stennis

Опубликовано: 13 дек. 2017 г.

NASA engineers capped a year of Space Launch System testing with a final RS-25 rocket engine hot fire on Dec. 13 at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss. The 470-second test on the A-1 Test Stand was a "green run" test of an RS-25 flight controller. It marked the eighth RS-25 test of the year and the sixth flight controller to be tested for use on NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle. The engine tested also included a large 3-D-printed part scheduled for use on future RS-25 flight engines.

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NASA Conducts Final RS-25 Rocket Engine Test of 2017

NASA Video

Опубликовано: 13 дек. 2017 г.

Engineers at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi on Dec. 13 completed a hot-fire test of RS-25 rocket engine.

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http://spaceflight101.com/sls-testing-rs-25-fires-up-at-stennis-for-qualification-of-new-3d-printed-engine-part/

SLS Testing: RS-25 Fires Up at Stennis for Qualification of New 3D Printed Engine Part
December 14, 2017


Photo: NASA

NASA's concluded its 2017 RS-25 test program on Wednesday with a hot fire test of an RS-25 development engine at the Stennis Space Center in support of certification of production re-start hardware for new engines that will fly on the Space Launch System after the stockpiled engine inventory fr om the Space Shuttle Program has been used up. The firing, starting at 2:45 p.m., had a duration of 400 seconds, cut short by just over a minute due to a ground equipment issue.

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The specific objectives of Wednesday's test were twofold – a) demonstrating a new 3D printed POGO accumulator assembly that will be flown on the follow-on version of the RS-25 and b) qualifying another Engine Controller Unit for use on the initial SLS missions that will use refurbished Space Shuttle engines running modified control algorithms. Despite the abort of the test 70 seconds before its planned duration was met, both objectives could be checked off, classing the test as an overall success.


Photo: NASA Stennis

NASA conducted a series of RS-25 hot fire tests in the summer to finish certifying the existing RS-25 design for the operational parameters of SLS that require the engine to operate at its higher 109% thrust setting. Green-run tests were used to qualify Engine Control Units for installation on the SLS flight engines and a test in October test fired an engine earmarked for Exploration Mission 2, the second launch of the Space Launch System and the first to carry a crew.

Wednesday's test involved development engine E0528 and took place on the A-1 test stand at Stennis, transitioning SLS engine testing from qualification of leftover Shuttle engines that will run out after four SLS launches to development testing for the RS-25 follow on version which will leverage the extensive design and flight heritage of the former Shuttle engine but incorporate new elements for a reduction in complexity and production cost. For the Space Shuttle, RS-25 was designed to be re-usable for up to 20 missions whereas SLS will only use the engine once – allowing some lifetime requirements and operational parameters to be loosened in favor of reducing cost.


(youtube.com/watch?v=6CzpHOkcd2Y)


Heritage Shuttle Engines for SLS EM-1 Mission – Photo: NASA

According to NASA, the SLS RS-25 affordability initiative is "an effort to reduce the engine's overall production costs by using new advanced manufacturing techniques while maintaining reliability and safety." After the original RS-25 manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne received the award for future one-use RS-25 engines, supply chains were restarted and studies went in motion wh ere cost reductions are safely possible given the lower lifetime requirements for the SLS engines.

The first piece of production re-start hardware finding its way to the test stand was a 3D printed POGO accumulator assembly – a beach ball-sized component that acts as a shock absorber to dampen vibrations, or oscillations caused by the fast-flowing propellants in the lines between the vehicle and the engine. Using additive manufacturing, Aerojet Rocketdyne is able to make the accumulator assembly with fewer welds, reducing the time and cost needed for its production.


An Aerojet Rocketdyne technician inspects the 3-D printed pogo accumulator assembly on an RS-25 development engine – Photo: Aerojet Rocketdyne

Through 3D printing, the manufacturing time for the accumulator was cut in half, total parts were reduced by 78% and over 120 welds were eliminated. In fact, 3D printing led to a more robust design of the accumulator with slightly increased strength due to the use of a modified metal alloy.

Additive manufacturing has been introduced for a number of rocket engines over the last several years. SpaceX employs 3D printing for its SuperDraco engine that will power the crewed Dragon spacecraft and the company's workhorse, the Merlin 1D, also relies on 3D printing for critical engine parts. Rocket Lab's Rutherford engine, powering the Electron rocket, is the first engine to utilize 3D printing for all critical engine parts.

"This test demonstrates the viability of using additive manufacturing to produce even the most complex components in one of the world's most reliable rocket engines," said Eileen Drake, CEO and president of Aerojet Rocketdyne. "We expect this technology to dramatically lower the cost of access to space."


Photo: NASA Stennis

The E0528 engine was shipped to Aerojet Rocketdyne's facility at Stennis after the August 30 green run of another engine controller and installation of the POGO accumulator was completed in November before the engine returned to the A-1 stand earlier this month.

The second objective of Wednesday's test was acceptance testing of Engine Controller Unit Flight Model 3 that had been originally put through its green run test in May, but an inspection after the test revealed an issue that ended up requiring the replacement of a circuit board. To re-qualify the ECU, another test was needed and Wednesday's hot-firing provided a good opportunity to check this off the task list before the end of the year. FM-3 is now set for integration with one of the SLS flight engines in storage at Stennis.


Photo: Aerojet Rocketdyne

Wednesday's test used the typical throttle sequence a flight engine would go through to demonstrate the accumulator for a nominal mission, starting up the engine to 100% of Rated Performance Level before going to the 109% setting as the normal thrust setting for the retrofitted Shuttle-era engines, also throttling back to 80% to mimic a bucket in the thrust profile at booster separation. The test was also the first to spend time at 111% RPL which is the target standard thrust setting for the production restart engines flying after SLS Mission 4 and plans for future performance certification at 113% exist to increase performance of the SLS launch vehicle.

Although the test was cut short by 70 seconds, NASA said "initial reports show the 3D-printed hardware performed as expected, opening the door for more components scheduled for future tests." A total of four test runs were planned as part of this initial retrofit cycle focused on the accumulator while the second RS-25 development engine (E0525) is receiving a more substantial retrofit in the form of a production restart Main Combustion Chamber that is expected to reach the test stand in mid-2018. Further ECU testing will be performed as part of the retrofit tests as units are available.

Per the current plan, RS-25 will be fully qualified to restart engine production by the end of 2021; however, production of engines for the fifth and subsequent SLS core stages will be underway before then. Stennis is also seeing activity on test stand B-2 that will host the Exploration Mission 1 Core Stage for hot fire testing of its four RS-25 engines.


Image: NASA Marshall

RS-25 is a staged combustion engine with two separate preburners that drive separate high-pressure turbopumps delivering Liquid Oxygen oxidizer and Liquid Hydrogen fuel received from independent low-pressure turbopumps to the main combustion chamber which employs regenerative cooling provided by fuel circulation through the chamber and nozzle wall. Becoming one of the most-tested and best understood pieces of rocket propulsion, the RS-25 went through a number of modifications, improvements and re-certifications over its three-decade operational life with Shuttle.

Despite being one of the most complex engines ever flown, the RS-25 maintained an impressive reliability with only one major in-flight event.

Overall, RS-25 delivers 1,860 Kilonewtons of thrust at sea level increasing to 2,279kN in vacuum (at the new standard 109% power level); the engine can actively throttle from 67% to 111 or even 115% of rated performance. The engine achieves a specific impulse of 366 seconds at sea level and 453 seconds in vacuum, operating at a chamber pressure of 206.4 bar.  RS-25 stands 4.3 meters tall and is 2.4 meters in diameter with a dry mass of 3.5 metric tons.

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GSDO Program‏ @NASA_go4launch 1 ч. назад

Today we will test the #IOPSS! Check back around 10:30am EST for updates!

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's Exploration Ground Systems had a successful Ignition Overpressure Sound Suppression System Test called the Pad B standalone wet flow. The IOPSS will be used for sound suppression during the launch of the NASA's Space Launch System and NASA's Orion Spacecraft for Exploration Mission 1 in 2019 from Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is a verification and validation (V&V) test to buy off subsystem requirements. Today was the second of two wet flows. The first was on Monday and only the elevated water tank riser pipe was filled. Today, we flowed with a full tank and release approx 410,000 gal to the Pad surface and Flame trench. Last time a similar test was performed was in 1980. #WetFlowWednesday

Video

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https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/nasa-tests-3-d-printed-rocket-part-to-reduce-future-sls-engine-costs

Dec. 21, 2017

NASA Tests 3-D Printed Rocket Part to Reduce Future SLS Engine Costs

Engineers successfully hot-fire tested an RS-25 rocket engine with a large 3-D printed part for the first time on Dec. 13, marking a key step toward reducing costs for future engines that power NASA's new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System.

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The successful hot-fire test of an RS-25 development engine at NASA's Stennis Space Center on Dec. 13 included NASA's largest 3-D printed rocket engine component to date, the pogo accumulator assembly. The test was the first of 50 for NASA's restart of RS-25 engine production.
Credits: NASA/Stennis
View Larger Image

During flight, a rocket may experience powerful up-and-down vibrations mainly due to the engines and propellant in the feed lines. This is called the pogo effect and is similar to the up-and-down motion of bouncing on a pogo stick. The 3-D printed part tested, called the pogo accumulator, is a beachball-sized piece of hardware that acts as a shock absorber by regulating liquid oxygen movement in the engine to prevent the vibrations that can destabilize a rocket's flight.

By 3-D printing the pogo accumulator, more than 100 welds were eliminated, reducing costs by nearly 35 percent and production time by more than 80 percent. Initial reports show the 3-D printed hardware performed as expected, opening the door for more components scheduled for future tests.

The test was part of the SLS Program's RS-25 affordability initiative -- a collaborative effort between NASA and industry partner Aerojet Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, California, to reduce the engine's overall production costs while maintaining performance, reliability and safety.
 

Owen Brayson, an instrumentation technician for NASA's RS-25 prime contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, exhibits the pogo accumulator assembly, NASA's largest 3-D-printed rocket engine component tested in the restart of RS-25 production, on Engine 0528. The engine was successfully tested Dec. 13.
Credits: Aerojet Rocketdyne
View Larger Image

"As we build future RS-25s, NASA and our partners are taking advantage of innovative manufacturing techniques, including additive manufacturing, or 3-D printing, to make the engines more affordable," said Andy Hardin engine integration hardware manager for the SLS Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. "3-D printing is revolutionizing manufacturing, and the pogo accumulator is the first of many components that can be built more quickly and less expensively."

To minimize the costs of developing SLS, NASA selected the RS-25 engine, to leverage the assets, capabilities and experience of the Space Shuttle Program. NASA's fleet of 16 heritage engines have been modified with new controllers and other changes to allow them to launch the more powerful SLS on its first four flights. The SLS Program has ordered six new engines to be built by Aerojet Rocketdyne for future flights.

"With modern fabrication processes, including additive manufacturing, the 'next generation' of the RS-25 will have fewer parts and welds, reducing production time as well as costs," said Carol Jacobs, RS-25 engine lead at Marshall.

Jacobs, who began working with the space shuttle main engine when she joined NASA in 1983, is excited about how new, 21st-century practices can help streamline the production process.

"Reducing the number of welds is very important," she said. "With each weld comes inspections and possible rework. By eliminating welds, we make the hardware more reliable and the process much more lean and efficient, which makes it more cost-effective."

The Dec. 13 test was the first in a series of four tests designed to evaluate the operation of the 3-D printed pogo accumulator, and the first in the series to certify the next generation of RS-25 engines. The new, pogo accumulator will be included on all tests moving forward.

"Future tests will incorporate more and more 3-D printed components, with each test series building on the previous tests," said Hardin.

NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne plan to incorporate dozens of components made using additive manufacturing techniques into the new RS-25 engines. In addition, nearly every other major component, including the main combustion chamber, nozzle, ducts, valves, electrical and running gear will incorportate affordability improvements using a variety of advanced manufacturing processes. The innovative processes, along with design changes will eliminate more than 700 welds and more than 700 parts, while reducing engine costs.

SLS, which is managed by Marshall, will enable a new era of exploration beyond Earth's orbit, launching astronauts in the Orion spacecraft on deep-space exploration missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars. On the first flight of SLS, the rocket will send an uncrewed Orion thousands of miles beyond the Moon before the spacecraft returns to Earth.

The four heritage RS-25 engines and flight controllers that will power SLS on that first flight have been certified and are awaiting shipment to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where they will be joined to the SLS core stage. Major welding on all five parts of the rocket's core stage for EM-1 has also been completed and the hardware is ready for additional outfitting and testing.

For more information about SLS, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html

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Last Updated: Dec. 22, 2017
Editor: Jennifer Harbaugh