![]() ![]() Target more than a 30-percent cost reduction on future production when comparedĪnd with Friday’s contract award for a further 18 engines, NASA will have the capability to support six more SLS missions four engines per booster. Production lines, established a supplier base and its building engines usingĪdvanced techniques that reduce both the cost and time for manufacturing eachĮngine.” Those six engines, the delivery of which is expected to begin in 2023, “We’ve already begun production on the first six new RS-25 engines,” said Image Credit: NASAĪlso exercised a contract option for Aerojet Rocketdyne to build six all-new engines. When fully operational, the Space Launch System (SLS) promises to be the world’s most powerful rocket and the only booster capable of sending a human-rated craft to the Moon by 2024. Power the first four missions by the new booster. Surviving shuttle-era RS-25s have been extensively upgraded and tested and will Performance, generating 521,000 pounds (236,300 kg) at liftoff. It would benefit from fewer parts and weldsĪnd would be certified for higher thrust settings of up to 111 percent rated Nine years to restart RS-25 production to extensively modernize the engine to November 2015 NASA awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne a $1.16 billion contract over Inventory of engines would quickly be depleted. SLS, but unlike the shuttle they would not be reused and as such the remaining ![]() ![]() Revived to lift the new rocket’s core stage. September 2011 the venerable old engine was However, with the birth of the SLS program in Selling or donating NASA’s RS-25 inventory to U.S. Itself was canceled in 2010 and consideration was given to Heavylifter, although that role was eventually taken by other engines. The Constellation program, powering the core and second stages of the Ares V The retirement of the shuttle fleet, the RS-25 was expected to play a role in The four RS-25 engines which will power the maiden SLS launch of NASA’s Artemis moon missions. It was also stronger and more reliable than earlier engines, thanks to the elimination of several welds, the inclusion of more durable bearings and a sophisticated casting process for its turbopump housing. NASA SPACE SHUTTLE SACRAMENTO FULLThe final shuttle-era iteration of the engine incorporated a robust high-pressure fuel turbopump and enabled a full power setting of up to 109 percent. Those engines were significantly modified over the years, benefiting from certification to operate at higher power levels, improved welds and main injector functionality, better turbopumps and an extended service lifetime. One shuttle flight in July 1985 suffered a dramatic in-flight abort and the program experienced five on-the-pad shutdowns during the engine-start sequence, whilst another narrowly averted a hairy Return to Launch Site (RTLS) abort, but all told a total of 46 RS-25s powered 135 shuttle missions until July 2011 with an estimated 99.95-percent success rate. These were test-fired before each orbiter’s maiden voyage, during the Flight Readiness Firing (FRF). With STS-1 in April 1981, three reusable RS-25s were affixed to the end ofĮach shuttle, producing almost 1.2 million pounds (535,000 kg) of thrust atĮach shuttle was powered by a trio of RS-25 Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs). The engine, with Critical Design Review (CDR) passed in September 1976 and theįirst test of a complete engine in March 1977. In Aprilġ972, NASA contracts estimated at $450 million authorized the start of work on To design, build, test and deliver engines for the shuttle program. ![]() Selected what was then the Rocketdyne Division of North American Rockwell Corp. Oxygen/hydrogen-fueled RS-25 came into existence a half-century ago when NASA Its original guise as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), the cryogenic liquid Lunar surface during the Artemis missions.” To be even more powerful to launch the next astronauts who will set foot on the Reliable engines that launched more than 100 Space Shuttle missions have been modified Contract allows NASA to work with Aerojet Rocketdyne to build the rocketĮngines needed for future missions,” said John Honeycutt, the SLS program managerĪt NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Ala. ![]()
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