Scott Nicholas
Aerojet Rocketdyne has tested a second flight engine controller for its RS-25 rocket engine at NASA‘s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
NASA will use the Aerojet Rocketdyne-made engine technology to power the Space Launch System as part of a planned unmanned space mission, the company said Tuesday.
Eileen Drake, president and CEO of Aerojet Rocketdyne, said the RS-25 development and flight engines logged more than 6,800 seconds of SLS test time throughout the evaluation phase.
“Between the shuttle program and the SLS program, these engines have experienced more than 1.1 million seconds of testing,” Drake added.
NASA launched a 500-second live-fire test on the company’s first RS-25 engine controller for the SLS rocket in March.
The controller is designed to monitor and communicate the launch vehicle’s thrust level, propellant mixture ratio and other engine conditions.
SLS will be powered by four RS-25 engines throughout its eight-and-a-half-minute climb to space.
