Nichols Martin
Sixteen Aerojet Rocketdyne-built engines and flight controllers have passed acceptance trials to fly on four planned NASA flights of the Space Launch System.
The company said Thursday it tested the final flight controller on Engine 2062, designed to support the second SLS mission that will mark the first crewed mission of the heavy-lift launch vehicle.
The device is designed to facilitate RS-25 engine and SLS rocket communication, manage thrust and fuel mixture amounts, and monitor engine health and performance.
Eileen Drake, president and CEO of Aerojet Rocketdyne, said the engine works to generate 512K pounds of thrust and that the new controller has "20 times the processing capability of the shuttle-era controller and weighs 50 pounds less.â€
Four of 16 RS-25s slated for Exploration Mission-1 are complete and ready for the core stage integration process.
The company expects to complete the four engines for use on EM-2 by September.
