Eileen Drake, president and CEO of Aerojet Rocketdyne, said the company wants to test its AR1 rocket engine this year after securing a $353.8M contract to continue its development, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.

Aerojet Rocketdyne has built the propulsion devices that powered a NASA spacecraft during a journey to Mars as part of a mission to study the planet’s seismology, rotation and internal temperature. InSight, which landed Monday on the Martian surface, used MR-107N 50 engines, an RL10C-1 main engine, MR-106 reaction control thrusters and MR-111C thrusters …

Aerojet Rocketdyne has appointed Kevin Chilton, a 34-year U.S. Air Force veteran and 11-year NASA astronaut, to the company’s board of directors. Chilton’s previous military roles include vice chief of staff and program director for the Air Force and director of politico-military affairs for Asia, Pacific and the Middle East, …

Aerojet Rocketdyne has concluded a test of a thruster system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft that will launch aboard the Space Launch System rocket as part of Exploration Mission-1. The company said Monday it conducted the qualification test at its Redmond, Wash.-based facility to demonstrate the reaction control system’s capability to …

Aerojet Rocketdyne has concluded a series of tests for a new dual-mode ramjet/scramjet engine in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, NASA and the U.S. Air Force. The company said Monday the DMRJ demonstrated its ability to power a vehicle from a dormant state to hypersonic flight regime …

Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO Eileen Drake has announced that the company plans to acquire more companies or product lines as part of its Competitive Improvement Program, Space News reported Wednesday. The firm is focusing on mergers and acquisitions as its debt load decreased from $464.4M in May 2015 to $102.2M in …

NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne have completed a second ground-based assessment of an engine controller for the Space Launch System exploration rocket. Aerojet Rocketdyne said Monday the RS-25 engine underwent eight minutes of test firing as part of an effort to verify its flight readiness and the performance of its modified components. The engine features modernized …

Aerojet Rocketdyne and Sierra Nevada Corp. have concluded a four-month study that focused on modifying advanced solar electric propulsion vehicle concepts for future human exploration missions and deep space habitation. Sacramento, Calif.-based Aerojet said Wednesday it supplemented Sierra Nevada’s Lunar Gateway concept with an SEP module for the Power and Propulsion …

Aerojet Rocketdyne has announced a $50 million project to expand the company’s manufacturing facility in Southern Arkansas for solid rocket motors and warheads. The rocket manufacturer said Wednesday it plans to invest in infrastructure at the site and aims to create as many as 140 positions through the expansion. Eileen Drake, president …

Aerojet Rocketdyne has concluded two hot-fire tests of air-launch motors at the Air Force Research Laboratory, under the firm’s advanced tactical booster program. The company said Monday it designed the solid rocket motors to simulate extreme cold- and hot-soak launch conditions. The tested motors demonstrated the capacity to accelerate vehicles …

Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed hot-fire tests of a RL10 engine thrust chamber assembly that was built using three-dimensional printing technology. The company said Wednesday the latest test series follows an initial demonstration of a 3D-printed copper alloy thrust chamber and nickel alloy main injector last year. Eileen Drake, president and CEO of …

Sacramento, Calif.-based firm Aerojet Rocketdyne has tested a new in-space engine that will potentially be used for future robotic operations on the moon. Aerojet Rocketdyne said Wednesday the ISE-100 engine accumulated 75 individual tests, 774 pulses and over 500 seconds of hot-fire time during the evaluation period. ISE-100 will now …

Aerojet Rocketdyne will help the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency develop and test a propulsion system as part of the Advanced Full Range Engine program that aims to realize reusable hydrocarbon propulsion technologies. AFRE looks to develop a propulsion system that could operate at up to hypersonic speed in an effort to …

Aerojet Rocketdyne has tested a third RS-25 engine flight controller the company developed to support the launch of a future NASA heavy-lift rocket. The RS-25 flight controller is designed to monitor the health of a rocket engine using real-time adjustments to combustion pressures, turbopump speeds and other configurations such as …

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 …