Developed For Orbital's Taurus II Space Launch Vehicle
A successful test-firing was conducted Wednesday of a
liquid-fuel AJ26 engine developed to power the first stage of
Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus II space launch vehicle at NASA's
John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Orbital and its engine
supplier, Aerojet, test-fired the engine on Stennis' E-1 test
stand. The test directly supports NASA's partnerships to enable
commercial cargo flights to the International Space Station.
AJ26 Test Fire Photo Courtesy AeroJet
The initial test, the first in a series of three firings, lasted
10 seconds and served as a short-duration readiness firing to
verify AJ26 engine start and shutdown sequences, E-1 test stand
operations, and ground-test engine controls.
The test was conducted by a joint operations team comprised of
Orbital, Aerojet and Stennis engineers, with Stennis employees
serving as test conductors. The joint operations team and other
NASA engineers will conduct an in-depth data review of all
subsystems in preparation for a 50-second hot-fire acceptance test
scheduled several weeks from now. A third hot-fire test at Stennis
also is planned to verify tuning of engine control valves.
"Congratulations to Orbital and Aerojet for successfully
completing another major milestone," said Doug Cooke, associate
administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at
NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This brings us one step closer to
realizing NASA's goals for accessing low Earth orbit via commercial
spacecraft."
The AJ26 engine is designed to power the Taurus II space vehicle
on flights to low Earth orbit. The NASA-Orbital partnership was
formed under the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation
Services joint research and development project. The company is
under contract with NASA to provide eight cargo missions to the
space station through 2015.
"With this first test, Stennis not only demonstrates its
versatility and status as the nation's premiere rocket engine test
facility, it also opens an exciting new chapter in the nation's
space program," said Patrick Scheuermann, Stennis' center director.
"We're proud to be partnering with Orbital to enable the wave of
the future -- commercial flights to space and eventual resupply of
cargo to the International Space Station."
In addition to the Orbital partnership, Stennis also conducts
testing on Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's RS-68 rocket engine.
The AJ26 is the first new engine in years to be tested at Stennis.
Operators spent more than two years modifying the E-1 test stand in
preparation. Work included construction of a 27-foot-deep flame
deflector trench, major structural modifications and new fluid and
gas delivery systems.
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