Combustion Stability Confirmed For 7500-Pound Thrust Motor
Development injector testing for the 7500-pound thrust Orion
main engine (OME) for NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle has
recently been completed successfully by Aerojet under contract to
Lockheed Martin. The OME is a pressure-fed, regeneratively cooled,
storable bi-propellant engine that is a technically advanced,
increased performance version of Aerojet's 6000-pound thrust space
shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System Engine (OMS-E).
The test series verified the engine's combustion stability and
additionally provided chamber wall heat flux and injector
performance data to anchor mathematical models. All testing was
performed in heavy-weight combustion chambers specifically designed
for these tasks. This early demonstration of the engine's
combustion stability at expected Orion operating conditions was
conducted to retire risk to the Orion vehicle.
"The successful qualification combustion stability testing of
the OME injector was the result of a structured approach used to
design, analyze, build and test the first development injector,"
said Aerojet's Orion Program Manager, Cheryl Rehm. "The team's
meticulous attention to detail resulted in a product that met and
exceeded our expectations."
File Photo NASA Image
The OME injector combines the reliability and combustion
stability of the OMS-E injector with current Aerojet best practices
in design and manufacturing to reduce process variability affecting
injector performance and cost for the Orion program. The OME
injector is a diffusion-bonded platelet device with the same
injector element type, face pattern layout, and element quantity as
the OMS-E, but with improvements in the injector body design and
platelets to provide more uniform flow to the injector
elements.
The current Aerojet platelet manufacturing capability results in
significantly less dimensional variability than was possible for
the OMS-E, enabling improved uniformity of propellants injected
into the combustion chamber. The improvements in injection
uniformity are also expected to result in improved nominal and
minimum vacuum specific impulse for the OME.
Orion Crew Module Final Weld NASA Image
The OME will provide thrust for events requiring large velocity
changes such as Earth orbital insertion, translunar/trans Earth
injection, Earth de-orbit, and emergency thrust for high-altitude
abort scenarios. Orion's engine complement also includes 16
25-pound thrust engines and eight 100-pound-thrust bipropellant
engines for the Orion service module. Additionally, Aerojet
supplies 12 160-pound-thrust monopropellant thrusters for the Orion
crew module. Aerojet is providing all of the engines for the Orion
spacecraft which is comprised of a crew module for crew and cargo
transport, and a service module for propulsion, electrical power
and fluids storage. Risk reduction testing of critical subsystems
has been ongoing throughout Orion's development phase to maximize
mission success and crew safety.
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