The arrival of fall in south Mississippi means billowing clouds of steam exhaust is in the air as NASA continues a series of RS-25 engine tests at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis. A team of operators conducted another successful 500-second RS-25 hot fire on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis on Oct. 11, marking the fourth in a series that will extend into 2019.

Once again, the hot fire features an acceptance test of an RS-25 engine controller for use on a future flight of NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. RS-25 testing represents a critical step in development of the SLS. A quartet of RS-25 engines, firing simultaneously, will provide a combined 2 million pounds of thrust to help launch the new rocket.

NASA has been testing RS-25 engines at Stennis for SLS use since early 2015. The initial engines are former space shuttle main engines, modified to provide the additional power needed for the SLS rocket.

The new flight controller is the central component of the modification and will operate as the RS-25 "brain," helping the engine communicate with the SLS rocket and providing precision control of engine operation and internal health diagnostics.

In addition to the flight controller, this hot fire also featured continued testing of two other new engine components - a 3D-printed pogo accumulator and main combustion chamber fabricated using an innovative bonding technique.

The 3D-printed pogo accumulator dampens potential propellant pressure oscillations that can cause a rocket to become unstable in flight. The main combustion chamber was fabricated using a bonding technique called hot isostatic pressing (HIP), which saves considerable time and money over more traditional methods.

In addition to testing components, operators also continue to explore various engine performance levels and limits. Each RS-25 hot fire allows operators to test the performance and reliability of engine components and moves NASA closer to actual launch of the SLS on its maiden missions. The SLS Exploration Mission-1 will test the new rocket and carry an uncrewed Orion spacecraft into space beyond the Moon.

Exploration Mission-2 will be the first flight to carry humans aboard the Orion spacecraft to deep space. RS-25 tests at Stennis are conducted by a team of NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Syncom Space Services engineers and operators. Aerojet Rocketdyne is the RS-25 engine prime contractor. Syncom Space Services is the prime contractor for Stennis facilities and operations.

Related Links
Space Launch System
Rocket Science News at Space-Travel.Com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Rocket bound for ISS fails, crew survives emergency landing
Baikonur, Kazakhstan (AFP) Oct 11, 2018
An American and a Russian bound for the International Space Station were forced to make an emergency landing when their Soyuz rocket failed shortly after blast-off on Thursday, in a major setback for Russia's space industry. Astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin were rescued without injuries in Kazakhstan. Russian investigators said they were launching a criminal probe into the accident, the first such incident on a manned flight in the country's post-Soviet history. The Russia ... read more