5-16-2012
The AEHF-2 military communications satellite launched on May 4th has avoided the propulsion obstacles that nearly crippled the first AEHF satellite. Launched in mid-2010, the AEHF-1 was successfully lifted to its preliminary orbit by the Atlas 5, but when it came time for the satellite to fire its own main engine to head toward its final orbit, the Liquid Apogee Engine (LAE) failed to start. But engineers successfully devised a plan beginning with firing the satellite's hydrazine thrusters to push AEHF-1 to an orbit where it can safely deploy its solar arrays. With the deployment of AEHF-1's solar arrays, with a wingspan of 89 feet, the satellites electric thrusters had the power source necessary to fire continuously for months nudging the craft to its intended orbit. AEHF-1, which was intended to reach its final orbit in 100 days, finally arrived 14 months later.
Sources: Spaceflight Now, SatNews
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. announced today their submission to NASA of a study for demonstrating solar electric propulsion (SEP) technologies in space. This study, which was provided up to $600,000 of NASA funding, looked to determine the role SEP would play in a complete mission concept to maintain a sustainable and affordable human presence in space. NASA will use this and other studies to plan and implement future flight demonstration missions showcasing and testing SEP technologies.
Sources: Ball Aerospace
5-15-2012
The Ariane 5 rocket launched from Europe’s Guiana Space Center in French Guiana carrying two communications satellites from Japan and Vietnam. Manufactured by Astrium for the European Space Agency (ESA) and Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), the two-stage reusable Ariane 5 rocket burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in its main stage Vulcan engine to produce 254,000 lbf of thrust. The main stage engines are supplemented by two P283 solid rocket boosters each providing almost 1.4 million lbf of thrust.
5-14-2012
A crew of three launched today from the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz-FG rocket destined for the ISS. The three-stage Soyuz rocket uses RP-1 and liquid oxygen. The first stage consists of four RD-117A (14D22) boosters. Each booster has has two combustion chambers and two vernier combustion chambers. Each booster produces 174,000 lbf of thrust at liftoff with a specific impulse of 320 s in a vacuum. The second stage only has one booster which is similarly configured to the first stage boosters with the addition of two more vernier combustion chambers. The final stage, called the Soyuz spacecraft, produces 67,000 lbf of thrust with a burn time of 240 s.
5-13-2012
Aerojet unveiled their AJ26 liquid rocket engine at Teledyne Brown's manufacturing facility in Huntsville, Alabama today. Aerojet formed their strategic alliance with Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. one year ago and co-hosted an event today at Teledyne's headquarters in Huntsville to show the progress of their partnership. The AJ26 will be manufactured at Teledyne and marketed for government contracts including NASA’s Space Launch System Advanced Booster Engineering Demonstration and Risk Reduction program as well as for other U.S. government programs. The AJ26 design is a modification of the NK-33 and NK-43 rocket engines, which were purchased by Aerojet from Russia in the mid 1990s. The Russian engines were intended for the ill-fated N-1 rocket moon shot. The AJ26 uses oxygen and kerosene as fuel and is designed for use as first stage (AJ26-58) or second stage (AJ26-59) propulsion.
Sources: Aerojet, Huntsville Times
5-12-2012
India successfully conducted an acceptance test of an indigenous cryogenic engine at the space agency's Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) facility in Mahendragiri. An official statement by the ISRO said the test lasted 200 seconds and the "performance of the engine was as predicted". Two more tests will follow before the engine is integrated into a rocket that will deliver a satellite into geosynchronous orbit later this year.
Sources: ISRO, India Today, Space Daily, Times of India
5-11-2012
 In response to Boeing's contract announcement in March of four all-electric commercial telecommunications satellites, Jose Gonzalez, head of the electric propulsion department at the European Space Angency (ESA), said his department is determined not to allow Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems to get too great a lead on all-electric commercial satellites. He will plan to ask the ESA for additional funding when they meet to discuss the agencies course for the future. If successful, Boeing's all-electric 702SP satellites will pioneer a new satellite design that will use electric thrusters instead of the more common chemical thrusters as the second stage propulsion system to insert satellites into their eventual orbits after completion of the first stage boost. The all-electric 702SP satellite will operate in power ranges of 3 to 18 kilowatts and is designed to accommodate launches on most commercial launch systems, including Falcon 9, Ariane 5, Sea Launch, Proton, Soyuz, Atlas 5 and Delta IV.
5-10-2012
China successfully launched a Long March 4B rocket carrying Yaogan Weixing-14 military reconnaissance satellite. The Long March 4B is a three-stage orbital carrier rocket with a gross mass of 550,000 lbs, thrust of 665,000 lbf, and a payload capacity of 6,100 lbs. It is capable of delivering payloads to LEO and SSO. It is part of China's family of Long March rockets, developed by the state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). The family of rockets has had over 100 launches since its first Long March rocket launched in 1970.
Sources: International Business Times, Space.com, China Daily, NASASpaceFlight.com, Spaceflight Now
NASA announced a successful long duration test of the J-2X powerpack, which is the system of components on the top portion of the J-2X engine, including the gas generator, oxygen and fuel turbopumps, and related ducts and valves. On the full J-2X engine, the powerpack system feeds the thrust chamber system. The test, which lasted 340 seconds, is a part of a series of tests on the J-2X powerpack and took place at NASA's Stennis Space Center. Upon completion, the J-2X engine will power the second stage of the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) with 294,000 lbf of thrust. A video of the first test of the newly developed J-2X powerpack on February 15, 2012 is available at the NASA website.
Sources: NASA, NASA, Space Daily
5-9-2012
ATK has announced it has developed its Liberty launch vehicle into a concept for a complete commercial crew transportation system under phase 2 of the NASA Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program. The Liberty concept includes the spacecraft, abort system, launch vehicle, and ground and mission operations, The launch vehicle will be a 2-stage configuration with a solid rocket first stage, developed by ATK, and liquid engine second stage, developed by Astrium, a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). Astrium's second stage will be a modified Ariane 5 core stage and be powered by the Vulcain 2 engine, manufactured by the French aerospace and defense manufacturer Safran/Snecma. Moog will provide thrust vector control and propulsion control and Lockheed Martin will provide additional propulsion subsystems support.
5-7-2012
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne announced the successful orbit of the AEHF 2 satellite, launched on May 4th by the the Atlas V launch vehicle. The Atlas V's first stage is powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 booster engine, and the upper-stage is powered by the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RL10 engine. The Atlas V Common Core booster is powered by the RD-180 engine and delivers nearly 1 million pounds of thrust. The RD-180 is the only liquid oxygen/kerosene-fueled engine with an oxygen-rich staged-combustion cycle flying in the United States today. The single RL10A4-2 engine that orbited the AEHF 2 satellite delivers 22,300 pounds of thrust.
Sources: Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Space Mart
5-6-2012
China successfully launched a Long March 2D rocket today carrying Tianhui I-02 mapping satellite. The satellite was inserted into a near polar orbit to perform scientific research, land resource surveying, and mapping,
This is the sixteenth launch of China's Long March 2D two-stage rocket and continues the series' perfect launch record since its maiden flight in August 9, 1992.
5-4-2012
The Atlas V rocket launched today from Cape Canaveral utilizing three Aerojet SRB's capable of providing 250,000 pounds of thrust each. The rocket is carrying the military communications satellite AEHF-2. A video of the launch can be seen at SpaceRef's Youtube channel.
Sources: Aerojet, SpaceRef, Spaceflight Now, SatNews, MarketWatch, Youtube
NASA has contracted Boeing to provide the interim second stage propulsion system for the first two flights of the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) while the permanent second stage, the J-2X by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, is being developed and tested. NASA's procurement website explained that Boeing's Delta Cryogenic Second Stage (DCSS), used in Boeing's Delta IV launch vehicle, will require the fewest modifications to fulfill the SLS's first scheduled launches in 2017 and 2021. The DCSS is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney RL-10B2 engine, which uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants, producing up to 25,000 lbf of thrust. The Pratt & Whitney J-2X engine is a followup to the J-2 engine which was used as the upper stage in the Apollo missions of the 60's.
5-3-2012
The launch of the Atlas V rocket carrying the military communications satellite, AEHF-2, was delayed thirty minutes before takeoff due to an improperly configured Helium purge valve in the Centaur interstage adaptor. The improperly set valve would have prevented Helium from flowing to the Centaur, which is required to maintain proper pressurization in the propellant tanks.
Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator, blogged today about her observation of the successful hot-fire engine test of Aerojet's AJ26 Engine E9, which will be the first-stage engine on Orbital Sciences' Antares rockets, slated for test flights in August. The test was conducted at NASA Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
5-2-2012
Virgin Galactic president and CEO George Whitesides reported the company is near completion of "starter" motors for its SpaceShipTwo spacecraft. Although these will not be the final motors, they will allow Virgin Galactic to start powered test flights for short durations.
4-30-2012
SpaceX successfully completed a 2 second hold-down fire of its Falcon 9 rocket's nine Merlin engines ahead of its planned May 7th launch. The video is posted at SpaceX's Youtube channel.
4-26-2012
Blue Origin posted a rare press release announcing, among other updates, testing of its thrust chamber assembly (TCA) for its 100,000 lbf BE-3 rocket engine. The assembly was installed to the E-1 Test Stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center last December.
4-24-2012
NASA began the second round of testing of the J-2X engine which was developed for the second stage of flight of the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA's new heavy-lift rocket capable of missions to deep space. The main contractor for the J-2X engine is Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.
Source: NASA
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