NASA Successfully
Completes First Series Of Ares Engine Tests
(8 May 2008) NASA engineers Thursday
successfully completed the first series of tests in the early development of
the J-2X engine that will power the upper stages of the Ares I and Ares V
rockets, key components of NASA's Constellation Program.
Ares I
will launch the Orion spacecraft that will take astronauts to the International
Space Station and then to the moon by 2020. The Ares V will carry cargo and
components into orbit for trips to the moon and later to Mars.
NASA
conducted nine tests of heritage J-2 engine components from December to May as
part of a series designed to verify heritage J-2 performance data and explore
performance boundaries. Engineers at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St.
Louis, Miss., conducted the tests on a heritage J-2 "powerpack," which, in a
fully assembled engine, pumps liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the
engine's main combustion chamber to produce thrust. The test hardware consisted
of J-2 components used from the Apollo program in the1960s through the X-33
program of the 1990s.
"This series of tests is an important step in
development of the J-2X engine," said Mike Kynard, manager of the upper stage
engine for the Ares Projects at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala. "We started with a number of objectives and questions we
needed answers to as we work to complete designs of the J-2X engine. The data
we have gained will be invaluable as we continue the design
process."
Data obtained from the tests will be used to refine the design
of the J-2X pumps and other engine components to provide the additional
performance required of this new engine. The J-2X engine is being designed to
produce 294,000 pounds of thrust; the original J-2 produced 230,000 pounds of
thrust.
The main objectives of the series were to resolve differences in
heritage turbopump performance data and recent component-level tests, and
investigate vibration and pressure drops through the turbopump inlet ducts.
Tests in the series ran for durations up to 400 seconds and at power levels up
to 274,000 pounds of thrust.
After the data from the test series has
been reviewed and objectives met, Stennis will begin readying the test stand
for the next series of tests, said Gary Benton, the J-2X project manager at
Stennis.
Marshall manages the J-2X upper stage engine for the
Constellation Program, based at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Under a
contract awarded in July 2007, Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne Inc., of Canoga
Park, Calif., will design, develop, test and evaluate the
engine.
(source: NASA)
