NASA Exploration Systems Progress Report

NASA Exploration Systems Progress Report

NASA engineers around the country recently completed tests associated with rocket engines, heat protection systems and spacesuits destined for use in the Constellation Program of moon and Mars missions.

Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., completed an early step in developing the upper-stage rocket engine that will be used in both the Ares I crew launch vehicle and the Ares V cargo launch vehicle. The Marshall team completed the first series of tests on a scaled-down version of main injector hardware, which will inject and mix liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants in the engine combustion chamber, where they are ignited and burned to produce thrust.

The initial tests were performed on a hardware model, approximately 1/13th the thrust level of a full-scale J-2 engine injector, that contained 40 individual elements for propellant flow. The injector was fired horizontally with varying fuel temperatures and different propellant mixture ratios for 10 to 20 seconds at a thrust of approximately 20,000 pounds. Approximately 50 tests are planned for this series.

These tests will help engineers investigate design options for, and maximize performance of, the J-2X upper stage engine, an updated version of the powerful J-2 engine used to launch the Saturn V rocket upper stages during Apollo. At Johnson Space Center, Houston, recent tests focused on materials that could be used to protect the Crew Exploration Vehicle when it makes its fiery descent through the atmosphere on the way home to Earth.

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