RS-25 engine flight controller completes 500-second test
August 9, 2017, RS-25 engine test at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Photo Credit: NASA
On Wednesday, August 9, NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne conducted a 500-second test of an RS-25 developmental engine at the agency’s Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Mississippi. The test was used to validate the fourth upgraded engine controller required for the first flight of the Space Launch System (SLS).
The RS-25, formerly known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), is being reused for SLS; however, the engine controller – the “brain” of the engine – has been redesigned to reduce weight, to use less power, and to improve reliability.
SLS will be powered by four RS-25 engines, along with a pair of five-segment solid rocket boosters (SRB‘s).
The first flight of SLS, Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), is expected to take place in 2019. It will propel the Orion capsule on a three-week uncrewed mission to a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon.
Video courtesy of NASA
Scott Johnson
Scott earned both a Bachelor's Degree in public administration, and a law degree, from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He currently practices law in the Birmingham suburb of Homewood. Scott first remembers visiting Marshall Space Flight Center in 1978 to get an up-close look at the first orbiter, Enterprise, which had been transported to Huntsville for dynamic testing. More recently, in 2006, he participated in an effort at the United States Space and Rocket Center (USSRC) to restore the long-neglected Skylab 1-G Trainer. This led to a volunteer position, with the USSRC curator, where he worked for several years maintaining exhibits and archival material, including flown space hardware. Scott attended the STS - 110, 116 and 135 shuttle launches, along with Ares I-X, Atlas V MSL and Delta IV NROL-15 launches. More recently, he covered the Atlas V SBIRS GEO-2 and MAVEN launches, along with the Antares ORB-1, SpaceX CRS-3, and Orion EFT-1 launches.
