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Science First test of upper-stage Ares engine: Successful
Science First test of upper-stage Ares engine: Successful | First test of upper-stage Ares engine: Successful |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Saturday, 10 May 2008 | |
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 Science DiscussionsAres I will send NASA astronauts into space aboard the new Orion spacecraft, while Ares V will haul cargo to earth orbit. Both launch vehicles are part of NASA’s new Constellation project. NASA engineers at the NASA Stennis Space Center, near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi (United States) conducted nine tests of the J-2 engine between December 2007 and May 2008 as part of the process to verify the performance of the engines. The J-2X is an advanced version of the J-2 engine, which is the liquid hydrogen fueled rocket engine used for the Saturn V rocket in the Apollo program of the 1960 and early 1970s. For Apollo, the Rocketdyne J-2 was burned twice—once for about two minutes as it placed the Apollo spacecraft into earth orbit and then again for 6.5 minutes to accelerate the spacecraft away from Earth and onward to the Moon. The J-2 rocket was used into the 1990s for the experimental X-33 program, the now-defunct project (ended in 2001) by NASA to place the first commercial aircraft (VentureStar) in orbit about the Earth. The J-2X will be used in the upper stages of the Ares I and Ares V rockets. It will produce 294,000 pounds of thrust. The original J-2 rocket for the Apollo program produced 230,000 pounds of thrust. The nine tests conducted over this six-month period involved a “heritage J-2 powerpack,” which includes core components from the Apollo J-2 rocket that pumps liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the main combustion chamber of the engine in order to product thrust for the upper stage rocket. The tests involved running the powerpack for periods of up to 400 seconds and at power levels up to 274,000 pounds of thrust. What does NASA say about the tests. Please go on to the next page. |
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