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
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