Aerojet, in collaboration with Lockheed Martin and Nasa, has successfully completed acceptance testing on the second R-4D development engine.
The R-4D is the Aerojet engine that will be used on Nasa’s Orion crew exploration vehicle for the service module auxiliary propulsion.
During the mission, eight R-4D engines, arranged in four pods of two each, will provide thrust for critical Orion manoeuvres.
The R-4D acceptance test, which leads the way for the next phase of development testing, was a critical milestone in the Orion service module auxiliary propulsion programme.
The testing achieved several firsts for the programme, including flight design bimetallic (columbium-titanium) nozzle, flight design valves (120V and 72.25ohm coils) and flight-like pressure transducer.
The test also included validation of Orion-specific fabrication and test processes, verification of Orion-specific tooling and special test equipment and demonstration of the Aerojet electric discharge machined (EDM) R-4D-11 injector.
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By GlobalData
