{"id":17358,"date":"2022-08-27T21:57:08","date_gmt":"2022-08-27T13:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/while-nasa-gets-set-for-its-first-artemis-moon-mission-aerojet-is-working-ahead\/"},"modified":"2022-08-27T21:57:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-27T13:57:08","slug":"while-nasa-gets-set-for-its-first-artemis-moon-mission-aerojet-is-working-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/while-nasa-gets-set-for-its-first-artemis-moon-mission-aerojet-is-working-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"While NASA gets set for its first Artemis moon mission, Aerojet is working ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/220826-orionengine-630x354.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-718796\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/220826-orionengine-630x354.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/220826-orionengine-1260x709.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/220826-orionengine-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/220826-orionengine-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/220826-orionengine.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>An artist\u2019s conception shows the Orion spacecraft\u2019s main engine firing during a lunar flyby, surrounded by eight of Aerojet Rocketdyne\u2019s Redmond-built auxiliary engines. (NASA Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>REDMOND, Wash. \u2014 When NASA\u2019s Space Launch System rocket sends an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond the moon and back for the Artemis 1 mission, the trip will put rocket components built in Redmond to their sternest test.<\/p>\n<p>But at Aerojet Rocketdyne\u2019s Redmond facility, where hardware for Artemis 1 was built years ago, engineers are already working years ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have delivered Artemis 1 and 2, and we\u2019re just finishing up Artemis 3 right now so that acceptance testing will finish this summer,\u201d said Erica Raine, the Aerojet program manager who\u2019s overseeing work on the Orion capsule in Redmond.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/raine.jpg\" alt=\"Erica Raine \/ Aerojet\" class=\"wp-image-718786\" width=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/raine.jpg 435w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/raine-261x300.jpg 261w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/raine-200x230.jpg 200w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/raine-87x100.jpg 87w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 435px) 100vw, 435px\"><figcaption>Erica Raine is a senior engineer at Aerojet Rocketdyne in Redmond, Wash. (Photo via LinkedIn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>And she\u2019s just talking about the reaction control thrusters for Artemis 3\u2019s Orion crew module \u2014 the vehicle that\u2019s destined to transport astronauts to the moon by as early as 2025. Some of the components currently being assembled in Redmond are destined to become part of the Artemis 5 moon mission, set for 2028.<\/p>\n<p>Aerojet\u2019s production schedule goes to show how long it takes to put together the millions of pieces for the SLS rocket and the Orion capsule that are due for launch from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Even though it\u2019s been years since Artemis 1 hardware left Redmond, the Aerojet team are revved up for liftoff. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long road, but it\u2019s so rewarding and the mission is very exciting \u2014 possibly 42 days in lunar orbit,\u201d Raine said.<\/p>\n<p>Artemis 1 will mark the first-ever launch of the SLS, the most powerful rocket ever built for NASA (8.8 million pounds of liftoff thrust vs. the Saturn V\u2019s 7.5 million pounds). The rocket will send Orion on a trajectory with a long, looping orbit that ranges 40,000 miles beyond the moon. At the end of a trip lasting as long as 42 days, the Orion will plunge back through the atmosphere for a Pacific Ocean splashdown.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Artemis I: We Are Ready\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wKwoBudYIiI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The mission is designed to test all the components that will come into play during the crewed Artemis missions to come \u2014 ranging from Orion\u2019s heat shield to the engines and thruster systems built by Aerojet.<\/p>\n<p>Aerojet\u2019s Redmond operation, which has more than 400 employees, focuses on the smaller thrusters: for instance, the 12 reaction control thrusters for the Orion crew module, and the eight auxiliary engines for the European-built service module. The Redmond team also works on the reaction control thrusters on the SLS\u2019s upper stage, also known as the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe majority of engines that we work on here in Redmond are really tabletop-sized,\u201d Raine said. \u201cThe crew module engines, they\u2019re about the size of a toaster. The auxiliary engine is like a small traffic cone. \u2026 Our machine shop isn\u2019t set up for that larger scale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other Aerojet facilities work on larger propulsion system components, such as Orion\u2019s main engine. But sometimes Redmond plays a role in those components as well \u2014 for example, managing work on the launch abort system\u2019s jettison motor, or refurbishing the valves for the main engine.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"481\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/220826-thruster-630x481.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-718772\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/220826-thruster-630x481.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/220826-thruster-768x587.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/220826-thruster.jpg 1178w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>An auxiliary engine for the Artemis 3 Orion service module undergoes testing. (Aerojet Rocketdyne Photo) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Raine acknowledged that some of the work being done in Redmond is \u201cnot as sexy\u201d as the rocketeering that has gone into, say, the SLS\u2019s RS-25 core stage engines. Those behemoths were taken from NASA\u2019s space shuttles and refurbished by Aerojet at NASA\u2019s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. (Orion\u2019s main engine is also a shuttle hand-me-down.) Nevertheless, she and her team are proud of their contribution to Aerojet\u2019s Artemis effort.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re all one big family, but we do have different specialties,\u201d Raine said.<\/p>\n<p>And the Redmond team could soon be adding to its specialties: Last fall, Aerojet Rocketdyne won NASA\u2019s nod to develop the next-generation Orion main engine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat design and development phase is underway right now,\u201d Raine said. \u201cWe\u2019re going through a series of component PDRs [preliminary design reviews], and some of those components will likely be worked in Redmond. That\u2019s not formal yet, but we are looking out into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The next-gen engine isn\u2019t scheduled to go into service until somewhere around Artemis 7, which is currently slated for 2029. That may sound a long way off \u2014 but at Aerojet, the time for thinking ahead is now.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/AerojetRdyne\/status\/1514650440415125542<br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p><strong>Previously: Aerojet engineer wins NASA\u2019s Silver Snoopy award<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows the Orion spacecraft\u2019s main engine firing during a lunar flyby, surrounded by eight of Aerojet Rocketdyne\u2019s Redmond-built auxiliary engines. (NASA Illustration) REDMOND, Wash. \u2014 When NASA\u2019s Space Launch System rocket sends an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond the moon and back for the Artemis 1 mission, the trip will put rocket components [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[864,304,625,190,640,4370,787],"class_list":["post-17358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-aerojet-rocketdyne","tag-artemis","tag-moon","tag-nasa","tag-orion","tag-sls-rocket","tag-space-launch-system"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17358"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}