{"id":18285,"date":"2018-11-06T17:38:36","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T09:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/stratolaunch-completes-milestone-preburner-test-firing-for-pga-rocket-engine\/"},"modified":"2018-11-06T17:38:36","modified_gmt":"2018-11-06T09:38:36","slug":"stratolaunch-completes-milestone-preburner-test-firing-for-pga-rocket-engine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/stratolaunch-completes-milestone-preburner-test-firing-for-pga-rocket-engine\/","title":{"rendered":"Stratolaunch completes milestone preburner test firing for PGA rocket engine"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_460335\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-460335\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-460335\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/181106-firing2-630x321.jpg\" alt=\"PGA engine preburner test firing\" width=\"630\" height=\"321\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/181106-firing2-630x321.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/181106-firing2-768x391.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/181106-firing2.jpg 770w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-460335\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A full-scale fuel preburner for Stratolaunch\u2019s PGA rocket engine undergoes a test firing at NASA\u2019s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. (Stratolaunch Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Stratolaunch Systems, the space venture founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, says it has successfully completed the first hot-fire test of a key component for its hydrogen-fueled PGA rocket engine.<\/p>\n<p>The full-scale hydrogen preburner was fired up last Friday at NASA\u2019s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, less than a year after design work started.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the first step in proving the performance and highly efficient design of the PGA engine. The hot-fire test is an incredible milestone for both the propulsion team and&nbsp;Stratolaunch,\u201d Jeff Thornburg, vice president of propulsion at Stratolaunch, said today in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>The preburner typically begins the combustion process in a rocket engine and drives the fuel pumps to bring the engine up to full power. The PGA\u2019s preburner is fabricated exclusively through additive manufacturing, also known as metal 3-D printing. That allows for rapid prototyping on a much faster scale than traditional manufacturing methods.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Medium-Speed Taxi Test\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0tUFzG8xEec?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Stratolaunch didn\u2019t disclose how long Friday\u2019s firing lasted, but the company said the duration and power levels of the preburner tests would be increased over the coming months.<\/p>\n<p>When completed, the hydrogen-oxygen engine should produce 200,000 pounds of liftoff thrust for a wide range of launch vehicles that Stratolaunch is developing in-house. The first in-house rocket, known as the Medium Launch Vehicle or MLV, is due to fly in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Stratolaunch is also working on the world\u2019s largest airplane at its facility at California\u2019s Mojave Air and Space Port. Flight tests of the twin-fuselage, 385-foot-wingspan plane are expected to begin soon, with the aim of using it as a platform for air-launched rockets by as soon as 2020. The first launches would make use of Northrop Grumman\u2019s Pegasus XL rockets rather than the MLV.<\/p>\n<p>The PGA rocket engine takes its name from the initials of Paul G. Allen, who created Stratolaunch in 2011 and passed away at the age of 65 last month after a battle with non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A full-scale fuel preburner for Stratolaunch\u2019s PGA rocket engine undergoes a test firing at NASA\u2019s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. (Stratolaunch Photo) Stratolaunch Systems, the space venture founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, says it has successfully completed the first hot-fire test of a key component for its hydrogen-fueled PGA rocket engine. The full-scale hydrogen [&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":[5115,4405,2489],"class_list":["post-18285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-pga-rocket-engine","tag-propulsion","tag-stratolaunch"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18285"}],"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=18285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18285\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}