![\"L2BFRNumber54\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/L2BFRNumber54-350x227.jpg\")
SpaceX also revealed it is using the center for its R&D test program relating to the hugely powerful full flow methane-liquid oxygen Raptor engine, with Stennis\u2019 E-2 test stand now upgraded with the required methane capability.<\/p>\nWith three years to go until the debut launch of the Space Launch System (SLS), RS-25 engine E0525 conducted its third SLS-related firing this week, part of a test regime that is utilizing colder liquid oxygen temperatures and greater inlet pressures. A family of RS-25s \u2013 most of which are veterans from the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) \u2013 are preparing for one final role with the monster rocket.<\/p>\n
RS-25 Testing:<\/p>\n
The Stennis Space Center (SSC) is the main test site for not just NASA engines, but increasingly for commercial partners.<\/p>\n
It has hosted AJ-26 engine testing ahead of \u2013 and during \u2013 their involvement with the Antares rocket, with the importance of testing highlighted via a couple of test stand failures that have provided important data for the investigation into the loss of the ORB-3 mission.<\/p>\n
SpaceX also revealed it is using the center for its R&D test program relating to the hugely powerful full flow methane-liquid oxygen Raptor engine, with Stennis\u2019 E-2 test stand now upgraded with the required methane capability.<\/p>\n
The Raptor will power SpaceX\u2019s Super Heavy Lift Launch vehicle \u2013 lovingly called the \u201cBFR\u201d by its followers \u2013 as part of the company\u2019s Mars Colonial Transporter (MCT) aspirations.<\/p>\n
Specific details into the testing remain sketchy due to the highly notional information surrounding this program. However, Stennis testing is understood to involve 3D-printed injector hardware being put through its paces.<\/p>\n
Numerous other engines, such as Blue Origin\u2019s BE-3, have also made the pilgrimage to Mississippi.<\/p>\n
The RS-25 engines are no strangers to Stennis, having enjoyed over three decades of testing at the famous site that also have a major role with the Apollo program.<\/p>\n
Spaceflight history books (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n Although the end of the Shuttle era threatened to be the finale to the engine\u2019s career, the RS-25\u2019s are now fully back into the fold with the Space Launch System.<\/p>\n With a second test conducted in May, the third was completed on Thursday evening \u2013 as testing is ramped up for the coming months.<\/p>\n L2 information shows at least seven tests are now scheduled, with the last of this current series scheduled for September 1 \u2013 all involving E0525.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we are using proven space shuttle hardware with these engines, SLS will have different performance requirements,\u201d noted Steve Wofford, manager of the SLS Liquid Engines Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why we are testing them again. This is a whole new ballgame \u2013 we need way more power for these engines to be able to go farther than ever before when it comes to human exploration. And we believe the modifications we\u2019ve made to these engines can do just that.\u201d<\/p>\n Notably a large amount of Shuttle MPS hardware was donated to SLS by the retired orbiters.<\/p>\n The tests are working with colder liquid oxygen temperatures; greater inlet pressure due to the taller SLS core stage liquid oxygen tank and higher vehicle acceleration; and more nozzle heating due to the four-engine configuration and its position in-plane with the SLS booster exhaust nozzles.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have several objectives that will be accomplished during this test series, which will provide critical data on the new engine controller unit, materials and engine propellant inlet pressure conditions,\u201d added Mr. Wofford.<\/p>\n The SLS program now has 16 RS-25 engines that are set to fly.<\/p>\n With the addition of the new flight engine E2063, recently constructed from spares, the majority of SLS\u2019 flight engines are veterans of the Shuttle Program.<\/p>\n For Endeavour\u2019s swansong, ME-1 \u2013 2059, ME-2 \u2013 2061, and ME-3 \u2013 2057 helped begin the flight phase of the successful STS-134 mission, while Atlantis closed out the Space Shuttle Program, flying with engines ME-1 \u2013 2047, ME-2 \u2013 2060 and ME-3 \u2013 2045 during STS-135.<\/p>\n All of these engines will now get to fly one more time, on the core stage of the SLS.<\/p>\n In addition to the above assignments, the other engines waiting for one final swansong with SLS are E2050 \u2013 which last flew with STS-120, E2051 and E2052 \u2013 which both flew with STS-132, E2054 \u2013 which flew with STS-131, and E2056 which flew with STS-121.<\/p>\n E2062 has yet to fly, while E2043 was a flown Block IIA engine\/RS25C, but was never flown in a full Block II configuration. E2049, 2053 and 2055 were lost with Columbia during the STS-107 disaster.<\/p>\n These four engines will undergo Green Run testing on the B-2 test stand at Stennis, the first time four RS-25 engines \u2013 on the first Core Stage \u2013 will be fired for a full mission duration of approximately 500 seconds.<\/p>\n Several additional engines have also been ordered from RS-25 contractor and manufacturer, Aerojet Rocketdyne \u2013 which are engine sets formerly known as the RS-25E, a cheaper, expendable version of the engine. Details on this transaction remain under embargo.<\/p>\n Images: NASA and L2 artist Nathan Koga via L2\u2019s SLS sections, which includes, presentations, videos, graphics and internal \u2013 interactive with actual SLS engineers \u2013 updates on the SLS and HLV, available on no other site.)<\/p>\n (L2 is \u2013 as it has been for the past several years \u2013 providing full exclusive SLS and Exploration Planning coverage. To join L2, click here: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/l2\/)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With three years to go until the debut launch of the Space Launch System (SLS), RS-25 engine E0525 conducted its third SLS-related firing this week, part of a test regime that is utilizing colder liquid oxygen temperatures and greater inlet pressures. A family of RS-25s \u2013 most of which are veterans from the Space Shuttle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30104,"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":[2363,624,8116,8091],"class_list":["post-39316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-rs-25","tag-sls","tag-ssme","tag-stennis"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39316"}],"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=39316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"2015-06-12-213447\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/2015-06-12-213447-350x196.jpg\")
A large SLS-related test series began at the start of the year, utilizing Engine 0525 \u2013 ironically an engine that has never flown in space, given it was one of two development engines used for component testing on Stand A-2 to support shuttle flights.<\/p>\n![\"2015-06-12-231459\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/2015-06-12-231459-350x251.jpg\")
These tests include subtle changes to the engine\u2019s requirements, as they graduate from being a trio on the aft of the Shuttle orbiter to a team of four on the aft of the in-line SLS.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Z49.jpg\")
The changes relate to improvements to the unit and the alteration to the path from the Main Propulsion System (MPS) to the business end of the engine.<\/p>\n![\"2015-06-12-231728\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/2015-06-12-231728-350x276.jpg\")
Brand new Engine Controllers (MECs) will become a major part of the test objectives while a new ablative insulation and heater system will also be tested.<\/p>\n![\"FRR](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/A319.jpg\" "\\"FRR")
All nine of the last SSMEs to fly with the Space Shuttle \u2013 and now with the SLS program \u2013 performed admirably, with Discovery flying Main Engine 1 (ME-1) \u2013 serial number 2044, ME-2 \u2013 2048 and ME-3 \u2013 2058 during her final mission, STS-133.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/A144.jpg\")
Per L2 information, all of the Block II RS-25Ds can now be accounted for.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Z34.jpg\")
For the debut launch, NASA\u2019s Liquid Engine Office selected engines E2045, E2056, E2058, and E2060 to push the Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) SLS uphill.<\/p>\n