October 25, 2008
NASA plans to use the space shuttle until its retirement in 2010 to help finish assembly of the International Space Station. To meet that goal, SSC is committed to rigorous testing, important to any flight program, to make sure today’s SSMEs are safer, stronger and more reliable than ever.
Meanwhile, the new Ares rocket is being developed to replace the space shuttle as part of NASA’s Constellation Program. The Ares I crew launch vehicle and the Ares V cargo launch vehicle will help America return to the moon, then travel to Mars.
The upper stages of the Ares I and Ares V vehicles will be powered by the J-2X engine, currently in development. Core components for development of the J-2X engine are being tested on SSC’s A-1 Test Stand.
The first stage of the Ares V cargo launch vehicle will be powered by five Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engines. SSC currently is testing and certifying that engine, as well as serving as a developmental rocket engine component and subscale test facility for future-generation rocket engines. Three stands, A-1, A-2 and the dual B-1/B-2, were built in the early 1960s to test the first and second stages of the Apollo Saturn V rocket that safely transported Americans to the moon.
The A Test Complex consists of two single-position, verticalfiring test stands designated A-1 and A-2. Configurations for the A Test Complex test stands have consisted of full flight-stage and main propulsion systems, and single engine testing at sea level and altitude simulation.
In May 2007, NASA announced its intention to build a new test stand at SSC for testing the J-2X rocket engine. The A-3 Test Stand will allow engineers to test the J-2X engine’s operating parameters by simulating conditions at different altitudes. Construction began on the A-3 Test Stand in summer 2007, with the first test scheduled to be conducted in 2010. The A-3 Test Stand is the first large
test stand to be built at SSC since the 1960s. The B Test Complex consists of a dual-position, vertical,
static-firing test stand designated the B-1/B-2 Test Stand. First stages of the Apollo Saturn V rocket were static fired in the B-2 test position for acceptance testing from 1967 to 1970. SSC presently leases the B-1 test position to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for testing of the RS-68 engine. As currently configured, B-1 has two engine test positions. The E Test Complex was constructed as a result of several national propulsion development programs in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The versatile, three-stand complex includes seven separate test cells capable of testing that involves ultra high-pressure gases and cryogenic fluids. The test stands are linked by a 7½-mile canal system used primarily for transporting liquid propellants. Additional features of the test complex include test control centers, data acquisition facilities, a large high-pressure gas facility, a high-pressure industrial water facility served by a 66-million gallon reservoir and an electrical generation plant. SSC’s A-1 Test Stand, site of the first space shuttle main engine test in 1975, conducted its final space shuttle main engine test in 2006. A-1 then began a new chapter in its legacy: conversion to testing J-2X engines, which will power the upper stage of NASA’s new crew launch vehicle, the Ares I.
