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Injector: ✔
Turbopumps: ✔
Preburner: ✔
Turbopumps: ✔
Preburner: ✔
NASA-SpaceX testing partnership going strong
Lagniappe Magazine September 15, 2015
When SpaceX sought a partner to conduct testing for development of the company’s ambitious Raptor rocket engine, its focus naturally fell on the versatile high-pressure test stands at NASA’s Stennis Space Center.
In the spring of 2014, NASA and the company, which also had support from the Mississippi Development Authority and the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission, officially launched a testing partnership with a ribbon-cutting at the E-2 Test Stand at Stennis. Stennis Director Rick Gilbrech characterized the collaboration as “opening new doors of commercial space exploration.â€
As the summer of 2015 draws to a close, the ongoing testing agreement is paying off. SpaceX completed a successful round of main injector testing in late 2014. Earlier this summer, the company and the E-2 Test Stand team achieved another milestone, completing a full-power test of the oxygen preburner component for the new engine.
Additional preburner testing has continued throughout the summer.
“This is a very exciting and unique partnership,†explained NASA Project Manager Randy Holland, who manages the SpaceX test collaboration at Stennis. “Other test partnerships involve private companies that are funded from NASA, but this project is strictly private industry development for commercial use.â€
The company is developing a Raptor staged combustion engine to eventually power unprecedented flights to Mars. As envisioned, the methane-fueled engine will be one of the highest-performing in the world, said Jeff Thornburg, senior director of propulsion engineering for SpaceX.
The article being tested is the first preburner component developed by SpaceX and the first full-scale component developed for the Raptor engine. Hitting the full-power mark in June was a major milestone.
“With a preburner, you’re always focused on reliable ignition and proper temperature distribution for the pump turbines,†Thornburg explained. “In this case, the test article and test facility performed very well. The two teams really have worked well together and are hitting their stride. This is just a great spot to do development testing.â€
The preburner was installed on the E-2 stand in mid-April. By the end of August, SpaceX and the Stennis test team had conducted 76 hot fire tests on the component, totaling 399.36 seconds. “This is pure research and development testing,†said Stephen Rawls, who is NASA test conductor for the project. “You focus on firing the article at a steady state and collecting performance data.â€
“There are not a whole lot of high-pressure test facilities around, and we wanted to find a site and team that were small and nimble,†Thornburg noted. “Also, the interplay between the test article and test facility is no trivial matter; it must be right to ensure collection of good data. Considering all factors, Stennis is really the best spot for us to be.â€
Both Holland and Thornburg are optimistic about the partnership continuing with future testing projects.* SpaceX has made it no secret that it hopes to launch humans to Mars during the 2020s. If that goal is achieved, Stennis will have played a key role in enabling the flights.
Photo Caption: Operators at the E-2 Test Stand at Stennis conduct a test of the oxygen preburner component being developed by SpaceX for its Raptor rocket engine, which is being built to power flights to Mars.
Lagniappe Magazine September 15, 2015
When SpaceX sought a partner to conduct testing for development of the company’s ambitious Raptor rocket engine, its focus naturally fell on the versatile high-pressure test stands at NASA’s Stennis Space Center.
In the spring of 2014, NASA and the company, which also had support from the Mississippi Development Authority and the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission, officially launched a testing partnership with a ribbon-cutting at the E-2 Test Stand at Stennis. Stennis Director Rick Gilbrech characterized the collaboration as “opening new doors of commercial space exploration.â€
As the summer of 2015 draws to a close, the ongoing testing agreement is paying off. SpaceX completed a successful round of main injector testing in late 2014. Earlier this summer, the company and the E-2 Test Stand team achieved another milestone, completing a full-power test of the oxygen preburner component for the new engine.
Additional preburner testing has continued throughout the summer.
“This is a very exciting and unique partnership,†explained NASA Project Manager Randy Holland, who manages the SpaceX test collaboration at Stennis. “Other test partnerships involve private companies that are funded from NASA, but this project is strictly private industry development for commercial use.â€
The company is developing a Raptor staged combustion engine to eventually power unprecedented flights to Mars. As envisioned, the methane-fueled engine will be one of the highest-performing in the world, said Jeff Thornburg, senior director of propulsion engineering for SpaceX.
The article being tested is the first preburner component developed by SpaceX and the first full-scale component developed for the Raptor engine. Hitting the full-power mark in June was a major milestone.
“With a preburner, you’re always focused on reliable ignition and proper temperature distribution for the pump turbines,†Thornburg explained. “In this case, the test article and test facility performed very well. The two teams really have worked well together and are hitting their stride. This is just a great spot to do development testing.â€
The preburner was installed on the E-2 stand in mid-April. By the end of August, SpaceX and the Stennis test team had conducted 76 hot fire tests on the component, totaling 399.36 seconds. “This is pure research and development testing,†said Stephen Rawls, who is NASA test conductor for the project. “You focus on firing the article at a steady state and collecting performance data.â€
“There are not a whole lot of high-pressure test facilities around, and we wanted to find a site and team that were small and nimble,†Thornburg noted. “Also, the interplay between the test article and test facility is no trivial matter; it must be right to ensure collection of good data. Considering all factors, Stennis is really the best spot for us to be.â€
Both Holland and Thornburg are optimistic about the partnership continuing with future testing projects.* SpaceX has made it no secret that it hopes to launch humans to Mars during the 2020s. If that goal is achieved, Stennis will have played a key role in enabling the flights.
Photo Caption: Operators at the E-2 Test Stand at Stennis conduct a test of the oxygen preburner component being developed by SpaceX for its Raptor rocket engine, which is being built to power flights to Mars.
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