Posted on 11/24/2015 9:18:43 PM PST by BenLurkin
The contract spans from November 2015 through Sept. 30, 2024.
The SLS is the most powerful rocket the world has ever seen and will loft astronauts in the Orion capsule on missions back to the Moon by around 2021, to an asteroid around 2025 and then beyond on a 'Journey to Mars' in the 2030s - NASA's overriding and agency wide goal. The first unmanned SLS test flight is slated for late 2018.
The core stage (first stage) of the SLS will initially be powered by four existing RS-25 engines, recycled and upgraded from the shuttle era, and a pair of five-segment solid rocket boosters that will generate a combined 8.4 million pounds of liftoff thrust, making it the world's most powerful rocket ever.
The newly awarded RS-25 engine contract to Sacramento, California based Aerojet Rocketdyne is valued at 1.16 Billion and aims to "modernize the space shuttle heritage engine to make it more affordable and expendable for SLS," NASA announced on Nov. 23. NASA can also procure up to six new flight worthy engines for later launches.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
The Aerojet Rocketdyne former Pratt & Whitney/Rocketdyne/North America plant in Woodland Hills, CA (about 25 miles from Los Angeles) is closed now. They had a Saturn F1 engine out front for decades. The plant is to be torn down soon for apartments and some shops. I guess they will make the new RS-25 engines elsewhere.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocketdyne_F-1#/media/File:Pratt_%26_Whitney_Rocketdyne_Division.JPG
The F1 engine was first made around 1955 and here we are 60 years later playing catch up.
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