Delta IV second stage chosen for Orion tests

Delta IV upper stage utilized on a variety of
configurations [NASA/USAF].

Todd Halverson
Florida Today

NASA intends to use a modified Delta IV second stage to launch Orion spacecraft on an unmanned test flight in 2017 and then a human expedition to lunar orbit four years later.

The Boeing upper stage is “the only means available to support the immediate in-space propulsion needs” for the excursions, NASA said in a procurement notice issued early this month.

The missions both are to be launched from complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center on early versions of NASA’s new heavy-lift Space Launch System.

The second stage for the first flight must be delivered to KSC no later than the fourth quarter of 2016, the notice said. The fourth quarter of 2020 is the deadline for delivery of the upper stage for the second mission.

NASA performed an internal market study of in-space propulsion systems available in the U.S., Europe and Japan, the notice said. From that research, NASA determined that the Delta IV upper stage “is the only known in-space stage requiring relatively minor modifications” to meet mission requirements as well as the launch schedule, the notice said.

Moreover, NASA said no other in-space propulsion system – “either existing with flight proven performance, or planned” – could be upgraded to fly astronauts with “relatively minor modifications.”

A single Pratt & Whitney RL-10B2 engine powers the Delta IV second stage. The engine runs on supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

The RL-10 was the first liquid hydrogen rocket engine built in the United States and has been flying for 50 years. Versions of it still power Atlas V and Delta IV upper stages.

Read the full article HERE.

Background from Spaceflight NOW

Fierce urgency of NOW for US space industry

L2 Depot with Orion CEV and DTAL-C docked, notional concept featured in "A commercially-based lunar architecture," October 12, 2010 [United Launch Alliance/AIAA].

Jeff Foust
Space Politics

The president of Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne had a blunt warning this week for policymakers: get a plan in place for NASA’s future now or industry will suffer the consequences.

“NASA has a very short period of time to work with Congress and come up with a unified position and get their act together, and let industry know what’s going on,” Jim Maser told reporters in a roundtable Monday in Washington. “We’ve got to pick something, we’ve got to move on.”

Maser said he was concerned about the effect of extended uncertainty about NASA’s future plans on an industry already challenged by low flight rates and an unstable supplier base. He described one specific supplier of a component for the RL-10 rocket engine that still does business with him because the owner “wants to be part of the space business”. That owner, he added, is in his 80s, and his heirs don’t share that passion.

“With this uncertainty I would think there’s a fair number of second- and third-tier suppliers” who are rethinking their commitment to the industry, he warned. “In the absence of a decision in the next four to eight months, I think companies will be making decisions about space.”

Read the full article, HERE.

Boeing: Contrators face layoffs unless NASA moves faster on Constellation

By Andrea Shalal-Esa

Colorado Springs - March 31 (Reuters) - A senior Boeing official said March 31 American contractors working on manned spaceflight capabilities will have to lay off up to 10,000 workers unless NASA accelerates orders for Constellation.

"The Gap," the period between the end of the Shuttle program in late 2010 and the follow-on Constellation program's first flight in 2015 is a challenge for the companies involved, said Brewster Shaw, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space Exploration.

Shaw said the five biggest contractors in the sector faced combined layoffs of 8,000 to 10,000 workers, the largest among them Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Alliant Techsystems, United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and United Space Alliance (a Boeing-Lockheed joint venture.

The companies and their smaller suppliers were urging lawmakers and NASA to accelerate work on Ares 5, the cargo heavy-lift booster, as well as Altair, the Constellation's lunar lander., Shaw said.

Read the Story HERE.

Lunar Lander Demonstrator Validates Critical Capabilities

NASA's new Common Extensible Cryogenic Engine for the lunar lander gets icicles
on its rim while burning at 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

The CECE—developed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and NASA—is fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. All the engine components are super-cooled, so when vapor comes out of the burning of the oxygen and the hydrogen and touches the rim of the cryogenic engine, it transforms into ice instantly.

West Palm - Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne’s Common Extensible Cryogenic Engine (CECE) has successfully demonstrated critical capabilities required for NASA’s Altair lunar lander. The engine performed with stable operation at the widest throttle range of any known high performance cryogenic engine in December during its third series of ground tests at the company’s West Palm Beach, Fla., test facility. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company.

While accumulating nearly 3,000 seconds of operation during 11 hot fire tests, the CECE achieved a throttling range from 104 percent down to 8 percent of its maximum power of 13,800 pounds of thrust. The engine is fueled by a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. It is validating propulsion technologies to support NASA’s Constellation Program.

Read more HERE &

at Universe Today
Video of a 'very cool' hot engine

CECE by Pratt & Whitney: NASA awards contract extension

"Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is pleased that NASA has continued development of the CECE," said Graham Webb, general manager, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Florida & Mississippi operations. "We look forward to competing to power the first lunar landing of the 21st Century."

In a flurry of contract awards, with more to follow, NASA granted the contract extension on CECE, or Common Extensible Cryogenic Engine, as expected Thursday.

The CECE development contract, originally awarded in June 2005, extends now through March 2009.

During this next phase of the program, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne will design, manufacture and test a new, enhanced injector to support stable combustion at very low thrust.

"In tests to date, the CECE has made significant progress to meet the mission," said Victor Giuliano, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne CECE program manager. "Test highlights included the CECE demonstrating repeated throttling operability from 100 percent of its 13,800 pounds of thrust down to as low as 9.5 percent of full power. Additionally, the engine has demonstrated throttle acceleration and deceleration transient capabilities. The next phase of testing will focus on combustion stability at the lower thrust range."

A throttling range from full power down to 10-25 percent is believed to be sufficient for human-rated spacecraft landing on the moon. Deep throttling, or a wide variation of thrust, enables a vehicle to maintain adequate thrust during in-space travel, yet have a controlled descent at its final destination. Fast-reaction throttling transients will be necessary to smoothly descend to the lunar surface.

  Bryan Kidder
 Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
 818 586-2213
 bryan.kidder@pwr.utc.com

 Nancy Colaguori
 Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
 561 796-2219
 nancy.colaguori@pw.utc.com 
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne