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Triggering a huge cloud of steam and a roar, Monday's test officials fired a rocket engine designed to be part of a reusable spaceship that can embark on a space repeatedly with fast turnaround time.
The AR-22 engine will power an experimental spacecraft – called Phantom Express – which is a collaboration between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne. Engineers are currently testing the engine over a 10-day period by heating it for 100 seconds and then doing it again 24 hours later. On Monday, Tom Martin, of Rocketdyne's Aerojet, said Monday's test at the Stennis Space Center, in Mississippi, was "awesome" but a bit "boring" because everything went wrong. unfolded as planned.
"The action starts when the engine stops, the idea is how to prepare this engine within 24 hours," he said. "The data is exactly what we expected, the engine did exactly what we expected."
The goal is to create a new type of spacecraft that can launch into low Earth orbit on short notice … days instead of months or years – and cost less than programs traditional space.
The spacecraft would be unmanned and about the size of a business jet. It would take off vertically and once it reaches a certain altitude, a second leg would be released that could then deploy a satellite into orbit.
The first leg came down and landed horizontally on a runway like an airplane. He would then be able to quickly launch again for another flight. Steve Johnston, of Boeing, said launching satellites into space was a costly and time-consuming undertaking, said Scott Wierzbanowski, DARPA
. "What we wanted to do to DARPA was to change that paradigm: we wanted to allow the tactical use of space, to be able to make it more affordable, to reduce time in space," said Wierzbanowski. "We want to show that you can have a reusable space system and use it on a daily basis."
One of the main challenges is to dry the moisture in the engine that is created when hydrogen fuel and liquid and liquid oxygen burns, said Jeff Haynes, D & # 39; 39; Aerojet. Once the engine is tested, they circulate high pressure air through the system for hours to dry.
"It generates a lot of moisture and water in the engine," he said. With the Space Shuttle Program, this moisture was also a problem, but drying would only take weeks or months. "We have to show that we can do it in eight hours, maybe six hours."
Wierzbanowski stated that the Phantom Express uses many capabilities and technologies of the space shuttle, in particular the main engine and the thermal protection system.
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Image: NASA concludes summer testing with fifth flight controller flight
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