NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne plan busy RS-25 test schedule for 2021
December 31, 2020
Hot-fire tests of new RS-25 engine components will resume in 2021 to certify a new manufacturing process during production. Over one hour of engine run-time is planned for the Retrofit 2 series to test an expanded set of new engine parts that serve to achieve a primary objective of the production restart program: improving affordability by applying modern manufacturing technologies like additive manufacturing, also called “3-D printing,” to building new engines.
Aerojet Rocketdyne plans to complete two other development engine builds in 2021 that will go into the test stand for subsequent test series, including an all-new build that will demonstrate the first new engine powerhead and nozzle assemblies built for RS-25 engines in nearly two decades.