An artist's concept of the RS-72 engine. Photo: Boeing

A team from The Boeing Company and Astrium GmbH (formerly DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (Dasa)) has successfully completed hot-fire testing of the RS-72 Pathfinder engine at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. The test success is the latest milestone in a jointly sponsored development program to fabricate and test a 12,500-pound (55 kN) thrust pump-fed storable propellant prototype engine.

The 14th and final test of the engine on May 3 operated at 100-percent power and it ran for 60-seconds.

"We're all kind of walking on clouds here," said Jon Volkmann, Integrated Project Team leader for the RS-72 Pathfinder program. "For a brand new engine to reach full power in the time we had was a great accomplishment for everyone involved."

The RS-72 Pathfinder engine includes a powerpack (turbopump, gas generator, valves, and controls) from the Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power business of Boeing and a thrust chamber assembly provided by Astrium. It is an upgraded derivative of the flight proven Astrium Aestus engine and the Rocketdyne-developed XLR-132 engine. The combination provides increased performance, multiple restarts and a design life of 2,500-seconds. The RS-72 is a pump-fed engine using nitrogen tetroxide and monomethyl hydrazine for propellant. The engine is designed for higher performance, thrust and reliability than competing pressure fed systems using the same propellants, with application on existing, or new and evolved launch vehicles.

Boeing Rocketdyne is a global leader in liquid-fueled propulsion. In addition to developing and manufacturing the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), the Boeing team at Rocketdyne also produces the RS-27A engine for Delta 2 and Delta 3. Currently under development and testing at Rocketdyne are the RS-68 engine for the Boeing Delta 4 family of launch vehicles, the XRS-2200 linear aerospike engine for the NASA X-33 reusable launch vehicle, and the MB-60 upper-stage engine in partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan.

Astrium, Europe's leading space company, is owned 50-percent by Aerospatiale Matra in France and BAe Systems in the UK and 50-percent by DaimlerChrysler Aerospace in Germany. The Astrium Business Unit Propulsion provides a wide range of thrust and attitude control systems for launchers, satellites and platforms. Astrium is responsible for major parts of the very successful European Ariane 5 program such as the Aestus engine for flexible use and the thrust chamber of the main engine "Vulcain" including injector head, nozzle and cryo-valves. Furthermore Astrium is involved with major contributions in the future oriented Ariane 5 development programs Performance 2000, EPS Versatile and the cryogenic upper stage ESC.