X-33 Begins Aerospike Tests

A critical milestone was achieved earlier this month with the first successful powerpack test of the X-33’s Linear Aerospike Engine at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Engineers and technicians at Stennis conducted a successful 2.81-second
powerpack test. The test was designed to calibrate the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel turbopumps and test facility settings, as well as to verify valve timing to prime the gas generator.

This marks the beginning of a program to test engines leading to flights
of the X-33 beginning next year. The X-33 technology demonstrator is being developed by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, Calif., under a cooperative agreement with NASA. It will demonstrate technologies needed to develop a commercial reusable launch vehicle that will reduce the cost of launching payloads into space from $10,000 to $1,000 per pound.

The powerpack tested last night consists of the main power generating
and pumping components of the aerospike engine, including liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen turbopumps, a gas generator for the turbopump drive as well as vehicle connect lines and interconnecting flight ducts.

Powerpack tests are critical in the development of the Linear Aerospike
Engine because various performance levels can be tested in parallel with the engine fabrication and design. This individual component testing capability is one of the key benefits of the gas generator power cycle selected for X-33 application.

Full-scale engine tests are scheduled to occur at Stennis later in the
year. Boeing’s Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power Division builds the powerpacks and engines in Canoga Park, Calif.

“I commend the Rocketdyne-NASA team for achieving this milestone,” said
Gene Austin, NASA X-33 Program Manager from the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. “Getting hardware onto the test stands to verify its performance is just another sign of how well the X-33 development is progressing.”

Steve Nunez, Stennis’ X-33 project manager, added, “Appreciation goes to
the combined Stennis Space Center and Rocketdyne test team for putting long hours into successfully completing this first critical test;
they’ve done an outstanding job!”