Now landing on moon is easy for astronauts
Washington, Jan 15: NASA has successfully completed its third round of testing for a technology development engine that may help astronauts to safely return to the surface of the Moon. The goal of these tests is to reduce risk and advance technology for a reliable and robust rocket engine that could enable America's next moon landing.
The tests by Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne in West Palm Beach, Florida, helped gather data on this concept engine that might play a role in the next stage of human exploration of the moon.
The
goal
of
a
lunar
lander
descent
engine
is
to
slow
the
vehicle
so
astronauts
can
land
safely.
Known
as
the
Common
Extensible
Cryogenic
Engine,
or
CECE,
the
engine
is
deep-throttling
one,
which
means
it
has
the
flexibility
to
reduce
thrust
from
100
percent
down
to
10
percent,
allowing
a
spacecraft
to
gently
land
on
the
lunar
surface.
The 13,800-pound thrust engine uses extremely cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as propellants. During the test, the engine was successfully throttled from a high of a 104 percent of the engine"s potential down to eight percent, a record for an engine of this type.
A cryogenic engine is needed to provide high performance and put more payload on the surface of the moon. The CECE demonstrator has evaluated two engine configurations during three rounds of hot-fire testing.
“The
first
test
series
in
2006
was
a
challenge
but
showed
promise,"
said
Tony
Kim,
Deep
Throttling
Engine
project
manager
at
NASA"s
Marshall
Space
Flight
Center,
Huntsville,
Alabama.
“Testing
in
2007
provided
an
in-depth
examination
of
low-power-level
throttling
and
engine
performance
characteristics.
This
third
cycle
we
actively
addressed
and
found
solutions
to
the
challenges
we
faced,"
he
added.
The team carefully assessed test results that showed pressure oscillations in the engine at lower throttle levels called “chugging." The latest engine configuration incorporates a new injector design and propellant feed system that carefully manages the pressure, temperature and flow of propellants.
“The technology developed from this effort will help engineers successfully design future cryogenic engines to meet the throttling requirements of the Constellation Program"s Altair lunar lander," Kim said.
ANI