NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, have completed all hot-fire tests of RS-25 engines that will power the agency’s Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket for future deep space missions, starting with Artemis V.
The new versions of the Aerojet Rocketdyne-manufactured RS-25 engines will be fired at a power level of up to 111 percent on SLS, an increase from the first four Artemis missions, which will use remaining RS-25 engines from NASA’s Space Shuttle Program, L3Harris said Wednesday.
“To power the flights that follow, our team was challenged to design and build a modernized version of the RS-25 that is more affordable without sacrificing its outstanding reliability, and, if we could increase its performance, even better,” said Mike Lauer, RS-25 program director at Aerojet Rocketdyne.
Each mission will use four RS-25 engines that will generate more than 2 million pounds of combined liquid-propulsion thrust to power the SLS’s core stage.
NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne initiated a 12-part certification series in October 2023 to certify the production of the redesigned RS-25 engines.