Redmond rocket company could help send astronauts to Mars

[Buster's Uncle]

Redmond rocket company could help send astronauts to Mars
Puget Sound Business Journal   
Steve Wilhelm  Staff Writer- Mar 10, 2015, 2:24pm PDT Updated: Mar 10, 2015, 2:35pm PDT

 

Jennifer McCormick, left, ran the program that designed and built orbit-changing engines for the Orion spacecraft, while Kim Wierenga, right, ran the program that designed and built engines that orient the capsule itself.



A small rocket company in Redmond may soon have a hand in sending the next generation of astronauts to space.

By designing and building new rocket engines for the Orion space capsule, Aerojet Rocketdyne has positioned itself to support missions that will carry humans into outer space.

The Aerojet Rocketdyne teams that designed and built two types of engines the Orion spacecraft used were led by two of the company's top technical people, both of whom are women. That's notable for an industry that has struggled to recruit and retain women engineers.

The Orion space capsule was designed and built by Lockheed Martin Corp. in New Orleans for NASA, and had its first successful flight in early December. The space capsule is able to carry up to four people, and has been designed for deep-space missions, including Mars.

At a Tuesday briefing, engineer Jennifer McCormick said the new engines for the Orion are a big step for Aerojet Rocketdyne.

"This does put us back into the manned arena," she said, adding that the company has used a lot of engineering to translate its skills in unmanned space flight into human-rated hardware.

"There are more stringent requirements and inspections to ensure there won't be any anomalies during a manned mission," McCormick said.

Manned missions need higher safety requirements and more redundancies, she said.

Landing the contract to build 20 of the capsule's engines was a significant coup for Aerojet Rocketdyne. The new designs harnessed the company's long history of building rocket guidance engines for orbiting space vehicles, as well as for those probing deep space, back to when it was called Rocket Research.

McCormick heads the program designing and building the R4D-11 engines that the capsule crew would use for longer burns, like when they shift their place in orbit.

Those engines are nearly three feet long, and develop about 100 pounds of force. They are powered by a reaction between two propellants.

Her colleague Kim Wierenga, a chemist, heads the program designing and building the attitude control engines, which keep the spacecraft in its proper orientation when in flight, burning in short bursts. These MR-104 engines are nearly two feet long, and develop 160 pounds of force, Wierenga said.

The engines performed flawlessly on the first Dec. 5 unmanned flight, and now NASA is planning a second mission, said Laurence Price, deputy program manager for the Orion program for Lockheed Martin. He was visiting Aerojet Rocketdyne Tuesday, and said the success of the Aerojet Rocketdyne engines was a key part of the program's near-flawless first flight.

"The propulsion systems is extremely important in the whole vehicle," he said, adding that Aerojet Rocketdyne's ability to keep costs down and build in reliability will help attract future funding for space missions.

A second unmanned Orion mission, powered by Aerojet Rocketdyne rockets, is scheduled to fly in 2018 and orbit the moon.

Whether or not the Orion ever takes people to Mars or the moon will depend on yet-to-be approved funding from Congress.

Wierenga said Aerojet Rocketdyne's success in the Puget Sound region is partly tied to the deep aerospace, software and technical expertise imbedded in the advanced manufacturing culture.

Aerojet Rocketdyne uses many Puget Sound-area machine shops and metal treating companies, including some of the same suppliers that Boeing uses, she said.

In addition, the University of Washington, where both women earned their technical degrees, keeps pumping out talent, Wierenga said.

"The University of Washington," she said, "is feeding the company year-in and year-out."


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[Geo]

Another 3 years before a test is done?
That's, like, close to 4 years after the first one?