Latest Spacecraft propulsion Stories

SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE: GY) company, in conjunction with Lockheed Martin and NASA, successfully completed vibration and hot fire acceptance testing on its first development MR-104G mono-propellant rocket engine planned for use on NASA's Orion Crew Module (CM). Twelve 160-lb. thrust MR-104G engines, arranged in four single-engine pods and four dual-engine pods, provide the full complement of primary and redundant control required...

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y., March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AMPAC-ISP CORP., American Pacific Corporation's (Nasdaq: APFC) wholly-owned in-space propulsion subsidiary (AMPAC-ISP), reported that their LEROS 1b bipropellant engine (LEROS 1b) fired for nearly fifteen minutes in the early hours on March 18, 2011 to slow the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) spacecraft and place it into orbit around Mercury. The orbit insertion firing slowed the spacecraft by more...

SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE: GY) company, announced today that NASA's MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) spacecraft has successfully achieved the first-ever orbit around the planet Mercury using Aerojet's propulsion system. MESSENGER was launched aboard a Delta II on Aug. 3, 2004, and has traveled approximately five billion miles and flown by Earth, Venus and Mercury. The successful Mercury orbit...

PHOENIX, March 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- On the evening of March 17, 2011, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft fired its main engine for 15 minutes to perform a Mercury capture maneuver and became the first spacecraft in history to orbit the innermost planet to the Sun. This event marks the culmination of over six and a half years of interplanetary cruise in an ever-tightening spiral toward Mercury, where MESSENGER performed six gravity-assist planet flybys: one of Earth, two of Venus, and three of...

For the first time, NASA has released high-definition video taken during the retrieval of solid rocket booster segments from the Atlantic Ocean. The solid rocket boosters provided 144 million horsepower of thrust for the final launch of space shuttle Discovery on its STS-133 mission.After each shuttle launch, crew members of the Liberty Star and Freedom Star retrieval ships pull the spent boosters out of the ocean and return them to Hangar AF at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida....

The problem of space junk floating around Earth, which could one day force nations to cancel interstellar missions, could be solved using ground-based lasers, claims a new report prepared by NASA-affiliated scientists.According to Stuart Gary of ABC News Australia, there are currently more than 19,000 objects at least 10cm in size orbiting our planet, while Charles Cooper of CBS News reports that NASA estimates that the total number of debris surrounding the planet tops the 500,000 mark, with...

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau: (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090226/CENSUSLOGO) WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16: SPACE PIONEER Profile America -- Wednesday, March 16th. On this date in 1926, rocket pioneer Robert Goddard successfully launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts. He had dedicated his life to rocket development from his teenage years. After...

Nine days from now "“ on March 17 "“ the MESSENGER spacecraft will execute a 15-minute maneuver that will place it into orbit about Mercury, making it the first craft ever to do so, and initiating a one-year science campaign to understand the innermost planet.Starting Monday, antennas from each of the three Deep Space Network (DSN) ground stations began a round-the-clock vigil, allowing flight control engineers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel,...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Feb. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is among seven nominees competing for one of the most prestigious awards in aerospace, the National Aeronautic Association's (NAA) Robert J. Collier Trophy. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is being nominated as part of the team that powered the hypersonic X-51A WaveRider vehicle last May in the longest-ever supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) powered flight. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United...

NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y., Feb. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AMPAC-ISP CORP., American Pacific Corporation's (Nasdaq: APFC) wholly-owned In-Space Propulsion subsidiary (AMPAC-ISP or AMPAC In-Space Propulsion), is producing bipropellant thrusters for the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle under contract to Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. These engines provide vernier reaction control for the spacecraft, and are designed in varied configurations to match the vehicle contour at their specific...