SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aerojet, a
GenCorp Inc. (NYSE: GY) company, announced its contract award today from
NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) for the development of a 5,500lbf Liquid
Oxygen-Liquid Methane engine.
NASA's Altair lunar lander program and the NASA Exploration Technology
Development Program (ETDP) have partnered to create the NASA Propulsion
Cryogenic Advanced Development (PCAD) project to support methane technology
maturation and advancement. The NASA PCAD project is managed jointly by
NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio; NASA Marshall Space Flight
Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama; and NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC)
in Houston, Texas.
This critical engine development effort will provide the NASA Altair
lunar lander program with validated methane engine performance and
technology risk reduction data prior to the Altair propulsion System
Requirements Review (SRR) and Preliminary Design Review (PDR). The
objective of the new contract is to design, fabricate and begin testing an
Aerojet 5,500lbf methane engine by January 2009 to support the data needs
of the Altair SRR.
The NASA Exploration Systems Architecture Studies (ESAS), along with
other NASA study activities, has identified Liquid Oxygen-Liquid Methane
propulsion systems as a promising option for future space vehicles. These
systems create the potential for substantial savings in overall systems
mass when compared to conventional hypergolic systems. "Aerojet is well
positioned to accomplish this rapid development effort because of our
research and development investments in Liquid Oxygen-Liquid Methane and
other green propellant technologies," said Julie Van Kleeck, Aerojet's vice
president of Space Systems.
This award will extend Aerojet's Liquid Oxygen-Liquid Methane
development expertise beyond the 100lbf Reaction Control Engine (RCE)
contract that currently delivers 100lbf RCE engines to NASA's White Sands
Test Facility for altitude testing. The 100lbf engine program, which has
been highly successful in RCE engine development can operate on Liquid
Oxygen-Liquid Methane and has demonstrated a very fast pulsing capability
in a flight type prototype. This extremely important and critical
technology development activity will provide NASA with timely methane
ascent main engine technology data to support its system design trade
studies and system design decision making.
Aerojet is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader principally
serving the missile and space propulsion and armaments markets. GenCorp is
a leading technology-based manufacturer of aerospace and defense products
and systems with a real estate segment that includes activities related to
the entitlement, sale, and leasing of the company's excess real estate
assets. Additional information about Aerojet and GenCorp can be obtained by
visiting the companies' Web sites at http://www.Aerojet.com and
http://www.GenCorp.com.
SOURCE Aerojet
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Related links:
http://www.aerojet.com
CONTACT:
Glenn Mahone, +1-202-302-9941,
Glenn.Mahone@Aerojet.com, Kristin Conner, +1-916-355-2143,
Kristin.Conner@Aerojet.com, both of Aerojet; Linda Cutler of
GenCorp, +1-916-351-8650, Linda.Cutler@GenCorp.com
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