SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aerojet, a GenCorp
(NYSE: GY) company, announced shipment of its rocket engines destined for
use on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). When MSL is launched in the
fall of 2009 aboard the Atlas V, Aerojet will provide propulsion for every
phase of the mission. The Atlas V will be configured with four Aerojet
solid motors to provide an additional one million pounds of thrust to the
launch vehicle. The Centaur upper stage will use 12 Aerojet 6 to 9-pound
thrust monopropellant hydrazine thrusters to provide roll, pitch, yaw and
settling burns and eight Aerojet retro-rockets for Centaur upper stage
separation.
Once the spacecraft is launched, eight Aerojet 1.0 pound thrust
monopropellant hydrazine thrusters will guide the spacecraft on its nine
month cruise to the red planet. Upon arrival at Mars, eight Aerojet
68-pound thrusters will stabilize the spacecraft during its entry to Mars.
After deployment of a parachute, MSL will perform final descent to near the
Martian surface using its eight Aerojet 700-pound thrust engines. A tether
will lower the rover onto the Martian surface and the throttling engines
will then fly the descent stage away from the rover, leaving the rover on
pristine soil.
Aerojet has completed delivery of all spacecraft engines plus a spare
of each type to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of Pasadena, Calif.
Aerojet has been under contract to JPL since 2001, upgrading the Viking
Lander engine, which successfully landed the two Viking spacecraft on Mars
in 1976. A series of development and qualification tests demonstrated the
engine's dramatic throttle range and has been used to verify that it will
be suitable for the precision Mars landing. "Aerojet is proud to have
provided propulsion for all of NASA's missions to Mars since Viking," said
Aerojet President Scott Neish. "The upgraded throttling engines provide a
unique capability for planetary landings."
Aerojet is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader principally
serving the missile and space propulsion, defense 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
http://www.GenCorp.com
CONTACT:
Glenn Mahone, +1-202-302-9941,
Glenn.Mahone@Aerojet.com, or Kristin Conner, +1-916-355-2143,
Kristin.Conner@Aerojet.com, both of Aerojet; or Linda Cutler of
GenCorp, +1-916-351-8650, Linda.Cutler@GenCorp.com
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