Rocketdyne main engines add new measure of safety to space station-bound shuttle

Citation

(2008), "Rocketdyne main engines add new measure of safety to space station-bound shuttle", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 80 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2008.12780aaf.006

Rocketdyne main engines add new measure of safety to space station-bound shuttle

Rocketdyne main engines add new measure of safety to space station-bound shuttle

Three Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) space shuttle main engines (SSMEs), fitted with upgraded controllers to actively monitor engine health and performance, powered the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour from NASA's Kennedy Space Center today. The Endeavour is on mission STS-118 to the International Space Station (ISS). PWR is a United Technologies Corp. company and has powered the space shuttle since its first mission in 1981.

This successful launch comes just days after NASA awarded PWR a nearly $1 billion contract extension to continue maintaining the agency's fleet of SSMEs.

All three of Endeavour's SSMEs carried the new advanced health management system (AHMS) controllers which monitor engine vibration and have the ability to detect real versus false signals. For this mission, all three of the controllers were active and could have prompted actions in the engine systems if unacceptable vibration levels were detected during the 8 and 1 12 min firing of the engines during launch.

“This is a major upgrade for the engines” said Jim Paulsen, PWR SSME Program Manager, “and we are excited to finally put the new AHMS into action after years of hard work from a dedicated team of NASA, PWR and Honeywell personnel. Once again, the team has succeeded in introducing advancements that further enhance flight safety.”

The AHMS controller was developed in conjunction with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Honeywell International and is an engine enhancement that is expected to improve flight safety by 23 per cent with real-time automatic response to potential issues.

Endeavour will deliver the S5 Truss and SPACEHAB on the twenty-second mission to ISS. The S5 is the third starboard truss element, as assembly of ISS continues.

PWR SSME is the world's only re- usable high performance liquid rocket engine. Recently successful launch brings the fleet total to 357 engine flights and nearly 183,000s of flight operation. Upon return of Endeavour, the SSMEs will be removed from the orbiter and prepared for future missions.

PWR Inc., a part of Pratt & Whitney, offers a complete line of propulsion products from launch vehicles to missile defense to advanced hypersonic propulsion. These have been used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications, including the main and upper stage engines for the space shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, and high altitude defense systems.