Our Mobile Branch helps send MAN back to MOON!
A-3 Test Stand
Work continues on the new A-3 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The stand will be used to test the new J-2X rocket engine that will help take humans back to the moon and beyond.
“The A-3 test stand is a single position, vertical firing stand being built to test the J-2X engine for NASA's Constellation Program. The Constellation Program is developing next-generation spacecraft systems to send astronauts to the International Space Station, the moon, Mars and destinations beyond. The J-2X engine will power the upper stage of the Ares I crew exploration vehicle and the Earth departure stage of the Ares V cargo launch vehicle.
“On Ares I and Ares V the J-2X engine fires once it is almost in space. In order to test at A-3 like we fly, the J-2X engine will be fired in a vacuum chamber test cell. A-3 is equipped with a steam driven diffuser-ejector system that pulls a vacuum in the test cell to simulate up to 100,000 foot altitude for engine start and pumps the rocket exhaust out as it fires. The diffuser-ejector system is supplied with steam by a chemical steam generation system that generates approximately 5,000 pounds per second of steam by burning Isopropyl Alcohol and Liquid Oxygen with injection of water.”
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