NASA Tests New RS-25 Engine

NASA tested the RS-25 n ° 20001 engine on June 20, at the Fred Haise test stand at Stennis Space Center from NASA in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The test teams pulled the engine for almost eight and a half minutes (500 seconds), the same time as the RS-25 engines pulled during a launch of a SLS (Space Launch System) rocket on the Artemis to The Moon missions. The Artemis campaign will explore the moon for scientific discovery, economic advantages and to build the bases of the first crew missions in Mars – for the benefit of all.

Four RS-25 engines, built by the entrepreneur L3harris Technologies (formerly Aerojet Rocketdyne), help fuel the launch of each SLS, producing up to 2 million pounds of combined thrust. During the test, the operators also pulled the n ° 20001 engine to the level of power of 111%, the same amount of thrust required to launch a SLS rocket, transporting the orbit of the Orion spacecraft. The complete “hot fire” was the first test since NASA carried out certification tests for new RS-25 production engines in 2024.

All RS-25 engines are tested and tested Flightworthy at NASA Stennis. The test was carried out by a team of operators from NASA, L3harris and Syncom space services, the main entrepreneur for the installations and operations of the site.