Ground-breaking rocket motor test at AEDC supports NASA, DoD and commercial missions

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tn --  A high-visibility test on an upper stage developmental rocket motor set a new record in the Arnold Engineering Development Center's J-6 large rocket motor testing facility Wednesday.

Joe Migliaccio, the Aerospace Testing Alliance engineer who conducted the test, said the team fired Alliant Techsystems, Inc.'s (ATK) CASTOR® 30 rocket motor for approximately two and a half minutes, which is longer than any previous rocket motor test entry since J-6 became operational in 1994.

He explained that the long burn time of the motor is essential to its primary mission.

"The reason this rocket motor will burn more than some is its mission is to put payloads into space without imparting a great shock load," he said. "So, if you have a rocket motor that's designed for an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile application, you're boosting a warhead to get it up and out in a hurry. The burn times are (longer) if you're boosting a satellite payload that needs a softer ride. So, if you get a softer ride, you get a longer burn time and a thrust curve that looks more like a bell instead of a square wave."

Three officials with ATK, a Minneapolis-based weapon and space systems developer, were onsite to view the test of their company's rocket motor first-hand. They said the successful run validated a "critical" component that their customer, Orbital Sciences Corp., will use in their Taurus II medium class launch vehicle.

"This test was the first static fire of the CASTOR 30 motor," said Kevin Enright, ATK Space System's program manager for the CASTOR 30. "We've done a lot of testing [on] subscale levels with propellant and with the cases built up with the new thrust vector control system, but this is the first full-scale static test of this rocket motor."

Also viewing the test onsite was Lt. Col. James Colebank, the commander of the 718th Test Squadron, the unit that manages the facility to provide the correct environment to simulate the high altitude conditions for the CASTOR 30 rocket motor.

"This test is significant to the Air Force because the technology can be used to support some of the Air Force weapons systems in development," he said. "Also, it's very important to the nation because this motor can be used to launch satellites and provide commercial launch services to re-supply the International Space Station."

Scott Lehr, ATK Space System's vice president and general manager of strategic and commercial systems described AEDC as a "national treasure" and said today's test was a milestone for his company.

"This test today [pending final analysis of all the data] will release us to go on to build the first three production copies of this motor," he explained. "So, for us, [this test is] a big deal."

Andy Jackson, ATK Space System's director of commercial launch vehicle programs, said he, along with representatives from Orbital Sciences Corp., Moog Corp., and NASA, were all excited to be on hand for the test.

"This stage actually is going to reside in ATK's 'Family of Motors' product line," he said. "This enables us to take different motors and different configurations and assemble them into launch vehicles to fit a specific mission for government and commercial applications.

"We've got a couple of applications right now and we're hoping to advance it to more customers in the future," he continued. "This first static fire is a big milestone, kind of like the field of dreams; you build it they'll come."

Mike Laidley, with Orbital Sciences Corp., felt fortunate to be present for the rocket motor test.

"We're developing this Taurus II medium class launch vehicle rocket to support future commercial and space mission resupply missions," he said. "The first launch of Taurus II will be in March of 2011 in support of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services [COTS] demonstration mission. We're building these vehicles in support of space station resupply."

For Debra Ocejo, a propulsion engineer with Oribital, this was her first visit to AEDC.

"The nice thing is actually being able to see data to validate all the design and all the effort that ATK has done in their reviews up until this point and to actually see a completed motor, then see it fire," she said. "For an engineer this is Christmas and New Years rolled into one. We get to open the present and there's a lot of smoke and fire.

The J-6 facility at AEDC provides ground test simulations for solid-propellant rocket motors over a wide range of simulated pressure altitudes up to 100,000 feet above sea level. These tests support materials and structural development efforts by the Department of Defense and commercial aerospace industry.

AEDC has unique test capabilities for testing rocket propulsion systems with high performance/ high area-ratio nozzles, and those requiring altitude start and restart, stage separation and spin testing. These facilities are the largest of their kind in the world and provide the only altitude test capability for medium to large rocket propulsion systems in the United States.