NASA Press Release 99-233
August 30, 1999

In September, testing will begin on the XRS-2200 Linear Aerospike Engine, which arrived July 10 at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center. Stennis is NASA's lead center for propulsion systems testing and is located in south Mississippi.

The aerospike engine was developed and assembled by Boeing Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power in Canoga Park, Calif. The test firing of this new engine marks the first time a linear aerospike engine will be tested at Stennis Space Center.

The engine will power the X-33, a half-scale technology demonstrator of a full-scale, commercially-developed, reusable launch vehicle, called VentureStarTM, that is scheduled for development early in the next century. The X-33, scheduled to begin flying in summer 2000, is being developed under a cooperative agreement between NASA and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works of Palmdale, Calif. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the X-33 program for NASA.

Stennis personnel will conduct a total of 41 test firings on four engines - two test engines and two flight engines. The first 25 firings, scheduled to begin in September, will involve two flight engines and one test engine, each tested individually. The first six tests on the test engine will address engine ignition and start sequence development. These tests are planned to be five seconds or less in duration.

Upon successful completion of those initial tests, eight more tests are planned at a maximum of 250 seconds in duration to verify engine performance at various mixture ratios and power levels, as well as demonstrate thrust vector control. Planned total test duration on the first test engine is 1,142 seconds.