Aerojet performs hot-fire test on AJ26 flight engine

Aerojet has successfully completed a full-duration hot-fire test of its AJ26 engine at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in support of the Orbital’s Antares rocket programme.

The test data will be gathered and reviewed, then the engine will be integrated with Orbital’s Antares rocket at Wallops flight facility, on the eastern shore of Virginia, US.

The oxidiser-rich, staged-combustion Kerosene engine is based on the Russian NK-33 model that was originally designed and produced for the N1 lunar launch vehicle.

The liquid-fuel AJ26, available in a lightweight compact package, is capable of achieving high-performance and will provide boost for the first stage of the Antares rocket.

The company has been developing design modifications to 40 NK-33engines, which were originally purchased by Aerojet in the mid-1990s.

Under a contract with Orbital, the engines were specifically modified for its Antares rocket, as well as to ensure that the AJ26 is suitable for commercial launchers.

Apart from the certification testing, each AJ26 engine is scheduled to undergo pre-launch acceptance testing at the Stennis facility before being integrated with the rocket.

The two stage Antares rocket vehicle is an expendable system that will launch payloads into a range of low-Earth and geosynchronous transfer orbits and to Earth escape trajectories.

Incorporating proven technologies from Orbital’s Pegasus, Taurus and Minotaur rockets, Antares will also be available to civil government and US military customers for dedicated launch of medium-class scientific and national security satellites.

The AJ-26 has served as the main propulsion system for Orbital’s Taurus 2 rocket, which was launched for commercial resupply missions to the international space station.

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Image: AJ26 flight engine delivers successful hot fire test for Orbital’s Taurus II space launch vehicle. Photo: courtesy of Aerojet.