Aerojet Rocketdyne Expands Los Angeles Facility for NASA’s Moon and Mars Rocket
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18, 2021 (Aerojet Rocketdyne PR) — Aerojet Rocketdyne has finished a major expansion of its Los Angeles facility to support production of new-generation RS-25 main engines for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), which will send astronauts to the Moon as early as 2024.
“This expanded facility will serve NASA’s human exploration requirements for decades to come,” said Eileen P. Drake, Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and president. “We’ve added state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities and other features to produce large RS-25 engine components more efficiently and economically.”
On Aug. 18, Drake and members of her leadership team hosted a ribbon cutting to mark completion of the $59 million expansion, which added 30,000 square feet of manufacturing space to the facility. Attendees at the ceremony included California Congressman Brad Sherman, NASA Liquid Engines Manager Johnny Heflin and other federal, state and local dignitaries.
“The San Fernando Valley has a rich history of being at the forefront of aerospace innovation. Aerojet Rocketdyne’s work to produce RS-25 engines continues that tradition and will usher in a new age of human space exploration. I welcome this significant investment in manufacturing space and the creation of new jobs right here in the Valley,” said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif.
The Los Angeles expansion includes renovations to existing buildings, the addition of additive manufacturing (3D printing) capabilities, and new testing and storage facilities. Highlights include:
- Four new selective laser melting machines for additive manufacturing
- Nondestructive inspection equipment
- Roughly 11,000 square feet of additional weld space
- A new horizontal vacuum furnace for brazing exotic engine materials
Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Los Angeles facility is located a few miles away from where the company originally produced some of the iconic propulsion systems for America’s space program. These include the Mercury-Redstone A-7 engine that launched the first U.S. astronaut into space, the fully reusable Space Shuttle Main Engine and the majority of the engines for the Apollo missions, most prominently, the F-1 engines that powered the first stage of NASA’s Saturn V moon rocket, and the J-2 engines that powered the second and third stages.
With its unprecedented power and lift capabilities, NASA’s SLS will launch crews of up to four astronauts aboard the agency’s Orion spacecraft. Together, SLS and Orion are the foundational hardware elements of NASA’s Artemis program, which will put the first woman and first person of color on the Moon. Each SLS first stage will be powered by four RS-25 engines generating more than two million pounds of combined thrust.
With its unprecedented power and lift capabilities, NASA’s SLS will launch crews of up to four astronauts aboard the agency’s Orion spacecraft. Together, SLS and Orion are the foundational hardware elements of NASA’s Artemis program, which will put the first woman and first person of color on the Moon. Each SLS first stage will be powered by four RS-25 engines generating more than two million pounds of combined thrust.
About Aerojet Rocketdyne
Aerojet Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AJRD), is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader that provides propulsion systems and energetics to the space, missile defense and strategic systems, and tactical systems areas, in support of domestic and international customers. For more information, visit www.Rocket.com and www.AerojetRocketdyne.com. Follow Aerojet Rocketdyne and CEO Eileen Drake on Twitter at @AerojetRdyne and @DrakeEileen.
16 responses to “Aerojet Rocketdyne Expands Los Angeles Facility for NASA’s Moon and Mars Rocket”
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all that SLS stuff must be programmed in on the press release key
curious when they will replace BO on the Vulcan?
The only current viable replacement for the BE-4 comes from Hawthorne and soon McGregor TX.
I am sure ULA is discussing that option 🙂
Among themselves, perhaps. People in tough spots have certainly been known to fantasize about ways out of their fixes. Elon’s recent Twitter japery aside, SpaceX has no reason to sell any engines to ULA – or to anyone else.
Why not? Easy money for SpaceX and it would help with the economies of scale. And it would mean that SpaceX will make some money from every launch the DoD/NASA gives to ULA to have “two” suppliers.
Remember even if they are cheaper than the Be-4 ULA rockets will still be far more expensive to launch so SpaceX will still have a competitive advantage.
I can see SX possibly selling Merlin engines mid-decade. But ULA’s need for Raptors is going to be so miniscule compared to SX’s need, that the profit won’t even be worth the downside.
The last part is certainly correct. But I see no evidence at all that SpaceX would entertain a sale of Merlin tech to some other entity.
Yeah. That’s why I gave myself an easy out with “possibly”. CYA.
Well, for one thing that would defenstrate dissimilar redundancy pretty
soon. Even before that, it would put SpaceX in the odd position of offering Space Force its older engine while its newer engine would fly on a competitor’s product. I don’t think SpaceX’s charitable impulses extend quite that far. SpaceX will, in any case, be making enough Raptors for its own purposes that a few for ULA wouldn’t materially increase production rates or improve economics.
You need to quit dreaming up ever more recondite schemes by which to save ULA. The company is doomed. Just accept that – no denial, anger, bargaining or depression. The only suspense is just when it’s going down. As soon as we know that, we can have the stonecutter finish the grave marker and put the thing in the ground.
Viable, yes. Available? Not so much.
If you think about it. ULA needs about 60 Vulcan engines for the current NSSL phase. That is about the engine complements of TWO shiny grain silos. The new McGregor production facility is suppose to roll out about 3 engines daily.
AIUI the ULA Vulcan launch pads can each do a new launch campaign at three week intervals. However would be surprised if ULA will have annual launch rate at more than 14 for the Vulcan Centaur. So the main issues will be how many engine pairs that the Hawthorne folks can allocated to ULA every month and when the engine design configuration is frozen.
P.S. AFAIK, the new McGregor TX production facility will only be building the sea level engine in both the fixed and gimbaled versions.
Yup. Rvac production stays in Hawthorne for the nonce. But SpaceX isn’t going to sell any Raptors to anybody – certainly not to ULA.
The most recent RIF at AJR must have included the last remaining copy editor in the PR Dept.
ULA is stuck with BO on the Vulcan. Switching horses at this point would require a complete redesign of the whole vehicle and would make a late project later still. If ULA tried that, Space Force would cancel its NSSL Phase 2 contract for non-performance and the company would be instantly out of business. It is, literally, BE-4 or bust for ULA.
The AR-1 is still in limbo anyway and might have problems as bad or worse than the BE-4. Ancient and senile aerospace companies no longer get benefits of the doubt.
One has to be struck by the near-complete divorce from reality in CEO Drake’s remarks. The only way AJR’s DeSoto Av. works will “serve NASA’s human exploration requirements for decades to come” is if some NewSpace launch company with far better prospects buys the place, either at AJR’s liquidation sale or when LockMart discards it should its prospective purchase of AJR be approved by the FTC. LockMart wants AJR for its abilities with small solid propellant motors, not large liquid propellant engines. SLS will be dead as a doornail by mid-decade at the latest anyway, and all of its component contracts will be cancelled. Perhaps the plant’s new owner will be Firefly and Lauren Lyons can build AR-1s there for the Beta.
agree
At least their building something
For now.