NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program recently completed a combined System Requirements and System Definition Review, setting the requirements of the overall launch vehicle system, the agency said in a statement.
The reviews set technical, performance, cost and schedule requirements to provide on-time development of the heavy-lift rocket. As part of the process, an independent review board, lead by former Space Shuttle deputy program manager LeRoy Cain and comprised of technical experts from across NASA, evaluated SLS program documents describing vehicle specifications, budget and schedule. The board confirmed SLS is ready to move from concept development to preliminary design.
The reviews also confirmed the SLS system architecture and integration with the Orion spacecraft, managed by NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program, which manage the operations and launch facilities at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA spokeswoman Kim Henry said in an email the first two SLS missions will launch the Orion spacecraft and other missions are under evaluation and have not been finalized. Henry said other missions could include a variety of science payloads to explore different deep space destinations including near-Earth asteroids, Lagrange points, the moon and Mars.
NASA said SLS reached the System Definition Review milestone less than 10 months after the program’s inception. The next major program milestone is the preliminary design review (PDR), which will demonstrate that the preliminary design meets all system requirements with acceptable risk and within the cost and schedule constrains. The PDR is scheduled for late 2013.
The first test flight of the SLS, which will feature a configuration for a 77-ton lift capacity, is scheduled for 2017. As SLS evolves, a three-stage launch vehicle configuration will provide a lift capability of 143 tons to enable missions beyond low Earth orbit and support deep space exploration.
Major contractors participating in the SLS program include Pratt &Whitney Rocketdyne, a division of United Technologies Corp. [UTX], ATK [ATK] and Boeing [BA]. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is developing the RS-25 core stage and J-2X upper-stage rocket engine. ATK is the prime contractor for the five-segment solid rocket boosters and has begun processing its first SLS boosters in preparation for an initial qualification test next year. Boeing is designing the SLS core stage, which will be built at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and tested at Stennis before being shipped to Kennedy.
GenCorp Inc. [GY] said July 23 it agreed to acquire the Rocketdyne rocket engine business from United Technologies Corp. [UTX] for $550 million in a deal that would significantly increase the company’s heavy lift engine business. UTC is selling Rocketdyne, which it acquired in 2005 from Boeing [BA] for about $700 million, to raise proceeds for its acquisition of Goodrich [GR], which finalized recently.
There is very little overlap between GenCorp’s Aerojet propulsion and motors business and Rocketdyne. Aerojet is known more for its tactical rocket motors and propulsion business, although the company manufactures or modifies three engines for different space launch vehicles, including a solid rocket motor for the Atlas launch vehicle and the second stage of the Delta II rocket.