Production of Key Equipment Paves Way for NASA SLS RS-25 Testing, NASA Marshall
“NASA plans to begin testing RS-25 engines for its new Space Launch System (SLS) in the fall of 2014, and the agency’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi has a very big — literally — item to complete on the preparation checklist.
Fabrication recently began at Stennis on a new 7,755-pound thrust frame adapter for the A-1 Test Stand to enable testing of the engines that will provide core-stage power for NASA’s SLS. The stand component is scheduled to be completed and installed by November 2013.”

8 replies on “Thrust Frame Adapter Fabrication for A-1 Test Stand Begins”

  1. Dumb question. Since the SSME and the RS-25 are almost identical why did all this extra hardware have to be built?

    2. I would bet some serious money that the original hardware was irreversibly modified and used somewhere else or on something else

  2. from the link

    The J-2X equipment installed on the A-1 Test Stand now cannot be used to
    test RS-25 engines since it does not match the engine specifications
    and thrust requirements. For instance, the J-2X engine is capable of
    producing 294,000 pounds of thrust. The RS-25 engine will produce
    approximately 530,000 pounds of thrust.

    1. Doug, SSME’s have been tested at Stennis and at MSFC since the early 1980’s. I ask again, why all of the new hardware?

      1. As Doug mentioned, the equipment that is currently installed does not support the RS-25 engine (or SSME). As a result the hardware had to be changed to support a different engine.

        1. And as I said, they have been testing these engines there for 30 years, why did they need to fabricate new hardware?

Comments are closed.