Pratt & Whitney's new RL60 rocket engine is 90 % complete
and expected to start testing in September, the company reports.
The 60,000 pounds thrust upper-stage engine is aimed at both unmanned
and human-rated applications.
The RL60 is a larger descendant of the reliable, long-running
RL10, which has been in service for more than 40 years and was
the first operational U.S. rocket fuelled by liquid hydrogen (LH2)
and liquid oxygen (LOX). Like the RL10, it is a relatively simple
expander-cycle engine in which fuel that cools the nozzle expands
into gaseous form and drives the turbopumps. The engine draws
on technology developed under the USAF's Integrated High Payoff
Rocket Propulsion Technology program.
Initially, the RL60 will be used to increase the launch capability
of the USAF's Atlas and Delta launch vehicles. Integration will
be made easier by the fact that the new engine is about the same
size as the RL10, currently used on Atlas and Titan. However,
it could also be used to launch manned systems such as NASA's
planned Orbital Spaceplane (OSP). The RL60 is due to be available
for service in 2005.
Major partners on the RL60 program include Volvo Aero, which builds
the regeneratively-cooled nozzle; IHI, which delivered its first
hydrogen turbopump in April; and KB KhimAvtomatiki of Russia,
supplying the LOX turbopump. Pratt & Whitney launched the
RL60 program after a proposed joint program with Snecma broke
down.
