Assembly of the first J-2X, dubbed engine 10001, is in full swing at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. Managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center, the J-2X engine is a highly efficient and versatile rocket engine that has the ideal performance characteristics to power the upper-stage of a heavy-lift launch vehicle. Fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, the J-2X engine will generate 294,000 pounds of thrust to propel a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit to the moon, an asteroid, or other celestial destination.
This week, the Stennis Space Center’s A-2 test stand was certified ready to support J-2X development testing. Stennis has a proud history of engine testing, having tested the space shuttle main engine and the Saturn vehicle stages.
The J-2X engine exemplifies engineering excellence using proven hardware and knowledge from 50 years of American spaceflight experience, coupled with state-of-the-art technology, design processes and advances in materials and manufacturing.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif. is the prime contractor for the design and manufacture of the J-2X. Hot fire testing of Engine 10001 is targeted for later this summer at Stennis.
Credit: NASA Stennis/Nowlin