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X-34 Fastrac Engine Tested
Huntsville - July 1, 1999 - The Fastrac rocket engine has achieved a major milestone in preparation for the first powered flight of NASA�s X-34 technology demonstrator. The engine was tested at full power for 155 seconds, the length of time the engine will be required to perform during an X-34 flight. Last month�s full-duration, hot-fire test occurred less than three years after engineers at NASA�s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., initiated the concept design of the engine - a much faster-than-usual design cycle. The test demonstrated endurance of Fastrac components working together as a unit for the duration of Fastrac�s requirement on an X-34 mission. Full-engine testing is conducted at NASA�s Stennis Space Center, Miss., where about 60 more Fastrac tests are planned during the next year. Fastrac is a new, 60,000-pound-thrust engine designed to boost small research payloads. Each Fastrac engine will initially cost approximately $1.2 million - about one-fifth of the cost of similar engines. Fastrac is claimed to be less expensive than similar engines because of an innovative design approach that uses commercial, off-the-shelf parts and fewer of them. Common manufacturing methods are used, so building the engine is relatively easy and not as labor-intensive as manufacturing typical rocket engines. A mixture of liquid oxygen and kerosene fuels the engine.
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