X-33 engine milestone reached

Qualification test firings of the dual Boeing Rocketdyne XRS-2200 linear aerospike engines for the X-33 sub-orbital single-stage-to-orbit technology demonstrator have begun at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Mississippi. The first firing was a 1.1s duration engine-start.

Tests of the dual-engine stack will gradually be increased to mission length in five more trials before the engines are delivered to Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, where the X-33 is being built. Fourteen tests of a single XRS-220 had been made at Stennis during the development programme.

The X-33 is due to be launched in 2003.

Source: Flight International