Rocketdyne, former main production facility in Canoga Park, Los Angeles.
After World War II, North American Aviation (NAA) was contracted by the Defense Department to study the German V-2 missile and adapt its engine to Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) measurements and U.S. construction details. NAA also used the same general concept of separate burner/injectors from the V-2 engine design to build a much larger engine for the Navaho missile project (1946–1958). This work was considered unimportant in the 1940s and funded at a very low level, but the start of the Korean War in 1950 changed priorities. NAA had begun to use the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) high in the Simi Hills around 1947 for the Navaho's rocket engine testing. At that time the site was much further away from major populated areas than the early test sites NAA had been using within Los Angeles.
Navaho ran into continual difficulties and was canceled in 1958 when the Chrysler Corporation Missile Division's Redstone missile design (essentially an improved V-2[3]) had caught up in development. However the Rocketdyne engine, known as the A-5 or NAA75-110, proved to be considerably more reliable than the one developed for Redstone, so the missile was redesigned with the A-5 even though the resulting missile had much shorter range.
As the missile entered production, NAA spun off Rocketdyne in 1955 as a separate division, and built its new plant in the then small Los Angeles suburb of Canoga Park, in the San Fernando Valley near and below its Santa Susana Field Laboratory.
In 1967, NAA, with its Rocketdyne and Atomics International divisions, merged with the Rockwell Corporation to form North American Rockwell, becoming in 1973 Rockwell International.
Thor, Delta, Atlas
Rocketdyne's next major development was its first all-new design, the S-3D, which had been developed in parallel to the V-2 derived A series. The S-3 was used on the Army's Jupiter missile design, essentially a development of the Redstone, and was later selected for the competitor Air Force Thor missile. An even larger design, the LR89/LR105, was used on the Atlas missile. The Thor had a short military career, but it was used as a satellite launcher through the 1950s and 60s in a number of different versions. One, Thor Delta, became the baseline for the current Delta series of space launchers, although since the late 1960s the Delta has had almost nothing in common with the Thor. Although the original S-3 engine was used on some Delta versions, most use its updated RS-27 design, originally developed as a single engine to replace the three-engine cluster on the Atlas.
The Atlas also had a short military career as a deterrent weapon, but the Atlas rocket family descended from it became an important orbital launcher for many decades, both for the Project Mercury crewed spacecraft, and in the much-employed Atlas-Agena and Atlas-Centaur rockets. The Atlas V is still in manufacture and use.
Rocketdyne's test stand for testing the J-2 engine in Santa Susana Mountains
NASA
Rocketdyne also became the major supplier for NASA's development efforts, supplying all of the major engines for the Saturn rocket, and potentially, the huge Nova rocket designs. Rocketdyne's H-1 engine was used by the Saturn I booster main stage. Five F-1 engines powered the Saturn V's S-IC first stage, while five J-2 engines powered its S-II second stage, and one J-2 the S-IVB third stages. By 1965, Rocketdyne built the vast majority of United States rocket engines, excepting those of the Titan rocket (built by Aerojet), and its payroll had grown to 65,000. This sort of growth appeared to be destined to continue in the 1970s when Rocketdyne won the contract for the RS-25 Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME), but the rapid downturn in other military and civilian contracts led to downsizing of the company. North American Aviation, largely a spacecraft manufacturer, and also tied almost entirely to the Space Shuttle, merged with the Rockwell Corporation in 1966 to form the North American Rockwell company, which became Rockwell International in 1973, with Rocketdyne as a major division.
Facilities and operations
Canoga Park, California
Rocketdyne maintained division headquarters and rocket engine manufacturing facilities at Canoga Park from 1955 until 2014.
North American Aviation's rocket development activities began with engine tests nearby the Los Angeles Airport. In 1948, NAA began testing liquid rocket engines within the Simi Hills which would later become the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. The company sought a location for a manufacturing plant nearby the Simi Hills testing site. In 1954, North American Aviation purchased 56 acres of land within the current Warner Center area then deeded the property to the Air Force. The Air Force, in turn, designated the site Air Force Plant No. 56 and contracted with Rocketdyne to build and operate the facility.[4] NAA completed construction of the main manufacturing building and designated Rocketdyne as a new company division in November 1955.[5]
Aerial view of Rocketdyne Canoga Plant in 1960. View is to the south east. The intersection of Owensmouth and Vanowen streets is seen at lower right while the intersection of Canoga and Victory streets is seen towards the upper center, nearby the multi-story headquarters building.
Rocketdyne's success resulted in the addition of buildings within a growing footprint. At its peak, the Rocketdyne Canoga facility comprised some 27 different buildings over 119 acres of land, including over one million square feet of manufacturing area plus 516,000 square feet of office space.[6] The Canoga plant grew into areas both east and southeast of the original location. In 1960, Rocketdyne opened a headquarters building at the southeast corner of Victory Boulevard and Canoga Avenue. A pedestrian tunnel underneath Victory Boulevard east of Canoga Avenue provided access between buildings to the South (including the Headquarters) and those located to the North of the street. (The tunnel was removed in 1973.)
The Canoga plant shrank over time via piecemeal property sales and building demolitions into the 2000s. With the completion of the Apollo program in 1969, Rocketdyne ended the leases of several facilities and returned the headquarter offices to the Canoga Main building. In 1973, Rocketdyne repurchased the Air Force Plant No. 56 property thereby ending the government designation. The Space Shuttle program ended in 2011 and further reductions followed. Pratt and Whitney retained ownership of the Canoga property when Rocketdyne was sold to Aerojet in 2013; the remaining property measured roughly 47 acres with building and structures comprising a total of 770,000 square feet.[7]
Rocketdyne played a key role in the United States space program and the development of propulsion systems. Ten years after being established, the Canoga plant produced the vast majority of America's United States liquid rocket engines (except those of the Titan rocket, them being built by Aerojet). Through the end of the twentieth century, Rocketdyne products powered all major engines for the Saturn program and every space program in the United States.[8]
Six specific periods of liquid rocket engine development and manufacturing programs took place at the Canoga plant: Atlas (1954-late 1960s), Thor (1961-1975), Jupiter (1955-1962), Saturn (1961-1975); Apollo (1961-1972); Space Shuttle (1981-2011). Key rocket engine technologies were advanced at the Rocketdyne Canoga plant: gimbaling of rocket engines, introduction of engine injector baffling plates for improved combustion stability, tubular regenerative cooling, "stage and a half" engine configuration first used on Atlas, thrust chamber ignition using pyrophoric chemicals and electrically controlled starting sequences.[9]
Aerojet Rocketdyne moved their office and manufacturing operations to the DeSoto campus in 2014. Demolition and site clearing of the former Rocketdyne facility in Canoga Park commenced in August 2016.[10] As of February 2019, the future land use of the site has not been announced.[11]
McGregor, Texas
Rocketdyne's Solid Propulsion Operations business unit was engaged in the development, testing and production of solid rocket engines at McGregor, Texas for nearly twenty years.
The Rocket Fuels Division of Phillips Petroleum Company began using the former Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant in 1952. In 1958, Phillips and Rocketdyne entered a partnership to form Astrodyne Incorporated. In 1959, Rocketdyne purchased full ownership of the company and renamed it Solid Propulsion Operations (later designated the Solid Rocket Division). The purchase caused Rocketdyne to invest in facilities and research at McGregor towards diversification into other propellant types and rockets engines. Notably, Rocketdyne installed a facility capable of testing engines having up to three million pounds of thrust.[12]
Static display of a Lockheed F-104G aircraft in German National livery fitted with a Rocketdyne zero length launch rocket engine.
The Solid Propulsion Operations initially used ammonium nitrate -based propellants in the manufacture of gas generators used to start aircraft jet engines, turbo pumps of the Rocketdyne H-1 rocket engine and the manufacture of the Jet Assisted Take Off (JATO) rocket engines. Ullage motors were developed for the Saturn V Space Vehicle. The group also built solid propellant boosters providing for the zero-length launching of North American F-100 Super Sabre and Lockheed F-104 Starfighter aircraft. The motor provided a takeoff thrust of 130,000 lbf for 4 seconds, accelerating the aircraft to 275 miles per hour and 4 g before separating and dropping away from the jet.
In 1959, the group began using ammonium perchlorate oxidizer combined with carboxyl-terminated polybutadiene (CTPB) binder to produce solid propellants marketed under the trade name "Flexadyne." For the next nineteen years, Rocketdyne used the formulation in the production of solid rocket motors for three major missile systems: the AIM-7 Sparrow III, AGM-45 Shrike, and the AIM-54 Phoenix. Rocketdyne transferred operation of the McGregor plant to Hercules Inc. in 1978.[13] A portion of the former Bluebonnet Ordnance Plant is now used by SpaceX as their Rocket Development and Test Facility.
Neosho, Missouri
A rocket engine manufacturing plant was operated by Rocketdyne over a twelve-year period at Neosho, Missouri. The plant was constructed by the U.S. Air Force within a 2,000-acre portion of Fort Crowder, a decommissioned World War II training base. The Rocketdyne division of North American Aviation operated the site, employing approximately 1,250 workers beginning in 1956. The plant primarily produced the MA-5 booster, sustainer and vernier rocket engines, H-1 engines and components for the F-1 and J-2 rocket engines. The P4-1 (a.k.a. LR64) engine was also manufactured for the AQM-37A target drone.[14] The engines and components were evaluated at an on-site test area located approximately one mile from the plant. Rocketdyne closed the plant in 1968. The plant has been used by several different companies for the refurbishment of jet aircraft engines. The citizens of Neosho have placed a commemorative monument dedicated to the men and women of Rocketdyne Neosho "whose tireless efforts and relentless pursuit of quality resulted in the world's finest liquid rocket engines."[15]
Nevada Field Laboratory
Rocketdyne established and operated a 120,000 acre rocket engine test and development facility nearby Reno, Nevada from 1962 until 1970.[16] The Nevada Field Laboratory had three active open-air test facilities and two administrative areas. The test facilities were used for the Gemini and Apollo space programs, the annular aerospike engine and the early (proposal-stage) development of the Space Shuttle main engine.[17][18]
Downsizing
During continued downsizing in the 1980s and 1990s, Rockwell International shed several parts of the former North American Rockwell corporation. The aerospace entities of Rockwell International, including the former NAA and Rocketdyne, were sold to Boeing in 1996. Rocketdyne became part of Boeing's Defense division. In February 2005, Boeing reached an agreement to sell what was by then referred to as "Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power" to Pratt & Whitney of United Technologies Corporation. The transaction was completed on August 2, 2005.[19] Boeing retained ownership of Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Lab.
GenCorp purchased Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in 2013 from United Technologies Corporation, and merged it with Aerojet to form Aerojet Rocketdyne.[1]
Power generation
In addition to its primary business of building rocket engines, Rocketdyne has developed power generation and control systems. These included early nuclear power generation experiments, radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG), and solar power equipment, including the main power system for the International Space Station.[20]
The Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) was formed to develop the U.S. Army's first large ballistic missile. The agency was established at Redstone Arsenal on 1 February 1956, and commanded by Major General John B. Medaris with Wernher von Braun as technical director.
North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, the XB-70, the B-1 Lancer, the Apollo command and service module, the second stage of the Saturn V rocket, and the Space Shuttle orbiter.
The PGM-19 Jupiter was the first nuclear armed, medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) of the United States Air Force (USAF). It was a liquid-propellant rocket using RP-1 fuel and LOX oxidizer, with a single Rocketdyne LR79-NA rocket engine producing 667 kilonewtons (150,000 lbf) of thrust. It was armed with the 1.44 megatons of TNT (6.0 PJ) W49 nuclear warhead. The prime contractor was the Chrysler Corporation.
The J-2, commonly known as Rocketdyne J-2, was a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine used on NASA's Saturn IB and Saturn V launch vehicles. Built in the United States by Rocketdyne, the J-2 burned cryogenic liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellants, with each engine producing 1,033.1 kN (232,250 lbf) of thrust in vacuum. The engine's preliminary design dates back to recommendations of the 1959 Silverstein Committee. Rocketdyne won approval to develop the J-2 in June 1960 and the first flight, AS-201, occurred on 26 February 1966. The J-2 underwent several minor upgrades over its operational history to improve the engine's performance, with two major upgrade programs, the de Laval nozzle-type J-2S and aerospike-type J-2T, which were cancelled after the conclusion of the Apollo program.
The Rocketdyne H-1 was a 205,000 lbf (910 kN) thrust liquid-propellant rocket engine burning LOX and RP-1. The H-1 was developed for use in the S-I and S-IB first stages of the Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets, respectively, where it was used in clusters of eight engines. After the Apollo program, surplus H-1 engines were rebranded and reworked as the Rocketdyne RS-27 engine with first usage on the Delta 2000 series in 1974. RS-27 engines continued to be used up until 1992 when the first version of the Delta II, Delta 6000, was retired. The RS-27A variant, boasting slightly upgraded performance, was also used on the later Delta II and Delta III rockets, with the former flying until 2018.
The RL10 is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine built in the United States by Aerojet Rocketdyne that burns cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants. Modern versions produce up to 110 kN (24,729 lbf) of thrust per engine in vacuum. Three RL10 versions are in production for the Centaur upper stage of the Atlas V and the DCSS of the Delta IV. Three more versions are in development for the Exploration Upper Stage of the Space Launch System and the Centaur V of the Vulcan rocket.
Aerojet Rocketdyne is a subsidiary of American defense company L3Harris Technologies that manufactures rocket, hypersonic, and electric propulsive systems for space, defense, civil and commercial applications. Aerojet traces its origins to the General Tire and Rubber Company established in 1915, while Rocketdyne was created as a division of North American Aviation in 1955. Aerojet Rocketdyne was formed in 2013 when Aerojet and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne were merged, following the latter's acquisition by GenCorp from Pratt & Whitney. On April 27, 2015, the name of the holding company, GenCorp Inc., was changed to Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings was acquired by L3Harris in July 2023 for $4.7 billion.
The Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-68 is a liquid-fuel rocket engine that uses liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) as propellants in a gas-generator power cycle. It is the largest hydrogen-fueled rocket engine ever flown.
The staged combustion cycle is a power cycle of a bipropellant rocket engine. In the staged combustion cycle, propellant flows through multiple combustion chambers, and is thus combusted in stages. The main advantage relative to other rocket engine power cycles is high fuel efficiency, measured through specific impulse, while its main disadvantage is engineering complexity.
The North American SM-64 Navaho was a supersonic intercontinental cruise missile project built by North American Aviation (NAA). The final design was capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to the USSR from bases within the US, while cruising at Mach 3 at 60,000 feet (18,000 m) altitude. The missile is named after the Navajo Nation.
Aerojet was an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California, with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange and Gainesville in Virginia, and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet was owned by GenCorp. In 2013, Aerojet was merged by GenCorp with the former Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to form Aerojet Rocketdyne.
The RD-180 is a rocket engine designed and built in Russia. It features a dual combustion chamber, dual-nozzle design and is fueled by a RP-1/LOX mixture. The RD-180 is derived from the RD-170/RD-171 line of rocket engines, which were used in the Soviet Energia launch vehicle. The engine was developed for use on the US Atlas III and Atlas V launch vehicles and first flew in 2000. It was never used on any other rocket. The engine has flown successfully on all six Atlas III flights and on 87 Atlas V flights, with no failures.
The RS-27A is a liquid-fuel rocket engine developed in 1980s by Rocketdyne for use on the first stage of the Delta II and Delta III launch vehicles. It provides 1.05 meganewtons (240,000 lbf) of thrust burning RP-1 and LOX in a gas-generator cycle. The engine is a modified version of its predecessor, the RS-27; its thrust nozzle has been extended to increase its area ratio from 8:1 to 12:1, which provides greater efficiency at altitude.
The J-2X is a liquid-fueled cryogenic rocket engine that was planned for use on the Ares rockets of NASA's Constellation program, and later the Space Launch System. Built in the United States by Aerojet Rocketdyne (formerly, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne), the J-2X burns cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants, with each engine producing 1,307 kN (294,000 lbf) of thrust in vacuum at a specific impulse (Isp) of 448 seconds (4.39 km/s). The engine's mass is approximately 2,470 kg (5,450 Lb), significantly heavier than its predecessors.
Atlas is a family of US missiles and space launch vehicles that originated with the SM-65 Atlas. The Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program was initiated in the late 1950s under the Convair Division of General Dynamics. Atlas was a liquid propellant rocket burning RP-1 kerosene fuel with liquid oxygen in three engines configured in an unusual "stage-and-a-half" or "parallel staging" design: two outboard booster engines were jettisoned along with supporting structures during ascent, while the center sustainer engine, propellant tanks and other structural elements remained connected through propellant depletion and engine shutdown.
Rocketdyne's E-1 was a liquid propellant rocket engine originally built as a backup design for the Titan I missile. While it was being developed, Heinz-Hermann Koelle at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) selected it as the primary engine for the rocket that would emerge as the Saturn I. In the end, the Titan went ahead with its primary engine, and the Saturn team decided to use the lower-thrust H-1 in order to speed development. The E-1 project was cancelled in 1959, but Rocketdyne's success with the design gave NASA confidence in Rocketdyne's ability to deliver the much larger F-1, which powered the first stage of the Saturn V missions to the Moon.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) was an American company that designed and produced rocket engines that use liquid propellants. It was a division of Pratt & Whitney, a fully owned subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation. It was headquartered in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California. In 2013, the company was sold to GenCorp, becoming part of Aerojet Rocketdyne.
The RS-88 is a liquid-fueled rocket engine burning ethanol as fuel, and using liquid oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer. It was designed and built by Rocketdyne, originally for the NASA Bantam System Technology program (1997).
The Aerojet Rocketdyne AR1 is a 2,200-kilonewton-class (500,000 lbf) thrust RP-1/LOX oxidizer-rich staged combustion cycle rocket engine project.
The MARC-60, also known as MB-60, MB-XX, and RS-73, is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine designed as a collaborative effort by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and US' Aerojet Rocketdyne. The engine burns cryogenic liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen in an open expander cycle, driving the turbopumps with waste heat from the main combustion process.
↑ Dimon, Richard B. (1965). "Solid Citizen—Rocketdyne's Plant in McGregor Texas is Introducing a New Generation of Air-Launched Missile Rocket Motors". Skyline. 23 (2): 14–21.
↑ Moore, Thomas L.; McSpadden, Hugh J. (January 2009). From Bombs to Rockets at McGregor, Texas. 47th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting Including The New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition. Orlando, Florida: AIAA. Publication 2009-1163.
↑ Howard, D. (1966). Astronautics Year: An International Astronautical and Military Space/Missile Review of 1964. Pergamon Press. p.148. ISBN978-1483208268.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
