Propulsion provider Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif., recently completed a series of NASA-funded tests on a thruster designed for Boeing’s CST-100 commercial crew capsule, the companies and NASA announced June 26.
Boeing is one of several companies developing crew transportation capabilities under the nearly completed second round of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program. NASA expects to select up to three companies in mid-July to continue receiving funding during the next round, a 21-month effort dubbed Commercial Crew integrated Capability, or CCiCap for short.
If ultimately built, Boeing’s CST-100 would be equipped with 24 of the orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne recently test-fired in a vacuum chamber at White Sands Space Harbor in Las Cruces, N.M. The companies said the test verified the durability of the thrusters in extreme heat, evaluated the opening and closing of their valves and confirmed continuous combustion and performance.
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