Rocket engine test stand dedicated
Test Stand 2-A may play role in moon missions
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Thursday, January 15, 2004.
By ALLISON GATLIN
Valley Press Staff Writer
 
 

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EDWARDS AFB - On the day President George W. Bush announced the dawn of a new Space Age for the nation, the Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate celebrated its position in making the president's goals a reality with the dedication of a refurbished and modernized rocket engine test stand.
Test Stand 2-A originally played a role in testing the F-1 engines used to power the Saturn V rockets that shot man to the moon in the Apollo program. Now modernized, it may play a role in sending Americans back to the lunar surface.

"We have the world's most modern rocket test facility and we are ready to do something really great for the nation," said Col. Joe Boyle , AFRL site commander, during Wednesday's dedication ceremony.

With its new improvements, Test Stand 2-A is the Department of Defense's largest liquid rocket engine component development test stand. It gives the Pentagon the capability of performing large-scale, high-pressure tests, something it previously had to turn to other facilities to perform.

However, many of those commercial facilities are being shut down due to encroachment of the surrounding communities, said Robert Drake, the directorate's chief operations planner.

"One of the functions of Department of Defense laboratories is to provide special-purpose facilities that are not practical for the private sector to own or operate," he said.

The modernization is "investing in the future by going into something big enough to handle anything that comes our way," Drake commented.

The facility is expected to play a crucial role in developing new rocket engine technologies, said Maj. Gen. Paul Neilsen , AFRL commander.

While the nation has "pretty good" launch vehicles now, they are based on technologies from the 1960s and 1970s, he said. Advancements since then can make them more responsive, more reliable and less expensive.

Among the planned projects for the test stand are a new upper-stage propulsion system for Air Force launch vehicles, Neilsen noted.

The California Space Authority identified the AFRL test stands at Edwards Air Force Base as vital to the state's space industry in a space infrastructure study conducted six years ago. The organization then helped secure the Congressional funding needed for several modernization projects, including the $18.5 million for Test Stand 2-A.

"It seems altogether fitting that we're here before the test stand that helped to get us to the moon the first time and will hopefully help us to get there again," said Janice Dunn , director of federal government relations for the California Space Authority.

A year ago, another Apollo-era test stand was modernized and made a state-of-the-art facility.

With a new national focus on space exploration outlined by the president Wednesday, the "Rocket Site" stands to see more testing come its way, both in brand-new technologies and to re-certify existing ones.

"Today is a watershed day in aerospace in our nation," said Col. Michael Heil, director of the AFRL Propulsion Directorate. "I look forward to seeing these test stands hum once again."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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