NASA Successfully Tested A Powerful Electric Rocket Engine For The Lunar Station

NASA has completed qualification testing of the most powerful electric rocket engine in history, marking a significant advance in space propulsion technology.

AEPS engines are developed and manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne. The company delivered the first of them for the Lunar Gate station to the NASA test center named after. Glenn in Cleveland this July. It was this engine that was tested in the vibration and vacuum chamber of the center. The second engine will be delivered for qualification testing in 2024. In particular, it will be used to test thrust modes equivalent to launching the Gateway station into orbit around the Moon.

In the test chamber, the fire test will last about four years or 23 thousand hours, which will allow the engine to be tested under long-term loads. Gateway Station will have three of these engines. They will be powered by the station’s 60 kW solar panel system. The engines will be mounted on the station’s power module (PPE, Power and Propulsion Element). The module is scheduled to be launched into space in November 2025 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.