Free Republic

A small-scale jet engine compact enough to fit on a tabletop is helping to make the future of aviation more sustainable, according to NASA engineers currently involved in tests that could help pave the way toward new aircraft propulsion systems of the coming decades. The DGEN380 Aero-Propulsion Research Turbofan (DART) is less than 4.5 feet in length, making it half the size of engines on moderately sized aircraft, and NASA engineers are now using the miniature engine to help to reduce costs associated with using a full-sized jet engine for research and testing purposes. Currently, experiments with the small jet...

Excerpt - EAST CAMDEN, Ark. (AP) - A rocket motor at the Aerojet plant in south Arkansas exploded and caught fire today, and one worker was missing. Company spokesman Glenn Mahone says workers were involved in routine work at the 1,200-acre company compound when a large motor caught fire. He said the company was investigating, but did not know what caused the explosion. ~ snip ~

Lockheed Martin, part of the NetFires with Raytheon, recently performed four successful tests of the Non-Line-of-Sight – Launch System (NLOS-LS) Loitering Attack Missile (LAM) Multiple Explosively Formed Penetrator (MEFP) warhead. The tests took place at the National Technical Systems (NTS) facility in Camden, AR, and confirmed the performance of the penetrator. All of the objectives in the four tests were achieved. The data from each test will be used in compiling additional Army lethality simulations, which have already shown the LAM warhead to be lethal against the desired target set. The Aerojet designed and built warhead was integrated onto the...

<p>Half a century ago, when Aerojet arrived in town, Rancho Cordova seemed like a great place to test rocket motors.</p> <p>There were few people around to be bothered by noise and smoke near the 21 square miles of eastern Sacramento County land Aerojet purchased from the Natomas Mining Co.</p>

Faced with over $600 million in debt liabilities and a bleak market outlook for its still-unfinished reusable rocket, Kistler Aerospace Corp. filed to reorganize July 15 under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Based in Kirkland, Wash., the private company is developing the K-1 reusable launch vehicle with intentions to launch commercial and government payloads into low Earth orbit, initially from the Woomera Spaceport in Australia, and later the Nevada Test Site. Papers were filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, a move that will "facilitate Kistler’s restructuring, which is designed to...