Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Gets Contract Expansion

The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, also known as DARPA, has awarded East Hartford-based Pratt & Whitney’s Rocketdyne division a $2.2 million contract for the fabrication and ground test of a solar thermal propulsion rocket engine, Pratt officials said.

This contract extends an existing High Delta-V Experiment Program, or HiDVE for short, an additional six months and follows a successful critical design review last March, according to the contract announcement last week from Patrick Frye, program manager for the HiDVE program at Pratt.

Solar Energy

“The solar thermal propulsion engine encompasses an innovative new technology that allows it to use less fuel by harnessing the sun’s energy,” Frye said. “This gives the satellite greater ability to maneuver in space and conduct longer missions by extending the use of its fuel.”

It will provide a “dramatic increase” in propulsive capability over current chemical thruster systems, Frye said.

Pratt Rocketdyne in April won a contract extension from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to continue development of the engine that will power NASA’s next lunar lander.

Under terms of that deal, Pratt Rocketdyne will continue development of the “common extensible cryogenic engine,” according to Graham Webb, general manager of Pratt Rocketdyne’s Florida and Mississippi operations.

The original development contract was awarded in June 2005, Webb said, adding the extension will continue the deal through March 2009.

During the next phase of the same program, Pratt Rocketdyne will design, manufacture and test a “new, enhanced injector to support stable combustion at very low thrust,” Webb added.

Manned Flights

Pratt has been seeing substantial growth in the rocket end of its operations over the past two years, as it ramps up to participate in NASA’s effort to return manned flights to the moon and eventually to Mars.

Pratt Rocketdyne in 2006 formed a new program office to carry out the development of the J-2X engine, the liquid rocket engine chosen to power the first stage of NASA’s Ares I crew launch vehicle.

The company has plants in California, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.

The Rocketdyne defense and commercial space propulsion company became part of Pratt when it was bought by Pratt’s corporate parent, Hartford-based United Technologies Corp., in August 2005.

It makes engines used in a variety of government and commercial applications, including the main engines for the U.S. Space Shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, missile defense systems, and advanced hypersonic engines.