NASA contractor technicians are securing main engines in the orbiter Discovery today after a successful turbopump replacement operation.The three liquid-fueled engines are being hooked up to the orbiter's main propulsion system, which routes supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to the engines from the shuttle's 15-story external tank. Integrated testing of the engines and the propulsion system will be performed on Saturday.
The engines were removed from the orbiter earlier this month after a Low-Pressure Oxidizer Turbopump in Engine No. 1 failed a routine post-installation test. The turbine within the pump was not turning properly, so engineers ordered the replacement. All three engines had to be removed to interference issues.
The faulty pump was shipped back to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's Canoga Park, Calif., facility for a failure investigation.
Discovery is scheduled to launch Nov. 1 on the nation's penultimate shuttle mission. The orbiter will haul up the Italian-built Leonardo cargo carrier, which is being converted into a permanent storage unit for the International Space Station.
IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the NASA image of one of Discovery's three liquid-fueled main engines being installed after the successful replacement of a faulty turbopump. The engine installation was done in Bay No. 3 of the Orbiter Processing facility. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
1 comment:
Well played to all the engineers working at NASA on this issue.Great work,glad the issue has been rectified.Very interesting,i don't think i've seen them take the whole engine assembly out like that in one go.
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