How one Redmond company is sending US back to the moon, beyond – Seattle PI

One Redmond company is sending US back to the moon.

One Redmond company is sending US back to the moon.

One Redmond company is sending US back to the moon.

One Redmond company is sending US back to the moon.

Redmond company sending US back to the moon, beyond

REDMOND, Wash. -- One Puget Sound area company is slated to propel the United States back to the moon, and beyond. But in a way, it's part of a much bigger story.

Aerojet Rocektdynewas recently awarded a major contract from Lockheed Martin. It not only secures nearly a decade's worth of work for the Redmond company, it means that the propulsion systems on NASA's Orion spacecraft will come from Western Washington. Humankind is essentially on a launchpad into the future, with the engines currently priming -- the destination is farther than people have ever traveled. Companies like Aerojet Rockedyne are behind those engines.

For Ken Young, general manager of Aerojet Rocketdyne's Redmond operations, designing propulsion systems for the Orion vehicles is about a lot more than securing local jobs. It's about what humanity is about to develop, and the Puget Sound region's role in it. He points to the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s as an example.

The things that are going to come out of this that we have to develop, are going to have a huge impact on humankind, Young said. If you look back to the 60s, we now have satellite TV, and GPS. All of those things came because we had a space mission in the 60s. Now, as we go on to Mars, think about all the human things we have to learn about.

It also means that an often overlooked corner of the region's economy is further on the rise.

According to the Puget Sound Regional Council, the area's space economy is producing 6,200 jobs, contributing $1.8 billion to the state's economy. A2018 assessment produced by the PSRCstates that with massive aerospace and tech companies in the Seattle area, the region is ready for another economic phase fueled by space travel. It further notes that the local school systems should align with the needs of STEM fields so that local residents can grow into that future economy.

There is so much going on that people dont recognize, Young said. We are part of more than 1,000 companies in the Puget Sound are that are working in space.

The contract to design Orion's propulsion systems will have more than 400 people at Aerojet Rocketdyne working over the next decade. It also means that the company will rely on 138 suppliers in Washington -- many of which are small businesses.

Orionis the capsule that will take people to orbit the moon and back to its surface as part of NASA's Artemis missions (Artemis was Apollo's twin sister). This is the precursor to NASA embarking on humanity's next phase of space travel -- ultimately heading to Mars. The engines and propulsion systems will come from Redmond.

Artemis missions1 and 2 are well underway at this point. The contract with Aerojet Rocketdyne covers Artemis 3, 4, and 5.

The first mission with an Orion vehicle is slated to fly in late 2020. It will be an uncrewed mission that will send the vehicle around the moon. In 2022, the first crew in an Orion vehicle will make a similar trip.

From that point on, we are building the vehicles that will take humans and we will actually meet up with a lander to go back to the surface of the moon, said Mike Hawes, vice president and Orion project manager for Lockheed Martin.

The Orion vehicles are capsules which are not much bigger than what the Apollo missions used in the 1960s and 1970s. But the technology is far more advanced.

(Aerojet Rocketdyne) provides all the propulsion systems," Hawes said. "They provide propulsion for the crew module where the crew actually lives and works; the service module, which is most of our in-space propulsion; and they also provide a critical part of our launch-abort system which is the key safety factor. If there is an issue on the launch, it will carry the crew capsule away from danger and bring them back safely."

Were really expanding exploration of the solar system in a way we hadnt envisioned back in Apollo; this is a much bigger step forward he said. And ultimately, we build a Mars transport vehicle there around the moon, to head out to Mars.

Over the next several years, NASA plans to build a gateway station around the moon. NASA can use this station for transferring supplies, docking vehicles, and ultimately as a waypoint between the Earth and the moon.

Aerojet Rocketdyne grew out of another company called Rocket Research Corporation. It is the oldest space company in the region. Theyve been building engines for space travel for 51 years in the Puget Sound area. They produce more than 500 engines each year and just delivered their 20,000th engine over the summer.

This article was originally published by KOMO News here.

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How one Redmond company is sending US back to the moon, beyond - Seattle PI