MS to the Moon: L3 Harris Technologies build engines, advance technology

HANCOCK COUNTY, Miss. (WXXV)- In our Mississippi to the Moon series, we have spent the last few weeks diving into the groundbreaking work happening at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Hancock County.

We’ve brought you to the Fred Haise Test Stand where RS-25 engines go through rigorous testing before launching Artemis program missions and the support facilities that make engine testing possible.

This week, we take you to L3 Harris Technologies in an exclusive interview with the company tasked with assembling those RS-25 engines.

“At L3Harris we have a big role on the Artemis missions both on the Space Launch System, the rocket, and the Orion Spacecraft. On the recent Artemis II mission, we had 108 individual elements, largely propulsion systems, so like you can see here behind us, the RS-25 main engines, there’s four of those.,” said Kristin Houston, President of the Space Propulsion and Power Systems Teams at L3Harris. “We also have the upper stage RL-10 engine and the Orion main engine that is the engine that actually does the translunar injection burn. We have propulsion systems throughout the spacecraft, so from launch to splashdown, we have systems across making sure that rocket works.”

Each of these RS-25 engines has over 500,000 pounds of thrust. Hot gases exit the engine’s nozzle at 9,600 miles per hour — 13 times the speed of sound. That’s fast enough to get from LA to New York in 15 minutes.

A key part of L3Harris’s role in the success of Artemis missions takes place right at Stennis Space Center.

“So, the RS-25 engines we do final assembly and tests here at Stennis Space Center. We start those in the LA area actually and then we ship them here and the great team here at Stennis does the final assembly and tests. There’s a big test stand, and we test every single one of these with a hot fire. It’s a great sight to see, when you see the oxygen and hydrogen on the engines, so it created this big rain cloud as steam is coming off of those engines. So, every single one is assembled and tested here,” said Houston.

For Artemis I-IV, NASA used 16 engines flown on previous Space Shuttle missions — each with a lot of flight time on them. As for Artemis 5 and beyond, L3Harris is building brand-new engines — evolving the technology while driving down cost — to carry humanity farther into space than ever before.

“We’ve actually delivered all the engines through Artemis IV. We have two of the four engines for Artemis V complete. We’re building Artemis V through Artemis IX, so in various phases of production for those next mission sets, and we’re looking for the future,” she said. “We are continuing to look at ways to reduce cost, reduce timeframe, using new technology, using new materials to make sure these engines stay the latest and greatest.”

Each of these engines is so powerful that, if used to generate electricity, a single one could power streetlights all the way to the moon and back — and still circle the Earth 15 times.

Together, L3Harris and these groundbreaking engines are helping propel humanity into the future of space exploration.

“We’re really excited about the increased launch cadence going to launching once a year. We actually already facilized and capitalized all of our production lines to be able to support that, because that had always been the goal. So, we’re really excited to see Administrator [Jared] Isaacman’s mandate there that we are going to keep launching, and we’re going to launch on a regular cadence, because we know this rocket is ready. We are ready to produce these engines and all the systems from L3Harris,” said Houston. “I think we all feel just very blessed and privileged to be a part of this historic mission set. From the Apollo days and the eventually we were working on the Space Shuttle, but now, getting back to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years in the lunar vicinity, and getting ready to land again. And then to not just land to learn initially, but to build out a sustainable lunar habitat, create that moon base, and what we’re gonna learn there to then eventually take on to Mars, and maybe even some day beyond. There are tens of thousands of people involved in this program, and it is such an honor for all of us to be a part of it.”