For Release: Jan. 10, 1995

Steve Roy
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Alabama
(Phone: 205-544-6535)

Note To Editors: N95-1

NASA engineers are scheduled to test fire an instrumented modified Space Shuttle Main Engine for 155 seconds, at approximately 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 11, in the Advanced Engine Test Facility at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The test will be the third of a series of three which focuses primarily on technology evaluation, but also provides important information for Space Shuttle main engine development. The first test was successfully completed at Marshall on Nov. 22, 1994 and the second test on Dec. 13.

Some of the new technologies to be demonstrated and evaluated include ultrasonic flowmeters for measurement of propellant flow rate; accelerometers which are designed to detect their own calibration changes and then automatically recalibrate themselves; silicon-nitride bearings in the low pressure oxidizer turbopump; and an improved laser liquid-level sensing system for measuring liquid hydrogen levels in the fuel tank.

The engine will be operated at between 90 and 104 percent power levels during the run. The test will be the fifty-fourth test firing of a modified Space Shuttle engine in the former Saturn V engine test facility.