Aerojet
Encyclopedia
Aerojet is an American rocket
and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California
with divisions in Redmond, Washington
, Orange
, Gainesville
(both in Virginia) and Camden, Arkansas
. Aerojet is owned by GenCorp
. They are the only US propulsion company that provides both solid rocket motors and liquid rocket engines. Their products include a wide range of motors, from main engines used on a number of NASA
vehicles and ballistic missiles, down to stationkeeping thrusters for spacecraft. The propulsion devices include rocket motors as large as the EELV Atlas V
strap-on rocket boosters. Aerojet provides almost all of the Army's tactical missile rocket motors. They develop and manufacture a wide range of air breathing ramjet
and scramjet
engines. They also do research in the US in the area of electric ion and Hall effect thruster
s. Aerojet is one of only three American companies dedicated almost entirely to rocket engines, the others being Rocketdyne
(liquid rocket engines) and ATK
(solid rocket motors).
at his house. In addition to von Kármán, who was at the time director of Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory
at the California Institute of Technology
, a number of other Caltech professors and students were in attendance, including rocket scientist and astrophysicist, Fritz Zwicky
, and explosives expert Jack Parsons, all of whom were interested in the topic of spaceflight
. The group continued to meet time to time, but was essentially limited to discussions as opposed to experimentation.
Things changed in 1938 when the US Army
offered two research projects, one for windshield de-icing on aircraft, and another for rocket engines to launch aircraft (today known as JATO
-- jet fuel assisted take off). Dr. Jerome Clarke Hunsaker
at MIT
had the first pick, and feeling that the rocket research was a "Buck Rogers
" project, left rockets to the Caltech team.
Their first design was tested on August 16, 1941, consisting of a small cylindrical solid fuel motor attached to the bottom of a plane. The takeoff distance was shortened by half, and the USAAF placed an order for experimental production versions. On March 19, 1942 the company was officially formed in Azusa, CA, known as Aerojet Engineering. The founders of the Aerojet Engineering Corporation were Frank Malina
, von Kármán, Parsons, Forman, Martin Summerfield, and Andrew Haley. In 1943 the Army Air Forces finally placed a full order, demanding that 2000 be delivered before year-end. The company also invested in pure rocket research, developing both a liquid fueled design, and a new solid fuel design based on a rubber binding agent in partnership with General Tire
. In the immediate post-war era Aerojet downsized dramatically, but their JATO units continued to sell for commercial aircraft operating in hot-and-high conditions.
By 1950 their research into the rubber-binder had led to much larger engines, and then to the development of the Aerobee
sounding rocket
. Aerobee was the first US designed rocket to reach space (albeit not orbit), and completed over 1000 flights before it was retired in 1985. Aerojet designed and built a total of 1,182 engines for all four incarnations of the Titan
rockets used for civilian projects ranging from Gemini
's manned flights to solar system explorations including Viking
, Voyager
, and Cassini. The newly-formed US Air Force used Aerojet as the primary supplier on a number of their ICBM projects, including the Titan and Minuteman
missiles. They also delivered propulsion systems for the US Navy's submarine-launched Polaris
missile. A new plant was set up in Sacramento that took over most rocket construction, while the original Azusa offices returned primarily to research. One of Azusa's major projects was the development of the infra-red detectors for the Defense Support Program
satellites, used to detect ICBM launches from space. The new research arm was formed as Aerojet Electronics, and after purchasing a number of ordnance companies, Aerojet Ordnance was created as well. A new umbrella organization oversaw the three major divisions, Aerojet General.
President Kennedy
's challenge to place man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s led to increased civilian work at Aerojet. In the past they had repeatedly lost contracts for large engines for the Saturn
and Nova
boosters, being designed in the late 1950s, typically to their rival Rocketdyne
, but in the end were selected to develop and build the main engine for the Apollo Command/Service Module
. In 1962 they were also selected to design a new upper-stage engine to replace the cluster of five J-2
s used on the Saturn second stage in the post-Apollo era, but work on their resulting M-1
design was later ended in 1965 when it became clear the public's support for a massive space program was waning.
Similar work continued in the 1970s, delivering the 2nd stage motor for the MX missile, the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) for the Space Shuttle
, and the first US-designed cluster bomb
s. A contract for 30 mm ammunition for the A-10 Thunderbolt II
was so extensive that new branch plants were set up in Downey
and Chino
in 1978. Aerojet also purchased a number of other firms over this period, and their plant in Jonesborough, TN developed the use of depleted uranium
ordnance. To this day they are the primary supplier of these weapons. Their electronics and ordnance divisions also collaborated on the SADARM 8" anti-armor artillery round, but this was not put into production.
The 1980s saw a brief revival of the aerospace business during Reagan
's SDI
program, but the company shrank during the late 1980s and into the 1990s.
During the 21st century, Aerojet grew steadily from 2002 to 2008. In 2008, Aerojet employed more than 3500. Aerojet's second-stage for the Delta II rocket engine (first used in 1960) completed a record 268 successful mission launches on February 6, 2009. NASA's Constellation program set a long-term goal of returning to the moon and continue with missions to Mars. NASA chose Aerojet to provide the primary design and development of Orion spacecraft propulsion systems.
Aerojet has major facilities in Jonesborough, TN; Redmond, WA; Orange, VA; Gainesville, VA; Camden, AR; and Socorro, NM.
was installed for the U.S. Highway 1 crossing at mile marker 116. The canal was dubbed the "Aerojet Canal". SW 232nd Avenue was renamed "Aerojet Road". When the Aerojet product was not selected for the Saturn project, and segmented boosters were chosen for the Space Shuttle, the land and facilities were returned to the state, and are now managed by the South Florida Water Management District
and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
as a nature preserve. The Aerojet signage still remains for both the road and canal and most of the facility's buildings remain intact, although weather-damaged.
of both the land and groundwater
in the Rancho Cordova
area, leading to the designation of a Superfund
site. Solvent
s such as trichloroethylene
(TCE) and chloroform
and rocket fuel by-products such as N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and perchlorate
were discovered in drinking water wells near Aerojet in 1979. Since then, two State agencies and the Environmental Protection Agency
have been working with Aerojet to ensure that the company cleans up pollution caused by its operations at the site. Under state and federal enforcement orders, Aerojet installed several systems on the borders of its property to pump out and treat contaminated groundwater. Aerojet has also conducted a number of removal actions for onsite soils, liquids, and sludges. In 2003, groundwater sampling data revealed a plume of contamination extending northwest under Carmichael
.
Discovery of TCE contamination at the Sacramento facility also led Aerojet to look into possible contamination of the groundwater at Aerojet's Azusa facility, where much of the testing of JATO's and Rocket engines were conducted before moving those operations to Sacramento. In 1980, it was announced that there was TCE contamination in the groundwater at Aerojet's facility in Azusa in a hearing chaired by State Senator Esteben Torres. In 1985, it was declared a Superfund Site by the EPA as San Gabriel Superfund Site II and the cleanup done under the Baldwin Park Operable Unit. In 1997, it was also discovered that there was also NDMA and Ammonium Perchlorate contamination in this plume and that Aerojet was once again labeled a Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) in this action. Aerojet sold this facility in 2001 to Northrop Grumman Corporation.
Aerojet's disposal of toxic material occurred 20 years prior to the establishment of a provisional perchlorate RfD limit of 1E-4 mg/kg/day in 1992 (to have been achieved by all companies by 1995). This limit was increased to 9E-4 mg/kg/day in 1998, and prior to the results from NAS studies, the limit was reduced to 4E-5 mg/kg/day in 2002. The NAS studies disputed the 4E-5 limit, and recommended its current limit of 7E-4 mg/kg/day.
Aerojet-GenCorp (NYSE:GY) actively works to protect the environment from any further harm, and has developed "clean" rocket technology (Xenon gas thrusters) for satellite orbit maintenance and NASA deep space missions. The new thrusters are more efficient than older liquid fuel thrusters, and are now available for future space missions.
The remaining research and development sections of Aerojet were organized into the Aerospace and Defense division (ADS). They continued to develop and produce liquid, solid, and air-breathing engines for strategic and tactical missiles, precision strike missiles, and interceptors required for missile defense. Product applications for defense systems included strategic and tactical missile motors; maneuvering propulsion systems; attitude control systems; and warhead assemblies used in precision weapon systems and missile defense
, as well as airframe structures required on the F-22 Raptor
aircraft and fire suppression systems for military and commercial vehicles. Their space-related products included liquid engines for expendable and reusable launch vehicle
s, upper stage engines, satellite propulsion, large solid boosters
, and integrated propulsion subsystems.
Aerojet successfully qualified a 4.5 kW Hall effect thruster
electric propulsion system based on technology licensed from the Busek Corporation. Aerojet is under contract to Lockheed Martin to provide the first two shipsets of the new thruster system for the next generation Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF)
system, an Air Force
program. Research into the next generation of advanced or "green" monopropellant engines met with mixed success in the 1990s. HAN engines developed under contract to the US Air Force and Missile Defense Agency provided proof of concept.
. GenCorp was until 1984 known as the General Tire & Rubber Company
. GenCorp is headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California
. In November 2010, Aerojet was selected by NASA for consideration for potential contract awards for heavy lift launch vehicle
system concepts, and propulsion technologies.
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California
Rancho Cordova, California
Rancho Cordova is a city in Sacramento County, California, USA, that incorporated in 2003. It is part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area. The population was 64,776 at the 2010 census. Rancho Cordova is the Sacramento area's largest employment sub-center, with a daily influx of over 45,000...
with divisions in Redmond, Washington
Redmond, Washington
Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 54,144 at the 2010 census,up from 45,256 in 2000....
, Orange
Orange, Virginia
Orange is a town in Orange County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,721 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Orange County...
, Gainesville
Gainesville, Virginia
-Demographics:Gainesville is currently the third-largest CDP in Prince William County. As of the census estimate of 2009, there were 28,662 people, 10,300 households, and 8,604 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,150.2 people per square mile . There were 10,300 housing units...
(both in Virginia) and Camden, Arkansas
Camden, Arkansas
Camden is a city in and the county seat of Ouachita County in the southern part of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Long an area of American Indians villages, the French also made a permanent settlement here because of its advantageous location above the Ouachita River. According to 2007 Census...
. Aerojet is owned by GenCorp
GenCorp
GenCorp is an American technology-based manufacturer based in Rancho Cordova, California. Established in 1915, GenCorp was formerly the General Tire and Rubber Company....
. They are the only US propulsion company that provides both solid rocket motors and liquid rocket engines. Their products include a wide range of motors, from main engines used on a number of NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
vehicles and ballistic missiles, down to stationkeeping thrusters for spacecraft. The propulsion devices include rocket motors as large as the EELV Atlas V
Atlas V
Atlas V is an active expendable launch system in the Atlas rocket family. Atlas V was formerly operated by Lockheed Martin, and is now operated by the Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture United Launch Alliance...
strap-on rocket boosters. Aerojet provides almost all of the Army's tactical missile rocket motors. They develop and manufacture a wide range of air breathing ramjet
Ramjet
A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, or an athodyd, is a form of airbreathing jet engine using the engine's forward motion to compress incoming air, without a rotary compressor. Ramjets cannot produce thrust at zero airspeed and thus cannot move an aircraft from a standstill...
and scramjet
Scramjet
A scramjet is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow...
engines. They also do research in the US in the area of electric ion and Hall effect thruster
Hall effect thruster
In spacecraft propulsion, a Hall thruster is a type of ion thruster in which the propellant is accelerated by an electric field. Hall thrusters trap electrons in a magnetic field and then use the electrons to ionize propellant, efficiently accelerate the ions to produce thrust, and neutralize the...
s. Aerojet is one of only three American companies dedicated almost entirely to rocket engines, the others being Rocketdyne
Rocketdyne
Rocketdyne was a Rocket engine design and production company headquartered in Canoga Park, California, United States. The company was related to North American Aviation for most of its history. NAA merged with Rockwell International, which was then bought by Boeing in December, 1996...
(liquid rocket engines) and ATK
Alliant Techsystems
Alliant Techsystems Inc., most commonly known by its ticker symbol, ', is one of the largest aerospace and defense companies in the United States with more than 18,000 employees in 22 states, Puerto Rico and internationally, and 2010 revenues in excess of an estimated...
(solid rocket motors).
History
Aerojet developed from a 1936 meeting hosted by Theodore von KármánTheodore von Karman
Theodore von Kármán was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer and physicist who was active primarily in the fields of aeronautics and astronautics. He is responsible for many key advances in aerodynamics, notably his work on supersonic and hypersonic airflow characterization...
at his house. In addition to von Kármán, who was at the time director of Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory
Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory
The Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology , was a research institute created in 1926, at first specializing in aeronautics research. In 1930, Hungarian scientist Theodore von Kármán accepted the directorship of the lab and emigrated to the United States. Under...
at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, a number of other Caltech professors and students were in attendance, including rocket scientist and astrophysicist, Fritz Zwicky
Fritz Zwicky
Fritz Zwicky was a Swiss astronomer. He worked most of his life at the California Institute of Technology in the United States of America, where he made many important contributions in theoretical and observational astronomy.- Biography :Fritz Zwicky was born in Varna, Bulgaria to a Swiss father....
, and explosives expert Jack Parsons, all of whom were interested in the topic of spaceflight
Spaceflight
Spaceflight is the act of travelling into or through outer space. Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft which may, or may not, have humans on board. Examples of human spaceflight include the Russian Soyuz program, the U.S. Space shuttle program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station...
. The group continued to meet time to time, but was essentially limited to discussions as opposed to experimentation.
Things changed in 1938 when the US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
offered two research projects, one for windshield de-icing on aircraft, and another for rocket engines to launch aircraft (today known as JATO
JATO
JATO is an acronym for jet-fuel assisted take off. It is a system for helping overloaded aircraft into the air by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets....
-- jet fuel assisted take off). Dr. Jerome Clarke Hunsaker
Jerome Clarke Hunsaker
Jerome Clarke Hunsaker was an American airman born in Creston, Iowa, and educated at the Naval Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.-Life:...
at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
had the first pick, and feeling that the rocket research was a "Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers
Anthony Rogers is a fictional character that first appeared in Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published in the March 1929 issue....
" project, left rockets to the Caltech team.
Their first design was tested on August 16, 1941, consisting of a small cylindrical solid fuel motor attached to the bottom of a plane. The takeoff distance was shortened by half, and the USAAF placed an order for experimental production versions. On March 19, 1942 the company was officially formed in Azusa, CA, known as Aerojet Engineering. The founders of the Aerojet Engineering Corporation were Frank Malina
Frank Malina
Frank Joseph Malina was an American aeronautical engineer and painter, especially known for becoming both a pioneer in the art world and the realm of scientific engineering.-Early life:...
, von Kármán, Parsons, Forman, Martin Summerfield, and Andrew Haley. In 1943 the Army Air Forces finally placed a full order, demanding that 2000 be delivered before year-end. The company also invested in pure rocket research, developing both a liquid fueled design, and a new solid fuel design based on a rubber binding agent in partnership with General Tire
General Tire
The General Tire and Rubber Company is an American manufacturer of tires for motor vehicles.General Tire was founded in 1915 in Akron, Ohio by William F. O'Neil. Products included the low-pressure "General Balloon Jumbo" and the "Dual 90" tire...
. In the immediate post-war era Aerojet downsized dramatically, but their JATO units continued to sell for commercial aircraft operating in hot-and-high conditions.
By 1950 their research into the rubber-binder had led to much larger engines, and then to the development of the Aerobee
Aerobee rocket
The Aerobee rocket was a small unguided suborbital sounding rocket used for high atmospheric and cosmic radiation research in the United States in the 1950s....
sounding rocket
Sounding rocket
A sounding rocket, sometimes called a research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary, where to sound is to throw a weighted line from a ship into...
. Aerobee was the first US designed rocket to reach space (albeit not orbit), and completed over 1000 flights before it was retired in 1985. Aerojet designed and built a total of 1,182 engines for all four incarnations of the Titan
Titan (rocket family)
Titan was a family of U.S. expendable rockets used between 1959 and 2005. A total of 368 rockets of this family were launched, including all the Project Gemini manned flights of the mid-1960s...
rockets used for civilian projects ranging from Gemini
Project Gemini
Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini was conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, with ten manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966....
's manned flights to solar system explorations including Viking
Viking program
The Viking program consisted of a pair of American space probes sent to Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2. Each spacecraft was composed of two main parts, an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Mars from orbit, and a lander designed to study the planet from the surface...
, Voyager
Voyager program
The Voyager program is a U.S program that launched two unmanned space missions, scientific probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable planetary alignment of the late 1970s...
, and Cassini. The newly-formed US Air Force used Aerojet as the primary supplier on a number of their ICBM projects, including the Titan and Minuteman
LGM-30 Minuteman
The LGM-30 Minuteman is a U.S. nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile . As of 2010, the version LGM-30G Minuteman-III is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States...
missiles. They also delivered propulsion systems for the US Navy's submarine-launched Polaris
UGM-27 Polaris
The Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fuel nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile built during the Cold War by Lockheed Corporation of California for the United States Navy....
missile. A new plant was set up in Sacramento that took over most rocket construction, while the original Azusa offices returned primarily to research. One of Azusa's major projects was the development of the infra-red detectors for the Defense Support Program
Defense Support Program
The Defense Support Program is a program of the U.S. Air Force that operates the reconnaissance satellites which form the principal component of the Satellite Early Warning System currently used by the United States....
satellites, used to detect ICBM launches from space. The new research arm was formed as Aerojet Electronics, and after purchasing a number of ordnance companies, Aerojet Ordnance was created as well. A new umbrella organization oversaw the three major divisions, Aerojet General.
President Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's challenge to place man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s led to increased civilian work at Aerojet. In the past they had repeatedly lost contracts for large engines for the Saturn
Saturn (rocket family)
The Saturn family of American rocket boosters was developed by a team of mostly German rocket scientists led by Wernher von Braun to launch heavy payloads to Earth orbit and beyond. Originally proposed as a military satellite launcher, they were adopted as the launch vehicles for the Apollo moon...
and Nova
Nova rocket
Nova was a series of proposed rocket designs, originally as NASA's first large launchers for missions similar to the production-level Saturn V, and later as larger follow-ons to the Saturn V intended for missions to Mars. The two series of designs were essentially separate, but shared their name...
boosters, being designed in the late 1950s, typically to their rival Rocketdyne
Rocketdyne
Rocketdyne was a Rocket engine design and production company headquartered in Canoga Park, California, United States. The company was related to North American Aviation for most of its history. NAA merged with Rockwell International, which was then bought by Boeing in December, 1996...
, but in the end were selected to develop and build the main engine for the Apollo Command/Service Module
Apollo Command/Service Module
The Command/Service Module was one of two spacecraft, along with the Lunar Module, used for the United States Apollo program which landed astronauts on the Moon. It was built for NASA by North American Aviation...
. In 1962 they were also selected to design a new upper-stage engine to replace the cluster of five J-2
J-2 (rocket engine)
Rocketdyne's J-2 rocket engine was a major component of the Saturn V rocket used in the Apollo program to send men to the Moon. Five J-2 engines were used on the S-II second stage, and one J-2 was used on the S-IVB third stage. The S-IVB was also used as the second stage of the smaller Saturn IB...
s used on the Saturn second stage in the post-Apollo era, but work on their resulting M-1
M-1 (rocket engine)
Aerojet's M-1 was the largest and most powerful liquid hydrogen-fueled rocket engine to be designed and built. The M-1 offered a baseline thrust of 6.67 million N and 8 million N as its immediate growth target...
design was later ended in 1965 when it became clear the public's support for a massive space program was waning.
Similar work continued in the 1970s, delivering the 2nd stage motor for the MX missile, the Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) for the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
, and the first US-designed cluster bomb
Cluster bomb
A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller sub-munitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill enemy personnel and destroy vehicles...
s. A contract for 30 mm ammunition for the A-10 Thunderbolt II
A-10 Thunderbolt II
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American single-seat, twin-engine, straight-wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic in the early 1970s. The A-10 was designed for a United States Air Force requirement to provide close air support for ground forces by attacking tanks,...
was so extensive that new branch plants were set up in Downey
Downey, California
Downey is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city is best known as the birthplace of the Apollo space program, and is the city where folk singer Karen Carpenter lived and died...
and Chino
Chino Hills, California
Chino Hills is a Los Angeles suburb located in the southwestern corner of San Bernardino County, California, United States. The city borders Los Angeles County on its northwest side, Orange County to its south, and Riverside County to its southeast...
in 1978. Aerojet also purchased a number of other firms over this period, and their plant in Jonesborough, TN developed the use of depleted uranium
Depleted uranium
Depleted uranium is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope U-235 than natural uranium . Uses of DU take advantage of its very high density of 19.1 g/cm3...
ordnance. To this day they are the primary supplier of these weapons. Their electronics and ordnance divisions also collaborated on the SADARM 8" anti-armor artillery round, but this was not put into production.
The 1980s saw a brief revival of the aerospace business during Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's SDI
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...
program, but the company shrank during the late 1980s and into the 1990s.
During the 21st century, Aerojet grew steadily from 2002 to 2008. In 2008, Aerojet employed more than 3500. Aerojet's second-stage for the Delta II rocket engine (first used in 1960) completed a record 268 successful mission launches on February 6, 2009. NASA's Constellation program set a long-term goal of returning to the moon and continue with missions to Mars. NASA chose Aerojet to provide the primary design and development of Orion spacecraft propulsion systems.
Aerojet has major facilities in Jonesborough, TN; Redmond, WA; Orange, VA; Gainesville, VA; Camden, AR; and Socorro, NM.
Florida facility and canal
In the 1960s, Aerojet solid fuel technology was under consideration for use in Saturn first stages. A monolithic, 21 feet (6.4 m) motor was designed, which was too big to be transported by rail. A facility was constructed in the Florida Everglades where the motors could be built and tested, and then barged to Cape Canaveral. A canal was dug (C-111), the southernmost freshwater canal in Southeast Florida, and a drawbridgeDrawbridge
A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.-Castle drawbridges:...
was installed for the U.S. Highway 1 crossing at mile marker 116. The canal was dubbed the "Aerojet Canal". SW 232nd Avenue was renamed "Aerojet Road". When the Aerojet product was not selected for the Saturn project, and segmented boosters were chosen for the Space Shuttle, the land and facilities were returned to the state, and are now managed by the South Florida Water Management District
South Florida Water Management District
The South Florida Water Management District is a regional governmental agency supervised by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection , and is responsible for water quality, flood control, water supply and restoration of the environment in 16 counties in Central and Southern Florida...
and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is a Florida government agency charged with managing the state's fish and wildlife resources, regulating Florida's fisheries and wildlife, and enforcing related laws...
as a nature preserve. The Aerojet signage still remains for both the road and canal and most of the facility's buildings remain intact, although weather-damaged.
EPA Superfund Sites
Aerojet's manufacture, testing and disposal methods led to toxic contaminationPollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
of both the land and groundwater
Groundwater
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...
in the Rancho Cordova
Rancho Cordova, California
Rancho Cordova is a city in Sacramento County, California, USA, that incorporated in 2003. It is part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area. The population was 64,776 at the 2010 census. Rancho Cordova is the Sacramento area's largest employment sub-center, with a daily influx of over 45,000...
area, leading to the designation of a Superfund
Superfund
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
site. Solvent
Solvent
A solvent is a liquid, solid, or gas that dissolves another solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution that is soluble in a certain volume of solvent at a specified temperature...
s such as trichloroethylene
Trichloroethylene
The chemical compound trichloroethylene is a chlorinated hydrocarbon commonly used as an industrial solvent. It is a clear non-flammable liquid with a sweet smell. It should not be confused with the similar 1,1,1-trichloroethane, which is commonly known as chlorothene.The IUPAC name is...
(TCE) and chloroform
Chloroform
Chloroform is an organic compound with formula CHCl3. It is one of the four chloromethanes. The colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid is a trihalomethane, and is considered somewhat hazardous...
and rocket fuel by-products such as N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and perchlorate
Perchlorate
Perchlorates are the salts derived from perchloric acid . They occur both naturally and through manufacturing. They have been used as a medicine for more than 50 years to treat thyroid gland disorders. They are used extensively within the pyrotechnics industry, and ammonium perchlorate is also a...
were discovered in drinking water wells near Aerojet in 1979. Since then, two State agencies and the Environmental Protection Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
have been working with Aerojet to ensure that the company cleans up pollution caused by its operations at the site. Under state and federal enforcement orders, Aerojet installed several systems on the borders of its property to pump out and treat contaminated groundwater. Aerojet has also conducted a number of removal actions for onsite soils, liquids, and sludges. In 2003, groundwater sampling data revealed a plume of contamination extending northwest under Carmichael
Carmichael, California
Carmichael is a census-designated place in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 61,762 at the 2010 census, up from 49,742 at the 2000 census.-Geography and geology:Carmichael...
.
Discovery of TCE contamination at the Sacramento facility also led Aerojet to look into possible contamination of the groundwater at Aerojet's Azusa facility, where much of the testing of JATO's and Rocket engines were conducted before moving those operations to Sacramento. In 1980, it was announced that there was TCE contamination in the groundwater at Aerojet's facility in Azusa in a hearing chaired by State Senator Esteben Torres. In 1985, it was declared a Superfund Site by the EPA as San Gabriel Superfund Site II and the cleanup done under the Baldwin Park Operable Unit. In 1997, it was also discovered that there was also NDMA and Ammonium Perchlorate contamination in this plume and that Aerojet was once again labeled a Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) in this action. Aerojet sold this facility in 2001 to Northrop Grumman Corporation.
Aerojet's disposal of toxic material occurred 20 years prior to the establishment of a provisional perchlorate RfD limit of 1E-4 mg/kg/day in 1992 (to have been achieved by all companies by 1995). This limit was increased to 9E-4 mg/kg/day in 1998, and prior to the results from NAS studies, the limit was reduced to 4E-5 mg/kg/day in 2002. The NAS studies disputed the 4E-5 limit, and recommended its current limit of 7E-4 mg/kg/day.
Aerojet-GenCorp (NYSE:GY) actively works to protect the environment from any further harm, and has developed "clean" rocket technology (Xenon gas thrusters) for satellite orbit maintenance and NASA deep space missions. The new thrusters are more efficient than older liquid fuel thrusters, and are now available for future space missions.
Aerojet in the 1990s
As Aerojet downsized, many of their industrial plants were idled, and the company looked for ways to capitalize them. Their massive investment in chemical mixing equipment used to build their solid fuel rockets was later leased to third parties, notably pharmaceutical companies, under the name Aerojet Fine Chemicals. The division was later sold. Aerojet Real Estate was "more direct", leasing buildings, or selling off undeveloped land. It owned approximately 12,600 acres (51 km²) of land, located 15 miles (24 km) east of downtown Sacramento.The remaining research and development sections of Aerojet were organized into the Aerospace and Defense division (ADS). They continued to develop and produce liquid, solid, and air-breathing engines for strategic and tactical missiles, precision strike missiles, and interceptors required for missile defense. Product applications for defense systems included strategic and tactical missile motors; maneuvering propulsion systems; attitude control systems; and warhead assemblies used in precision weapon systems and missile defense
Missile defense
Missile defense is a system, weapon, or technology involved in the detection, tracking, interception and destruction of attacking missiles. Originally conceived as a defence against nuclear-armed Intercontinental ballistic missiles , its application has broadened to include shorter-ranged...
, as well as airframe structures required on the F-22 Raptor
F-22 Raptor
The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine fifth-generation supermaneuverable fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology. It was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but has additional capabilities that include ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals...
aircraft and fire suppression systems for military and commercial vehicles. Their space-related products included liquid engines for expendable and reusable launch vehicle
Launch vehicle
In spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket used to carry a payload from the Earth's surface into outer space. A launch system includes the launch vehicle, the launch pad and other infrastructure....
s, upper stage engines, satellite propulsion, large solid boosters
Solid rocket booster
Solid rocket boosters or Solid Rocket Motors, SRM, are used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from the launchpad up to burnout of the SRBs. Many launch vehicles include SRBs, including the Ariane 5, Atlas V , and the NASA Space Shuttle...
, and integrated propulsion subsystems.
Aerojet successfully qualified a 4.5 kW Hall effect thruster
Hall effect thruster
In spacecraft propulsion, a Hall thruster is a type of ion thruster in which the propellant is accelerated by an electric field. Hall thrusters trap electrons in a magnetic field and then use the electrons to ionize propellant, efficiently accelerate the ions to produce thrust, and neutralize the...
electric propulsion system based on technology licensed from the Busek Corporation. Aerojet is under contract to Lockheed Martin to provide the first two shipsets of the new thruster system for the next generation Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF)
Advanced Extremely High Frequency
Advanced Extremely High Frequency is a series of communications satellites operated by the United States Air Force Air Force Space Command. The spacecraft will be used to relay secure communications for the Armed Forces of the United States, the British Armed Forces, the Canadian Forces and the...
system, an Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
program. Research into the next generation of advanced or "green" monopropellant engines met with mixed success in the 1990s. HAN engines developed under contract to the US Air Force and Missile Defense Agency provided proof of concept.
Aerojet today
Aerojet is currently owned by GenCorpGenCorp
GenCorp is an American technology-based manufacturer based in Rancho Cordova, California. Established in 1915, GenCorp was formerly the General Tire and Rubber Company....
. GenCorp was until 1984 known as the General Tire & Rubber Company
General Tire
The General Tire and Rubber Company is an American manufacturer of tires for motor vehicles.General Tire was founded in 1915 in Akron, Ohio by William F. O'Neil. Products included the low-pressure "General Balloon Jumbo" and the "Dual 90" tire...
. GenCorp is headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California
Rancho Cordova, California
Rancho Cordova is a city in Sacramento County, California, USA, that incorporated in 2003. It is part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area. The population was 64,776 at the 2010 census. Rancho Cordova is the Sacramento area's largest employment sub-center, with a daily influx of over 45,000...
. In November 2010, Aerojet was selected by NASA for consideration for potential contract awards for heavy lift launch vehicle
Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle
A Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle, or HLLV, is a launch vehicle capable of lifting more mass into Low Earth Orbit than Medium Lift or Mid-Heavy Lift Launch Vehicles.There is no universally accepted capability requirements for heavy-lift launch vehicles....
system concepts, and propulsion technologies.
See also
- Scout (rocket)Scout (rocket)The Scout family of rockets were launch vehicles designed to place small satellites into orbit around the Earth. The Scout multistage rocket was the first orbital launch vehicle to be entirely composed of solid fuel stages....
- Aerojet manufactured the "Algol" first stage of this USAF/NASA orbital launch vehicle - Bristol AerojetBristol AerojetBristol Aerojet was a joint venture between the Bristol Aeroplane Company of the United Kingdom and Aerojet General of the US began in 1959.Bristol converted one of its wartime shadow factories into a rocket manufacturing plant in 1956....