Aerojet Rocketdyne

The world's first flight test for an aerospike rocket engine ended in disaster, but Polaris Aerospace is back on track, preparing to fly second- and third-generation prototypes for its MIRA supersonic/hypersonic aircraft platform within weeks.

It was set to be the world's first flight test for an aerospike rocket engine, but the MIRA I prototype crashed on takeoff before the most innovative part of its propulsion system could fire. Undeterred, Polaris is building two bigger prototypes.

A DARPA-led project has successfully completed the final test of Lockheed Martin's Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile. Powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne scramjet, the craft reached a speed in excess of Mach 5 over a course 300 nm.

NASA has powered up the core stage of its SLS rocket, completing an eight-minute hot-fire test of its four RS025 engines. The core stage is the largest rocket element ever built by NASA and is designed to carry astronauts to the Moon and beyond.

Aerojet Rocketdyne and the US Air Force Research Laboratory have achieved a new record thrust output from a scramjet engine, generating 13,000 lb of thrust with over an hour of combustion under various hypersonic conditions.