en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerospike_engine
2 corrections found
the company was the first ever to ignite an aerospike engine in a flight
This was not the first flight use of an aerospike engine. Official FAA and NASA sources document powered aerospike flight tests in 2003 and 2004, decades before October 2024.
Full reasoning
The phrase "first ever" is contradicted by earlier documented aerospike flights.
- An FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation report says Garvey Spacecraft Corporation and California State University, Long Beach "conduct[ed] the first-ever powered, liquid-propellant, aerospike flight test" in September 2003.
- A NASA Dryden news release says two solid-fueled rockets with aerospike nozzles were flown successfully on March 30 and 31, 2004, providing "the first known data from a solid-fueled aerospike rocket in flight."
Because powered aerospike flights were already documented in 2003 and 2004, the October 29, 2024 POLARIS event cannot correctly be described as the first ever time an aerospike engine was ignited or flown in flight.
If the article intended a narrower claim — for example, the first such test for a particular vehicle type or the first recent European demonstration — it would need to say that explicitly. As written, the broad "first ever" claim is incorrect.
2 sources
- FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation report (2007)
The GSC/CSULB team ... proceeded to conduct the first-ever powered, liquid-propellant, aerospike flight test at the MTA in September 2003.
- NASA Dryden Flight Research Center: Aerospike Engine Flight Test Successful
Two 10-ft. long solid-fueled rockets with aerospike nozzles were flown successfully on two consecutive flights March 30 and 31, 2004 ... providing the first known data from a solid-fueled aerospike rocket in flight.
the program was halted before the testing for the two-engine setup could be completed
That two-engine test program was in fact completed. NASA and Boeing both reported a successful three-test hot-fire series using twin XRS-2200 aerospike engines in 2001.
Full reasoning
This sentence conflicts with contemporaneous reports from both NASA and Boeing about the dual-engine XRS-2200 test campaign.
- A NASA Marshall Space Flight Center release says the "test of twin Linear Aerospike XRS-2200 engines" was performed on August 6, 2001, after two shorter hot-fires ... last month in preparation for the final test firing.
- Boeing's release says "a series of three hot-fire tests on tandem Boeing Rocketdyne XRS-2200 aerospike engines has been completed" and that the dual-engine test series has been declared a success.
So the problem is not just wording: the two-engine setup was not left incomplete. A three-test dual-engine hot-fire campaign was carried out and reported as successful.
2 sources
- NASA's Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Program advances propulsion technology with successful engine test series
The test of twin Linear Aerospike XRS-2200 engines ... was performed Monday, Aug. 6, at NASA's Stennis Space Center ... Two shorter hot-fires of the aerospike engines were performed last month in preparation for the final test firing on Aug. 6.
- Boeing and NASA Complete Dual Aerospike Engine Tests
A series of three hot-fire tests on tandem Boeing Rocketdyne XRS-2200 aerospike engines has been completed ... the dual-engine test series has been declared a success, with test objectives met.