[Satellite Today 03-12-09] Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) completed a full mission-duration firing of its Merlin vacuum engine March 7 at SpaceX’s test facility in McGregor, Texas, the company announced March 10.
    The engine fired for six minutes, consuming 100,000 pounds of liquid oxygen and rocket grade kerosene propellant. Thrust for the engine, which powers the upper stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle, measured at about 92,500 pounds of force in vacuum conditions and demonstrated a vacuum specific impulse of 342 seconds.
    “Specific impulse, or Isp, indicates how efficiently a rocket engine converts propellant into thrust,” Tom Mueller, SpaceX’s vice president of propulsion, said in a statement. “With a vacuum Isp of 342 seconds, the new Merlin vacuum engine has exceeded our requirements, setting a new standard for American hydrocarbon engine performance in space.”