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RD-180 Rocket Engine Helps Launch High Profile NASA Missions

MOSCOW AIR SHOW, Zhukovsky, Russia, August 18, 2009 – The RD-180 rocket booster engine of RD AMROSS, LLC has helped launch a variety of high profile NASA missions. RD AMROSS is a joint venture of NPO Energomash of Russia and U.S.-based Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company.

Among the key exploratory missions launched aboard the United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicles with first-stage RD-180 propulsion, is NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LRO/LCROSS) in its planned return to the moon. The satellites were launched in June 2009 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA. Mission objectives were to find safe landing sites on the moon, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment and test new technology.

Another key NASA mission launched with RD-180 power is NASA’s Pluto New Horizons, a scientific investigation to obtain the first reconnaissance of planet-like objects Pluto and Charon. The New Horizons spacecraft will capture information about surfaces, atmospheres, interiors and space environments through images and sensors among other data collection devices. The New Horizons spacecraft was launched in 2006 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA, and is expected to reach Pluto-Charon by 2015. In the interim, the Pluto bound spacecraft came within 1.4 million miles of Jupiter, providing never-before-seen perspectives of our solar system’s largest planet.

Also on the RD-180’s list of high profile launches is the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which was launched in 2005 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The orbiter’s primary science mission is to provide an in-depth study of Mars’ atmosphere to the underground layers with a focus on the history and distribution of the planet’s water.

The RD-180 is a dual thrust chamber assembly engine that delivers nearly 1 million pounds of thrust. The engine has provided 100 percent mission success for 22 consecutive launches since becoming operational in 2000. The engine is fueled by kerosene and liquid oxygen and has throttling capability.

RD AMROSS, LLC is a joint venture between Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and NPO Energomash of Khimky, Russia. NPO Energomash manufactures the RD-180 for RD AMROSS, and is a world leader in designing, manufacturing, testing, and providing services for liquid propulsion rocket engines.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc., a part of Pratt & Whitney, is a preferred provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovative system solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications, including the main engines for the space shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines.

Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and commercial building industries.

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Nancy Colaguori
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
+1-561-796-2219
nancy.colaguori@pwr.utc.com

Bryan Kidder
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
+1-818-586-2213
bryan.kidder@pwr.utc.com