
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - What does the world's most prolific upper-stage rocket engine have in common with the Lava Lamp, the smiley face and instant coffee?
They all debuted in 1963 and are still around 60 years later.
It's probably safe to say, however, that the similarities - aside from perhaps enduring popularity - end there. Built by Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, the RL10 upper stage rocket engine is the world's first-ever liquid-hydrogen-fueled rocket engine with well over 500 flights under its belt and occupies a class by itself.
Although it has been continuously upgraded over the years to improve performance and reduce cost, the RL10 features the same basic design today as when it debuted Nov. 27, 1963. The mission launched aboard an Atlas rocket and featured two RL10 engines powering the Centaur upper stage during the successful test. Over the next six decades, the powerful combination of Centaur and RL10 helped deliver hundreds of satellites to orbit and sent spacecraft to explore every planet in our solar system - a relationship that continues to this day.
Since its first successful flight, the RL10 has flown hundreds of missions, been integrated onto more launch vehicles, and sent more spacecraft to more places than any other rocket engine ever built.
When you look at most rocket engines out there, they're integrated with a launch vehicle and when that vehicle goes away, the engine goes away, said George Prueger, Aerojet Rocketdyne senior director of RL10 programs. The RL10, by contrast, has flown on a diverse array of vehicles including Saturn I, Atlas, Titan, Delta and even the DC-X, an experimental suborbital vehicle flown by the Defense Department and NASA that was the first to demonstrate vertical rocket landing.
It continues to be sought after by the space launch community because of its performance and demonstrated reliability, Prueger said. Put an RL10 engine on top of your vehicle and you can be confident in its unmatched reliability and performance.
Just a few of the notable exploration missions that the RL10 helped launch are the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers currently plying the surface of Mars, the Parker Solar Probe, the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, and the twin Voyager spacecraft that have left the solar system to become the first human-made objects to reach interstellar space. The RL10 also has supported hundreds of missions to different Earth orbits for customers including the Department of Defense, National Reconnaissance Office, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and several satellite communications companies.
Although it was not part of the Saturn V rocket stack that launched astronauts to the Moon, the RL10 did pave the way for the liquid-hydrogen-fueled J2 engine that was used extensively on the Apollo flights. Modern variants of the RL10 are used on NASA's super heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which will return astronauts to the lunar surface later this decade as part of the NASA's Artemis deep-space exploration program.
The RL10 engine's enormously rich legacy is not even close to being complete: it is used today on multiple vehicles and the latest variant, still in development, will be flying well into the future on SLS and the new United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket that is set to make its inaugural flight later this year.
Early RL10 variants weighed less than 300 pounds and generated roughly 15,000 pounds of thrust in the vacuum of outer space, and typically flew in a dual-engine configuration on the Atlas rocket with a Centaur upper stage. That said, six RL10s powered the upper stage of NASA's Saturn I S-IV rocket, which was used to launch prototypes of the Apollo Moon capsule.
The different RL10 models flying today weigh closer to 600 pounds and generate around 25,000 pounds of thrust. Aerojet Rocketdyne has been able to boost engine thrust over the years by increasing the size of the turbomachinery and related plumbing, Prueger said.
But the key aspect that has been at the heart of the RL10's incredible longevity is its simple implementation of the highly efficient expander rocket engine cycle. The expander cycle eliminates the need to burn propellants to turn the turbines that drive the fuel pumps that other, less efficient engine configurations employ. The RL10 uses cryogenic liquid hydrogen to cool the combustion chamber and nozzle, where it picks up heat and turns into hydrogen gas. This expansion of hydrogen gas drives the turbine, which powers the pump.
There is another critical engine performance metric that is just as important as thrust: Specific impulse, or Isp, which is a measure of fuel efficiency like gas mileage in a car. Defined simply as the ratio of the thrust produced by a rocket engine to the rate of fuel consumption, an engine with higher specific impulse is capable of producing more thrust from the same amount of propellant.
When it comes to Isp, the RL10 has no equal in conventional chemical propulsion, Prueger said. The high-performance combination of liquid hydrogen fuel and a liquid oxygen oxidizer generates more thrust per unit of fuel burned than any other propellant combination. Using this combination of propellants in a highly efficient expander cycle engine means a launch vehicle can carry less fuel, which keeps the weight down and allows more payload to be carried to orbit.
Another characteristic of the RL10 that makes it the preferred choice of the space launch industry is the engine's ability to make multiple restarts in space. Being able to restart the engine in the frozen vacuum of space, which is no easy feat, allows longer launch windows, increases the performance capability by enabling extended coast periods during a mission, and offers the potential to have a r
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
28/05/2026
Thomsons Climate Crisis Toolkit is already being put to work, helping journalist...
28/05/2026
FOX Sports' MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy ...
28/05/2026
One of the most memorable postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...
28/05/2026
NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most-decorated and most-watched pro...
28/05/2026
The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...
28/05/2026
Hosted by ESPN Senior Writer Ryan McGee, the ceremony honored winners from athletic departments, conference offices, professional networks, production companies...
28/05/2026
Major rights-holders rolled out their 2026 college football slates today, offering a first look at marquee windows, kickoff partners, and conference distributio...
28/05/2026
The 4 Nations Face-Off, an international competition that launched in February 2...
28/05/2026
Soccer is a truly global sport, and, to match the U.S. viewing audience's in...
28/05/2026
The NFL Today, CBS Sports' top-of-the-line NFL studio show, has a storied hi...
28/05/2026
Prime Video is no stranger to innovation, and, within the realm of live streamin...
28/05/2026
The crack of the bat, the pop of the glove, and the cheer of the crowd: those are three prime examples of the glorious sounds fans hear on televised baseball ga...
28/05/2026
Every year, March Madness captivates the entire sports world. Nonstop action, un...
28/05/2026
NBA on NBC was an integral part to live sports production in the 1990s, and, when the league made these media rights available, NBC Sports saw an opportunity to...
28/05/2026
UmpCam is a technological wrinkle that has given fans unprecedented views of wha...
28/05/2026
T-Mobile and the United States Golf Association (USGA) announced a multi-year partnership, making T-Mobile the Official 5G Network Partner of the U.S. Women'...
28/05/2026
By Gina McIntyre
(L-R) Sara Dosa and Andri Sn r Magnason attend the Time and Water premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at Library Center Theatre ...
28/05/2026
A little refresh can go a long way. We've been making behind-the-scenes upda...
28/05/2026
Since early last year, our quarterly Creator Milestone Awards have celebrated podcasts from around the world that hit major streaming milestones on Spotify. Tod...
28/05/2026
New software-based MIDI multi-clock announced
Rapid Flow have just announced the launch of a new MIDI utility plug-in that aims to solve one of the most per...
28/05/2026
Company introduce most affordable interface yet
SSL's range of audio interfaces has just gained its latest, and smallest member, the SSL 1. Designed to ...
28/05/2026
New compact drum machine & sampler announced
The latest instrument from Sonicware sees the company kick off an all-new Deconstruct series with a compact dru...
28/05/2026
Get fit for the FIFA World Cup 2026 with new SBS On Demand features for the ult...
28/05/2026
Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority modernizes nationwide ATC voice communications...
28/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/05/2026
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonics award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to ...
28/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/05/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expanded its backstage communications and te...
28/05/2026
Company's VP Government and International to Address How Broadcasters Can Operationalize Advanced Emergency Information for NextGen TV
Digital Alert Syst...
28/05/2026
Radio BGM (https://radiobgm.org.uk/), Llanellis multiple-award-winning community and hospital radio station, has invested in a DHD SX2 audio mixing console and ...
28/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters as they enter a new broadcast age, Calrec announces an expansion to its ImPulseV...
28/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
28/05/2026
Green Hippo, an ACT Entertainment brand, will pull back the curtain on the Estuary Series, a next-generation media control platform engineered for the scale, sp...
28/05/2026
First Hands-On Opportunity at Universal Studios Lot, June 5-6
Oberkochen, Germany, May 27, 2026 ZEISS is launching their new Panoptes 65 primes at Cine Gear ...
28/05/2026
Irvine, CA May 20, 2026 Wooden Camera today announced the release of new accessories for the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive. The new lineup includes a redes...
28/05/2026
Six films, one unmissable collection. First Facts documentaries debut on 10 Stre...
28/05/2026
Emma Watkins brings all-new Emma's Dance Club to ABC Kids 28 May 2026
Emmas Dance Club. Image credit: Sarah Wilson.
The ABC, Screen Australia and Screen N...
28/05/2026
Cool Concentric Text for Cavalry
Simon Ubsdell May 27, 2026
0 Comments
In this tutorial I'll show you how to make this popular text effect that is...
28/05/2026
Wuppertal May 28, 2026
Berliner Ensemble Upgrades Backstage Infrastructure With Riedel Stage SystemsRiedel Communications today announced that Berliner Ensemb...