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 |  | Beal Aerospace Readies Engine for Firing Test
By Glen Golightly
Houston Bureau Chief
posted: 08:21 am ET
03 March 2000
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Hed here
HOUSTON – Central Texas will shake, rattle and roll on Saturday, but it won’t be from a rowdy roadhouse party.
Frisco, Texas-based Beal Aerospace plans on test firing its BA 810 engine designed for the second of three stages in the BA 2 heavy-lift rocket planned to fly in 2002.
The engine, powered by hydrogen peroxide and kerosene, should provide 810,000 pounds of vacuum thrust. In comparison, one of the space shuttle’s three main engines produces 513,250 pounds of thrust in a vacuum at 109 percent power.
Beal test fired the third stage engine at its McGregor, Texas test facility in 1998.
Information from the company describes the BA 2 rocket as 236 feet (72 meters) tall and able to lift about 13,200 pounds (5,988 kilograms) into geostationary orbit or 37,400 pounds (16,965 kilograms) into low Earth orbit. Both the second and third stages are recoverable for reuse.
Dallas multi-millionaire banker and real estate developer Andrew Beal founded the company in 1997. The firm hopes to compete in the high stakes heavy-lift market for commercial satellites. Beal employs about 200 people in its factory near Dallas.
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