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on June 17, 2013 at 2:37 PM, updated June 17, 2013 at 2:53 PM
Space Launch System 130 tonsView full sizeAn expanded view of an artist rendering of the 130-metric-ton configuration of NASA's Space Launch System, managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The evolved SLS vehicle will require an advanced booster, highlighted above, with significant increase in thrust from any existing U.S. liquid or solid boosters. (NASA)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - When the president of the newly formed Aerojet Rocketdyne aerospace company told state leaders at the Paris Air Show Sunday that a new NASA rocket engine could mean 5,000 engineering jobs for Huntsville, he got people excited. Here's what Warren Boley was talking about and why he's bullish on the new company's future in Alabama.

Aerojet, one of the two aerospace giants making up the new Aerojet Rocketdyne, has one of four contracts NASA has awarded for studying the next-generation propulsion system America will need to go to Mars. Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne, the second part of the new company, is the major subcontractor for another of those contracts held by Dynetics of Huntsville. That gives Aerojet Rocketdyne a big role in two of the candidates for next big engine. 

Now for the caveats, qualifiers and key background. The rocket engine Boley is talking about is for a second-generation upgrade of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS). That version could lift 130 metric tons of fuel, astronauts and supplies far beyond Earth orbit.

NASA isn't thinking a lot about that bigger rocket now, but is going all-out to design and build the 130-ton rocket's smaller brother, a 70-metric ton SLS it must launch in 2017. That smaller rocket, what NASA will need to visit an asteroid in deep space, is being developed at Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center and will be powered by two ATK solid rocket boosters and four leftover Space Shuttle main engines.

ATK is the third of the four companies involved in the next-generation engine studies. The fourth is Northrop Grumman, but it is studying composite fuel tanks, not engines. None of the four has a contract to build next-generation propulsion components yet, and NASA won't award one before 2016. It could decide to go with one of the three under study, but it doesn't have to.

But NASA does need a new engine if America is going any farther in space. "If we're going to go to Mars," Marshall spokeswoman Kim Henry said Monday, "we're going to need that (130-ton) heavy lift rocket." That means the new core stage engine Boley referred to in Paris, and it means new segment engines. If those new engines get the green light, they will need to be fully designed, tested, built and integrated into the new rocket's frame. NASA's propulsion experts are in Huntsville, and its test stands are relatively nearby at Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi. So, putting new engineers in Huntsville would make sense, but it's not a sure thing in an era of instant communications and long-distance work.

What is being studied? Aerojet Rocketdyne is working on a liquid oxygen and kerosene oxidizer-rich staged-combustion engine. It's an engine the Air Force is also interested in for national security satellite launches. Dynetics is testing an updated version of the Saturn F-1 engine. ATK is studying a variety of engine components including batteries and a nozzle, and Northrop Grumman is studying composite tanks to lessen weight. NASA is investing about $200 million in all of these studies, which run for 30 months.