Space launch system test: NASA prepares to fire engines at the “most powerful rocket ever built” that can reach 17,500 mph and one day bring astronauts to Mars
- The $ 18 billion space launch system is the largest rocket engine ever built
- The SLS will fly astronauts to the Moon and Mars as part of the Artemis mission
- The hot fire test must be done sometime on or after January 17th
- If this is to be planned, the first unmanned launch will take place later in 2021 and will see SLS launch the Orion spacecraft to the moon and return
The massive space launch system (SLS) from NASA that will one day take astronauts to the Moon and Mars will undergo its final test of hot fire engines later this month.
The space agency confirmed that the four massive engines will be screwed to the ground during the launch, the final test before an unmanned test flight later this year.
The rocket has already been subjected to several static engine tests and the next test, the hot fire test, will take place sometime from January 17th.
SLS is designed to be the backbone of the Artemis program, which will see the first woman land on the moon in 2024 and humans land on Mars in the 2030s.
The space agency confirmed that the four massive engines will be screwed to the ground during the launch: the last test before an unmanned test flight later this year.
The January 17 hot fire test marks the culmination of Green Run throughout the year: a series of checks on the flight capability of the massive SLS before launch
The $ 18 billion rocket was first announced in 2011 and will be able to reach speeds of 17,500 mph as it brings more humans and technology into space.
NASA held a “wet test” for the hot fire test on Dec. 20 at the Stennis Space Center near St. Louis, Mississippi, which consisted of fully loading liquid propellant into the SLS core stage and then draining it. lo.
The January 17 hot fire test marks the culmination of the year-round Green Run – a series of checks on the flight capability of the massive SLS before launch.
The hot fire test replicates the normal launch process by loading the propellants and allowing them to flow throughout the system while the four engines fire.
“During our Green Run wet test, the center stage, stage controller and Green Run software worked perfectly,” said NASA’s Julie Bassier.
The space launch system is the largest rocket ever made and will be the backbone of NASA’s deepest space missions in the coming decades.
The central stage, the backbone of the SLS, will make astronauts fly to the moon in 2024 and to Mars in the next decade
Adding that “there were no leaks when the tanks were fully loaded and rested for about two hours.”
The hot fire test will show that the engines, tanks, fuel lines, valves, pressurization system, and software work together as needed for the launch day.
The central stage of the SLS will fly on the Artemis 1 mission: the first complete test flight of the giant rocket and the capsule of the Orion crew.
As part of this space flight, the SLS will launch Orion into space where it will fly to the Moon and return without astronauts on board, scheduled to launch in late 2021.
The hot fire test will show that the engines, tanks, fuel lines, valves, pressurization system, and software work together as needed for the launch day. SLS artist print
The rocket has already been subjected to several static engine tests and the next test, the hot fire test, will take place sometime from January 17th.
Artemis 2 is scheduled for August 2023: the SLS will launch the Orion capsule to the moon with an astronaut crew, the first manned spacecraft to go beyond Earth orbit since 1972.
A year later, Artemis 3 will follow the first woman and the next man on the Moon in October 2024, launched again by SLS.
NASA hopes to use SLS to launch parts of the Lunar Gateway space station, which will orbit the Moon for years to come, and which will become operational in 2030.
The system will also help send equipment to the Moon for the development of a permanent base on the Moon in the coming decades.
THE ROCKET OF NASA’S SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM IS THE BIGGEST FACT AND WILL LET HUMANS EXPLORE THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Space Launch System, or SLS, is a launch vehicle that NASA expects its astronauts to return to the moon and beyond.
The rocket will have an initial lift configuration, which will be launched in mid-2020, followed by an improved “evolved lift capacity” that can withstand heavier payloads. NASA has not yet defined a timeline for the second iteration of SLS.
Initial lifting capacity of the space launch system
– Inaugural flight: mid-2020
Height: 98 meters
– Elevation: 70 metric tons
Weight: 2.5 million kilograms (5.5 million pounds)
Evolved lifting capacity of the space launch system
– Initial flight: unknown
Height: 117 meters
– Elevation: 130 metric tons
Weight: 2.9 million kilograms (6.5 million pounds)
NASA’s space launch system will have an initial lift configuration (the second on the right), which will be launched in mid-2020, followed by an improved “evolved lift capability” (far right) that can withstand heavier payloads.