NASA to ignite Engines of the most Powerful Launcher in the World today.
Space Launch System, NASA’s Most Powerful Launcher Space exploration needs heavy launchers. Whether it is sending men to Mars or around the Moon, the existing launchers are not powerful enough.
The SLS (Space Launch System), currently built by NASA, should provide a reliable and efficient solution.
To return to the Moon, NASA and Boeing are developing the most powerful launcher ever built by the United States. A significant test scheduled for January 16 is preparing. It will consist of simulating a take-off and the first minutes of the flight. Its success is imperative. Otherwise, the return to the Moon in 2024 will be compromised.
NASA, which aims to send two Americans, a man and a woman, to the Moon by 2024, is preparing for a significant test of the main stage of the SLS (Space Launch System) that will bring the astronauts on the Moon. This launcher, whose maiden flight is scheduled for 2021 (Artemis-1), is being built by Boeing for Nasa.
Since January, the floor has been at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi when NASA and Boeing are preparing it for the famous “Green Run”. This Green Run is a significant test consisting of the complete examination of the stage and all its integrated systems with the ignition of the four main engines for almost nine minutes, simulating a take-off after a countdown and filling the tanks.
The machines in question are RS 25s that once flew as the main engines of the Space Shuttle. Failure has forbidden on pain of postponing the return of Man to the Moon. Sixty meters high, this floor contains the liquid hydrogen and oxygen tanks and the launcher’s avionics and flight computers.
The importance of this test is explained by the fact that testing the thrusters alone is not enough. It is necessary to be sure that all the elements (engine, tank, fluidic system, structure …) work correctly together and that everything resists thrust and vibrations.
It is also necessary to check the performances (thrust, Isp) with the whole system. So, after having tested all the elements one by one, Boeing and Nasa will carry out this full-scale test, with all the systems and subsystems, to validate the floor’s design.
The stage tested is not a model but the one that must fly in 2021 during Artemis-1! Therefore, it is imperative that this test runs as well as possible and that it does not cause any technical problems. A situation other than success would embarrass the Artemis program forcing NASA to postpone Artemis-1 for several months, making it impossible to return to the Moon in 2024 (Artemis-3).