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WASHINGTON: NASA successfully conducted a key static test of its troubled Space Launch System rocket on Thursday, a victory for the agency as it prepares to return to the Moon.
The second “hot fire” test saw the rocket’s four RS-25 engines fire simultaneously at 4:40 pm EST (2040 GMT) for the total duration of eight minutes, producing a maximum of 1.6 million pounds of thrust (7.1 million newtons).
“The applause says a lot about how the team feels,” said Bill Wrobel, an official in charge of the test, during a live broadcast after the control room began clapping.
“It looks pretty good right now.”
“This is an important milestone toward advancing our goals for Artemis,” Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk later told reporters, referring to the lunar program.
Agency prepares to return to the Moon
NASA plans to place the first woman on the Moon by 2024 and build a lunar orbital station, before finally embarking on a manned mission to Mars.
The success of the test came as a relief to the agency after a previous race involving the 212-foot (65-meter) high stage at the Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, was halted in January.
“We’ve had some challenges,” said Tom Whitmeyer, NASA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Exploration Systems Development.
“I am very proud of the team for the way they have methodically worked through these challenges.” Thursday’s test was required to collect data on how the center stage behaves during critical operations like revving engines up and down and moving them in a variety of patterns.
The rocket’s tanks were filled with 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which when burned sent a huge column of water vapor skyward.
Engineers will analyze the data and decide if the stage is ready to be restored and transported by barge to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
There, it will be assembled with the other parts of the SLS rocket and the Orion crew capsule, which are preparing for the Artemis to launch later this year, an unmanned mission.
The SLS program has been affected by delays and cost overruns, and was initially due to be operational in 2016.
Ars Technica reported this week that NASA was conducting an internal review of its affordability.
NASA said last August that the baseline development cost was $ 9.1 billion and initial capacity for ground systems required $ 2.4 billion.
It has also been criticized as an “employment program” for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, as well as its key contractors Boeing, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Northrop Grumman.
While SLS is much more powerful than SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket used to put satellites into orbit and carry crews to the ISS, Elon Musk’s company is also working on a prototype rocket called the Starship that will be capable of exploring deep space. .
Starship’s last three test flights ended in impressive explosions, but analysts believe that, paradoxically, setbacks could be accelerating the spacecraft’s development, ultimately making it a viable alternative to SLS.
Published in Dawn, March 20, 2021
