NASA will try to fire engines on it Space launch system (SLS) Today for the first time Magrocket and you can watch the burning action live watch online.
As part of a complex test, the agency plans to launch the Rocket Behemoth for the first time Light up the four main engines on its heavy-lift core booster This evening around 5pm EST (2200 GMT), January. 16. Initially, this test designed to start the performance of the main phase will be taken on the day of the agency. Stanislaus Space Center, In Mississippi.
You can Watch the test live here And on the Space.com homepage, courtesy of NASA, starting at 4:20 p.m. EST (1920 GMT). You can too See the test here directly from NASA.
Today’s engine test is the final step in a series of “green run” tests by agencies designed to ensure the SLS rocket is ready for its first launch. Called Artemis 1 – It will send an unmanned Orion spacecraft around the moon. This first flight is scheduled to blast later this year.
Video: How NASA’s SLS Magrocket Engine Testing Works
The SLS is NASA’s next pay-generation heavy-lift rocket that will take astronauts to the moon as part of the agency’s Artemis lunar program. Beginning later this year, Artemis 1 will be the first in a series of missions that will culminate in NASA’s first crewed lunar landing since the Apollo era. That mission, called Artemis 3, Just like 2024 can happen If everything goes according to plan.
For that, NASA is putting four RS-25 engines of the giant SLS rocket through their activities before launching. The agency systematically tests each engine and runs launch-day processes such as refueling to make sure all systems are working as expected.
The next hot-fire engine test is the final step in the testing process. On Saturday, engineers will load the SLS Core Booster with more than 700,000 gallons of superchild propellant before burning all four of its RS-25 engines at once. This will mark the first time that four RS-25 engines will be firing at the same time. (The same engines operated the space shuttle but the orbiter took only three hours to fly.)
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Burning for about 8 minutes – the period they will burn during the lunar launch – will generate a total of 1.6 million pounds of thrust during the RS-25 quad test.
“When we ignite the engines, the stage will actually assume it is flying,” Ryan McKiben, NASA’s Green Run test conductor at the Stannis Space Center, said during a pre-test media conference on Jan. 12. “But of course, it won’t go anywhere because the stage is built in the same places where the anchored solid rocket booster will be anchored.”
As part of the agency’s “Green Run” test schedule, Megarocket had two wet dress rehearsals, during which the fuel was loaded, and then watered. Officials said the tests went well; However, they were not without issue. One fuel source arrived early, one was delayed due to a temperature issue, and the campaign was affected by several tropical storms as well as global epidemics. As a result, The agency chose to delay the hot fire test.
Photos: NASA’s 1st SLS Magrocket for the Moon has its engines on the core stage
Agency officials disclosed this The delay proved fruitful This is because the team was able to improve procedures and update the terminal countdown order based on pre-flight testing.
The test is scheduled for late Saturday afternoon, and that morning, the day will begin with a go-no-meeting where the team will decide to start fuel processes. Once it is running, after that, a final poll will be conducted on the T-10 minute to determine whether it is safe to proceed with the fire test.
The engine will burn for 485 seconds or about 8 minutes. Once the test is complete, the data review will begin, and is expected to take several days, according to NASA’s Julie Besser, program manager for the Marshall Space Flight Center’s SLS.
“In this first phase, we have blown up this major phase and this is a big milestone for us,” he said. We are doing everything we can to ensure we get the most out of this hot fire test and we are ready for launch. The test provides an opportunity to know and confirm that the rocket is ready to fly astronauts to the moon. “
If all goes as expected, the main phase will be renewed and then sent to the Kennedy Space Center to prepare for launch. Its expected arrival is to take place sometime in February, where it will be integrated with the rest of the vehicle already at the venue.
Currently, Solid rocket booster segments of giant rockets One vehicle after another is being stacked in the vehicle assembly building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
With four RS-25 engines, the SLS will be powered by two solid rocket boosters, with five segments fitted together. (Each booster is made from recovered segments that were used on NASA’s space shuttle program.)
Once fully assembled, each of the two solid rocket boosters will stand 177-feet tall (meters– m) and generate more than 3.6 million pounds of thrust on the lift at F – most power during the first two minutes of launch and flight.
Related: Coronavirus delays major tests of NASA’s new SLS Magrocket
This first S.L.S. The rocket will be used for the Artemis 1 mission, an open flight that will send NASA Orion Space Capsule On a trip around the moon, a planned lunar landing near the moon’s south polar region helps pave the way.
Orion is currently the third vehicle in NASA’s development that will eventually allow NASA astronauts into low-Earth orbit and beyond. First, SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule Entered service in 2020 as it took astronauts to the space station in May and November.
After a successful second orbital flight test, Boeing’s Starliner Crew Capsule is expected to launch to astronauts later this year. The Starliner was launched for the first time in 2019 after landing on the space station, but failed to reach the following orbital outpost. A series of software incompatibilities. The next test flight is scheduled for no earlier than March and if all goes well, it will take a crew of three astronauts to the space station later this year.
Having three different astronaut-toting capsules, NASA will have the flexibility to send astronauts into low-Earth orbit on a regular basis while exploring the moon and eventually Mars.
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