Teams have installed the flight support booster (FSB) for later versions of the solid rocket boosters on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at the test booth in Promontory, Utah. NASA and Northrop Grumman, the SLS booster leader contractor, will conduct a two-minute full-time test with the booster on September 2nd. Engineers will use data from the test to evaluate new materials and developments for SLS rockets that NASA’s Artemis will promote. month mission past Artemis III. Credit: Northrop Grumman
NASA will launch a Space Launch System (SLS) launches full-scale booster test at 2.40pm EDT on Wednesday, September 2 on NASA Television and the agency’s website, followed by a media conference.
The Flight Support Booster-1 test builds on three full-scale development test fires and two qualification test firms NASA and Northrop Grumman have been successfully completed with the five-segment fixed rocket engine in preparation for the first three Artemis missions.
To support future flights of the powerful Space Launch System (SLS) NASA rocket, NASA and Northrop Grumman, the SLS booster lead contractor, will conduct a full test for Flight Support Booster (FSB-1) on September 2 in Promontory, Utah. The SLS rocket uses two fixed-segment rocket boosters to help launch NASA’s Artemis missions to the moon. Credit: NASA / Kevin O’Brien
The Sept. 2 test at Northrop Grumman facilities in Promontory, Utah, will help teams evaluate potential new materials, processes and improvements for the boosters that will hit deep space missions outside of Artemis III. The test will also provide another opportunity to evaluate engine production and performance.
The SLS booster is the largest, most powerful solid-powered booster ever built for flight. With 17 stories long and about six tons of propulsion burning every second, each booster generates more thrust than 14 four-engine jumbo-commercial aircraft. Together, the SLS twin boosters provide more than 75 percent of the total SLS range at launch. Credit: NASA
About an hour and 30 minutes after the test, the media will have the opportunity to take part in a teleconference with:
- Bruce Tiller, Manager of the SLS Booster Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama
- Charlie Precourt, Vice President of Propulsion Systems at Northrop Grumman, Promontory
During the broadcast, anyone can submit questions on Twitter with the hashtag #AskNASA. Updates on the test will be posted on the Artemis blog.
Powered by four RS-25 engines and two boosters, the SLS rocket produces more than 8 million pounds of thrust after power missions to the moon and, ultimately, March. The twin fixed-segment fixed rocket boosters produce more than 75% of the rocket’s thrust in the first two minutes of takeoff.
Two 177-meter-high solid rocket boosters boost NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the Artemis missions to the moon. Each booster consists of several large structures assembled and prepared for launch by the Exploration Ground Systems team at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA / Kevin O’Brien
This latest booster test will take place as teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida begin collecting the boosters for Artemis I, the first launch of SLS and NASA’s spacecraft Orion.
The SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, gateway and human landing system are part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration. The Artemis program is the next step in the exploration of human space and is part of the broader approach to the discovery of the moon after Mars, in which astronauts will study the moon. Gained experience will enable the next giant leap of man: send humans to Mars.
