Tag Archives: SLS

Science

NASA Conducts Hot Fire Test of RS-25 Engine for Artemis SLS Moon Rocket

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NASA conducted the first hot fire on January 28, 2021, in a new series of tests for production of RS-25 engines that will help power the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on future deep space missions.

The test of RS-25 developmental engine No. 0528 on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Missouri, marks the beginning of a seven-test series designed to provide valuable data to Aerojet Rocketdyne, lead contractor for SLS engines, as the company begins production of new RS-25 engines.

Four RS-25 engines help power SLS at launch, firing simultaneously to generate a combined 1.6 million pounds of thrust at launch and 2 million pounds of thrust during ascent. The RS-25 engines for the first four SLS flights are upgraded space shuttle main engines and have completed certification testing. NASA now is focused on providing data to enhance production of new RS-25 engines and components for use on subsequent SLS missions.

The new test series will evaluate the performance of engine components made with cutting-edge manufacturing technologies and techniques. The testing is part of NASA’s and Aerojet Rocketdyne’s effort to use advanced manufacturing methods to significantly reduce the cost and time needed to build new RS-25 engines.

For the January 28 test, the RS-25 developmental engine was fired for a full duration of about eight-and-a-half minutes (500 seconds), the same amount of time the engines must fire to help send SLS to orbit. The engine was fired at 111% of its original space shuttle main engine design power and the same power level needed to help launch SLS on its missions.

The hot fire marks the first test on the historic stand since April 2019, when NASA concluded testing of RS-25 engines for the first four SLS missions. Since that time, Stennis teams have worked to complete major maintenance and upgrade projects to the A-1 Test Stand and its systems to ensure future test capabilities.

Among other projects, the work featured installation of a new NASA-designed-and-manufactured thrust vector control system on the test stand that allows operators to “gimbal” test RS-25 engines, moving them on a tight circular axis as must be done in flight to ensure proper trajectory.

NASA is building SLS as the world’s most powerful rocket. Initial SLS missions will fly to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program, including the Artemis I uncrewed test flight this year that will pave the way for future flights with astronauts to explore the lunar surface and prepare for missions to Mars.

RS-25 tests at Stennis are conducted by a combined team of NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Syncom Space Services operators. Syncom Space Services is the prime contractor for Stennis facilities and operations.



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Science

NASA’s SLS rocket will go through a second and longer hot fire test

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NASA will conduct a second hot fire test for the Space Launch System’s rocket core stage as early as the fourth week of February. It will be part of the rocket’s Green Run series of tests meant to assess the core stage and ensure it’s ready for the Artemis I mission, which will send an unmanned Orion spacecraft to the Moon. The rocket’s first ever hot fire test in mid—January, wherein all four of its RS-25 engines fired simultaneously, was cut short due to a problem with its hydraulic system. What was supposed to be an eight-minute burn lasted for only 67 seconds — NASA wants the second go to last longer than that to be able to collect more data.

The agency set an eight-minute goal for the second test, as well, since that’s how long it would take to send the rocket to space. According to NASA’s announcement, though, the Green Run team analyzed data from the first test firing and determined that four minutes would be enough to provide significant data that can help verify if the core stage truly is ready for flight. “Conducting a second hot fire test will allow the team to repeat operations from the first hot fire test and obtain data on how the core stage and the engines perform over a longer period that simulates more activities during the rocket’s launch and ascent,” NASA wrote.

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Science

After aborted SLS hot-fire test, NASA and Boeing will try, try again

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NASA will make another attempt next month to test-fire its massive Space Launch System rocket after its first try was cut short, the agency said Friday night.

The rocket’s 212-foot-tall core stage will try to fire its four engines for eight minutes at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The attempt is the last milestone “Green Run” test before the behemoth rocket gets shipped to Florida for its debut launch toward the moon.

All four of the rocket’s Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines ignited together for the first time earlier this month. But what was intended to be an eight minute test only lasted a little over a minute — a much shorter runtime than what engineers needed to proceed to Florida. The SLS core has been in development for a decade, and has consistently been late and over budget.

“Conducting a second hot fire test will allow the team to repeat operations from the first hot fire test and obtain data on how the core stage and the engines perform over a longer period that simulates more activities during the rocket’s launch and ascent,” NASA said in a blog post late Friday night.

NASA is targeting November for the SLS’s first launch, but the agency’s inspector general and the Government Accountability Office, the country’s biggest watchdog agency, say that’s unlikely. Instead, they indicated the launch will likely to slip into 2022. NASA remains publicly optimistic.

“It is still possible to launch Artemis I this year with this test in February,” NASA spokeswoman Kathryn Hambleton told The Verge.

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