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N_Molson

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SLS Monthly Highlights : July 2019 (pdf)





Summary

LOX tank readied for testing

The fourth and final structural test article for the SLS core stage was unloaded from NASA’s barge Pegasus at Marshall Space Flight Center July 9. The nearly 70-foot-long liquid oxygen (LOX) tank structural test article, which was manufactured at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, is structurally identical to the flight version and will be tested at Marshall. The LOX tank is one of two tanks in the rocket’s core stage that will supply propellant to the four RS-25 engines, which will produce more than 2 million pounds of thrust to help launch Artemis 1, the first flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft and SLS, to the Moon. Marshall has tested major components of the core stage, upper stage and payload structures for SLS to confirm they will be able to withstand the forces and conditions they will ultimately face during launch and flight. To date, Marshall test engineers have completed testing on the entire upper part of the rocket, which includes the interim cryogenic propulsion stage that will give Orion the final boost to the Moon, and two of the four core stage pieces being tested: the engine section that connects to the four RS-25 engines and the intertank, the piece of the core stage that feels the most force during launch and solid rocket booster separation.

Green Run : test like you fly

Before the SLS rocket launches the Orion spacecraft during the Artemis 1 mission, the rocket’s core stage will be tested on Earth. NASA will test the rocket’s 212-foot tall core stage — the tallest rocket stage the agency has ever built — with a “Green Run” test to help ensure mission success and pave the way for future Artemis missions carrying crew to the Moon. Missions at the Moon will be a stepping stone to prepare for human exploration of Mars.During Green Run testing, engineers will install the core stage in the B-2 Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, for a series of tests that will build like a crescendo over several months. The term “Green Run” refers to new flight hardware tested together for the first time. The stage will be fueled and pressurized, and the test series culminates with firing up all four RS-25 engines to demonstrate that the engines, tanks, fuel lines, valves, pressurization system and software can all perform together just as they will on launch day.

Artemis 1 : the launch sequence (YouTube)

Hear the countdown and see how NASA’s SLS, the world’s most powerful rocket, will send the Orion spacecraft to the Moon on the Artemis 1 Mission. This video takes you through the pre-launch sequence at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and through all the flight operations as SLS launches Orion and sends it on to lunar orbit.

SLS on the road : Lehman College, Bronx, NY


Kids color their vision for the SLS rocket during the City of Science at Lehman College in the Bronx, New York, July 27. The event is part of the World Science Festival, which hosts science celebration events around the world.


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DanM

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This program has been called vaporware for the longest time, but it's shaping up more and more like it's actually gonna fly.
 

Thunder Chicken

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This program has been called vaporware for the longest time, but it's shaping up more and more like it's actually gonna fly.


Projecting first launch in 2020 or 2021, maybe. I'm pretty sure that they'll finish and fly the first one. The political landscape and the status of other commercial launchers will really determine if there is any appetite for such a large, expensive, expendable booster after that.
 

Sbb1413

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I cannot wait to see the beautiful fireworks caused by the failure of SLS, because it is struggling to meet its schedule!
 
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GLS

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I cannot wait to see the failure of SLS, because it is struggling to meet its schedule!

Not defending SLS but, how many rockets met their schedule?
 

Frilock

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I cannot wait to see the failure of SLS, because it is struggling to meet its schedule!


Its not failing, its doing exactly what it was designed to do. Its providing jobs in the districts of the senators who support it's districts. If it ever flies or not is completely irrelevant!
 

Thunder Chicken

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Throwing a few $100M of RS-25 engines designed and demonstrated to be reusable away just breaks my heart. The fact that they are working on cheaper and disposable versions of the RS-25 only to be used AFTER the current reusable stock is used up is just another stab to the heart. NASA can't envision reusable technology ever being relevant for a rocket?


NASA absolutely needs to get out of the rocket business as they simply can't innovate anymore in the political and fiscal environment it exists in. It's nothing but a pork farm now.
 

GLS

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Throwing a few $100M of RS-25 engines designed and demonstrated to be reusable away just breaks my heart.

That, and also pretty much building a Space Shuttle aft compartment for each vehicle, so those engines can run, and then also throwing all of that away. Plus, I think the SRBs will also go in the drink. :facepalm:


STS-34_Launch_1.jpg

Miss me yet?
 

MaverickSawyer

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And NASA basically admitted that SLS is going to be over $2 billion a launch now. To put that into perspective, that's the equivalent of throwing away an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer each flight.
 

Notebook

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Thanks for the SLS link, yes I also like his way of explaining things, do you think he uses auto-cue? I'm a bit confused, I though NASA were using Boeing's capsule, with a Space-X returnable rocket?

Friend commenting on the link mahdavi3d posted above.
Its a good question, meaning I don't know the answer!

All help appreciated.
 

4throck

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Expendable + expensive is a contradiction for regular flights.
How long will it take to build a second one?

For one-off launches (heavy probes, lunar space station modules, etc), I have no problems with expendability.
 

GLS

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For one-off launches (heavy probes, lunar space station modules, etc), I have no problems with expendability.

Yes, that makes sense.
But the problem (well, one of them anyway) with SLS is the usage of components that were designed for reuse, and are now being sent to the bottom of the ocean. And those components are expensive to build/test.
Maybe using RS-68s, or something else, would be cheaper enough to offset the upmass loss from less efficient engines. :shrug:
If that fails, build something from scratch.
 

Sbb1413

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As of December 2019, the core stage of SLS is complete! It will fly Artemis I in November 2020.
SLS_Core_Stage_Nov_8_2019.jpg

Also, NASA engineers broke SLS test tank on purpose to test extreme limits.
lh2_test.jpg

Image credit: NASA
 

GLS

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[ame="https://twitter.com/NASAWatch/status/1214221879193612289"]https://twitter.com/NASAWatch/status/1214221879193612289[/ame]

First rule about dates near the end of the year (not just for NASA, but for everybody): it's actually in the year after, they just haven't come up with a good justification for the "year slip".:rolleyes:
 

Thunder Chicken

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https://twitter.com/NASAWatch/status/1214221879193612289

First rule about dates near the end of the year (not just for NASA, but for everybody): it's actually in the year after, they just haven't come up with a good justification for the "year slip".:rolleyes:


Pretty much any U.S. project timeline that has gates in November through early January was created by someone who forgot about the holidays.
 
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