Yesterday, at about 21:35 Kiev time, a successful firing test of the largest node ever created by NASA of rockets was carried out: all four RS-25 engines of the main stage of the future Space Launch System (SLS) were launched at 499.6 seconds.
The test was carried out at the stand of the NASA Space Center Stennis, which was located near the Bay of St. Louis, Mississippi. The first such test was carried out on January 16: then the engines worked for about a minute, but the test ended ahead of schedule due to the operation of the automatics.
Yesterday, NASA received a huge array of data to check the design of the main stage: during the test, they tested various operating conditions, including the movement of engines according to certain schemes, their afterburner up to 109% of the planned power, throttling and duplication. Everything is like in a real flight.
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This is a key milestone before the debut mission of Artemis I, in which the US Aerospace Administration will send the Orion spacecraft on an unmanned flight around the Moon.
“The SLS is an incredible feat of engineering and the only rocket capable of powering the next generation of American missions that will send people to the moon and beyond,” he said. NASA Director Steve Yurchik.
The two fuel tanks in the SLS main stage collectively contain over 733,000 gallons of supercooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The Bench Flame Arrester test delivered over 330,000 gallons of water per minute.
Boeing is the general contractor for the main stage of the test, Aerojet Rocketdyne for the RS-25.
See also: SpaceX has posted a new video of the Starship test flight
Now the stage will be restored and the barge will be sent to the Space Center. Kennedy in Florida, where it will be assembled along with solid fuel boosters and other assemblies, including Orion, on a mobile launcher inside the assembly shop. Then it remains to take the rocket to the launch pad.
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