SpaceLaunchSystem
Latest
NASA insists its Mars rocket will still launch in 2019
NASA is aiming to launch its deep space-bound Space Launch System (SLS) in December 2019, even though a review has suggested it's not likely to fly until mid-2020. The launch date has already been pushed back once due to technical issues, but NASA is confident it will hit its 2019 target and has taken steps to "protect" the launch date.
NASA study finds first SLS launch should be unmanned for safety
It's an exciting time for spaceflight, for sure. Both NASA and SpaceX have plans in place to send rockets and humans into our solar system. Elon Musk's company wants to use the moon as a pit stop on its way to Mars, and NASA wanted to include a human crew on its now-delayed launch to test a new rocket and companion capsule. Today, however, a study by NASA has concluded that sending astronauts on the first flight is not feasible as the costs of keeping them safe are just too high.
NASA pushes first launch of its Mars rocket to 2019
The Space Launch System (SLS), the heavy rocket NASA plans to send humans to Mars with, won't get its first launch until 2019. Tech problems have delayed the project years later than Congress' originally estimated it would debut, but space agency officials have confirmed that the big lifter's initial flight will be pushed back again from late 2018 to sometime in 2019.
Watch NASA's Mars rocket tests in 360-degree video
NASA will eventually use the Space Launch System to send humans to Mars -- it might even carry a crew the very first time it launches. Unfortunately the world's most powerful rocket is a tad behind schedule (it was originally supposed to launch this year) and over budget. However, NASA has released an interesting 360-degree video of a hot-fire test of the main RS-25 engine, one of four shown above. From one vantage point, you're standing in a place you really wouldn't want to be in person -- near the flame trench directly behind the 512,000-pound-thrust rocket.
NASA details preparations for SLS' and Orion's first flight
NASA began preparing for Orion's 2018 maiden flight atop the Space Launch System quite some time ago. Since both Orion and SLS are new technologies, the space agency has been subjecting both to a series of rigorous tests, which it has listed and explained in detail in a Tumblr post. NASA says it's been examining every component of the capsule and had blasted it with deafening sounds, earthquake-like vibrations and strong, hurricane-like winds in the past to test its durability. The spacecraft also underwent water impact testing with human dummies inside, wherein it was dropped into a pool from 16 feet above the surface. It's slated to go through more water impact tests simulating different wind and wave conditions in the future.
NASA's newest rocket booster is ready for deep space
NASA fired up a massive booster in Utah this morning. The powerful machine was put through its second and last qualification test in the desert before it's ready to facilitate the flight of the world's most powerful rocket to date.
NASA successfully tests rocket engines designed for deep space
NASA says that its latest tests are a milestone towards the next stage of space exploration — and Mars. It successfully fired an RS-25 rocket engine for 500 seconds on Thursday March 10th. This is the same engine that will eventually send astronauts on the first deep-space mission in more than 45 years. It's a key part of NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS), aimed at taking humans to nearby asteroids and, after that, the red planet. Four of these engines power the SLS — making up a combined thrust of two million pounds.
NASA's first SLS launch will send cubesats into deep space
NASA announced on Tuesday that the first mission for its new Space Launch System in 2018, dubbed Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), will send more than a dozen mini-satellites as well as an unmanned Orion spacecraft into deep space.
NASA's Space Launch System inches even closer to flight
NASA has been toiling away on its heavy-lifting Space Launch System since around 2011, and now those rocket plans have taken another giant leap toward actual usability. The Administration announced earlier today that one of the SLS's three main configurations has successfully gone through its critical design review phase, two months after the program turned in its official findings to an independent review board.
NASA preps Orion heat shield for its first flight aboard the SLS
The Orion capsule's heat shield survived its test flight back in December just fine. In fact, Orion Program Manager Mark Kirasich says it "met every expectation" during reentry, enduring temperatures that reached 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Thanks to the data NASA gathered from the same test, though, its engineers were able to come to the conclusion that the heat shield used for that flight won't make it through Orion's first mission with the Space Launch System scheduled to happen in 2018. The multi-purpose vehicle will travel farther during the Exploration Mission 1 three years from now. As such, it's bound to encounter colder temperatures and to travel faster -- and hence, face even worse heat -- upon reentry.
Watch NASA test its main deep space rocket in a cloud of steam
If you thought NASA's recent booster rocket test for the Space Launch System was full of sound and fury, just wait until you see what happens with the main engines. The agency recently conducted a nearly 8-minute burn test for the RS-25 rocket providing the SLS' core thrust, and the machinery isn't exactly subtle -- as you'll see in the video below, it produced a gigantic steam cloud that seemingly dwarfed the complex. Of course, this dry run wasn't really for show. NASA needed to prove that the RS-25's automated propulsion (which adjusts things like fuel mixture based on throttle demands) will work without a hitch when it's lifting payloads destined for places like Mars. And it's important to note that this is just one of four primary rockets in the SLS. When the finished rocket launches in 2018, it'll put out a fierce 1.6 million pounds of thrust that could make this demo seem timid by comparison. [Image credit: NASA]
Watch NASA test its most powerful booster rocket ever
We know: The progress toward NASA using the SLS (or Space Launch System if you aren't into the whole brevity thing) has been painfully slow, starting way back in 2011. Today marks a significant step toward it shooting astronauts into the furthest reaches of space, however -- testing its booster system. The trial run was two minutes long (the same length as it would be during an actual launch) and in those 120 seconds, the Utah-based booster produced 3.6 million pounds of thrust. NASA says this is one of two tests necessary before the system gets cleared for a trip to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the next one takes place in early 2016.
NASA delays 'capture the asteroid' plan until next year
Now that the ESA has landed on a comet, NASA wants to do them one better: capture an entire asteroid (or a piece of one) and put it in orbit around the moon in 2019. But the space agency has now said that it's delaying a decision on exactly how the Asteroid Redirect Mission will do that until 2015. Option A involves bagging and capturing an entire meteorite about 30 feet across, while option B would see them landing on larger target, Philae-style, and digging out a boulder-sized chunk (see the video below). In both cases, it will be towed back to the moon and placed in orbit there. Astronauts launching from the upcoming Space Launch System (SLS) in an Orion capsule will then intercept the orbiting meteorite in 2020, retrieve samples and return to Earth.
NASA's Orion capsule begins its 3,600-mile journey into outer space
NASA's Orion capsule has blasted off on the farthest journey into space anyone has ever attempted since the last Apollo moon mission. In fact, a Delta IV rocket will propel it to an altitude of 3,600 miles, roughly 14 times that of the International Space Station's -- and for good reason. NASA and Lockheed, which has been building the vessel for years, are betting on it to become the space agency's go-to vehicle for manned, deep-space missions. Thus, the capsule needs to undergo rigorous testing in the right conditions in order to ensure the safety of the astronauts it'll ferry to the moon, and even Mars. Update: We've embedded NASA's replay video of Orion's successful launch below. The main engines will fire again at around 8:50 AM (EST) to boost Orion to 3,600 miles.
The Big Picture: NASA gets ready to build the 'next great rocket'
See the gargantuan structure above that dwarfs that line of puny humans at the bottom (bet you didn't even notice them at first glance, huh)? It's a welding tool -- the biggest one built for spacecraft, in fact, that's slated to help Boeing build the core stage of NASA's Space Launch System at the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The structure's officially called the Vertical Assembly Center, and it stands 170 feet tall with a width that measures 78 feet: not exactly surprising, considering the SLS is a 200-foot-tall behemoth. It's but one of the many tools Boeing intends to use to build the core stage of NASA's "most powerful rocket ever" after the two organizations finalized their $2.8 billion deal in July. The core stage will house cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen used to power the rocket's four engines, and building it brings the SLS much closer to the launch pad for deep space exploration.
NASA's massive Space Launch System rocket takes off in 2018
Upstarts like SpaceX might get most of the attention, but let's not forget that NASA -- you know, the folks who actually put 12 guys on the moon -- isn't done pushing to explore the heavens just yet. Case in point: the agency is working on a whopper of a rocket called (unimaginatively enough) the Space Launch System that'll eventually propel a manned Orion capsule in Mars' direction, and officials just green-lit that massive booster for development. The formulation phase is over folks, time to build this crazy thing. There is, however, a downside. You see, the SLS was originally slated to make its first official test flight with an uncrewed Orion capsule in December 2017, but it's looking at this point like that inaugural launch will actually take place nearly a year later. Yeah, we can hardly wait either, but it was going to be a long while before all the development and infrastructure fell into place anyway -- NASA associate administrator Robert Lightfoot reaffirmed in a statement that we won't be flinging humans at the red planet until the 2030s. Think you can beat that, Mr. Musk?
NASA building Space Launch System with laser melting, adapts 3D printing for the skies (video)
As we know it, 3D printing is usually confined to small-scale projects like headphones. NASA is ever so slightly more ambitious. It's using a closely related technique from Concept Laser, selective laser melting, to build elements of its Space Launch System on a pace that wouldn't be feasible with traditional methods. By firing brief, exact laser pulses at metal powder, Concept Laser's CAD system creates solid metal parts that are geometrically complex but don't need to be welded together. The technique saves the money and time that would normally be spent on building many smaller pieces, but it could be even more vital for safety: having monolithic components reduces the points of failure that could bring the rocket down. We'll have a first inkling of how well laser melting works for NASA when the SLS' upper-stage J-2X engine goes through testing before the end of 2012, and the printed parts should receive their ultimate seal of approval with a first flight in 2017.
Dark horse set to ride into space race, strapped to world's largest solid rocket booster
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) may not be on top of your betting card, but it has plenty of shuttle motor pedigree. To compete with the likes of SpaceX, Astrium and others, it's putting that technical savvy into its Liberty system to carry seven astronauts -- or tourists -- and cargo into low earth orbit. The huge 300-foot rocket and composite crew module would use ATK's solid rocket motor, originally designed for the ill-fated Ares 1, along with EAD's Ariane 5 engine, to become the heaviest lifter in NASA's fleet. Already knee-deep in a separate project, the Space Launch System designed to send Orion into deep space, ATK would like to wean NASA off it's pricy $63 million Russian ISS hitchhikes with a cheaper option that could be mission-ready in just three years. We've heard that kind of talk before, but if Liberty pulls it off, it could give our out-world aspirations a much needed ticket to ride.
Visualized: Where NASA's SLS will get high
We've still got quite a while to go before NASA gets back into the space travel game with SLS, but the first pieces of the potential inter-planetary transportation puzzle are starting to fall into place. The $500 million mobile launch tower of the future has already been rolled out and is undergoing structural testing at the Kennedy Space Center. You owe it to yourself to hit up the source link for some more images, including a few from atop the tower.
J-2X rocket passes second test, proves NASA can still have a blast (video)
NASA's next generation rocket engine has passed its second wave of experiments, blasting through a 500-second test burst. The new rocket is primed to power the agency's forthcoming Space Launch System, currently pegged for launch in 2017. The Orion spacecraft will be able to piggyback on the SLS, expanding the range of space travel, and bringing that final frontier just a little bit closer. Check out the thrust needed to launch up to 130 metric tons into space in the test video right after the break.
