Space Launch System (SLS)

[wjfox]

The biggest and most powerful rocket since the Saturn V.

Debut launch is now scheduled for Q1-Q2 2022.

----------

NASA wants to buy SLS rockets at half price, fly them into the 2050s

The agency wants the rocket to become a "sustainable and affordable system."

Eric Berger - 10/27/2021, 2:10 PM

NASA has asked the US aerospace industry how it would go about "maximizing the long-term efficiency and sustainability" of the Space Launch System rocket and its associated ground systems.

The request comes as NASA and its chief contractor for the rocket, Boeing, are nearing the launch pad after a long, arduous, and expensive development process that has lasted more than a decade. The heavy lift SLS rocket, carrying an Orion space capsule, should finally make its debut during the first half of 2022.

In its request NASA says it would like to fly the SLS rocket for "30 years or more" as a national capability. Moreover, the agency wants the rocket to become a "sustainable and affordable system for moving humans and large cargo payloads to cislunar and deep-space destinations."

NASA sees itself as the "anchor tenant" of the launch system and procuring one crewed flight per year for the next decade or longer. Where appropriate, the agency said, industry will "market" the large launch vehicle to other customers, including the science community and other government and non-government entities.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/10 ... the-2050s/

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[raklian]

[raklian]

[weatheriscool]

NASA begins critical final test on mega Moon rocket
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-nasa-crit ... ocket.html

The massive Artemis I rocket is illuminated at dusk atop a mobile launch platform en route to Launch Pad 39B from the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA on Friday began a critical two-day-long test of its giant Space Launch System (SLS) rocket complete with a simulated countdown, as the agency gears up to return humans to the Moon.

Known as the "wet dress rehearsal," it is the final major test before the Artemis-1 mission this summer: an uncrewed lunar flight that will eventually be followed by boots on the ground, likely no sooner than 2026.

"The countdown is now underway," NASA said in its Artemis blog at 5:00 pm Eastern Time (2100 GMT), confirming members of the launch control team had been issued their "call to stations."

Data from the test, which ends Sunday mid-afternoon, will be used to finalize a launch date for Artemis 1. NASA had said May could be the first window, but later now seems likely.

It is called a "wet" dress rehearsal because supercooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen will be loaded into SLS from ground systems, just as they would be in a real launch.

The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket—expected to be the most powerful in history at the time it is operational—was rolled out to Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida around two weeks ago.

[weatheriscool]

NASA moon rocket faces more flight delays as repairs mount
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-nasa-moon ... mount.html
by Marcia Dunn

The flight debut of NASA's mega moon rocket faces additional delays following a string of failed fueling tests.

Officials said Monday it will be challenging to meet a launch window in early to mid-June. The next opportunity to send an empty capsule to the moon on a test flight would be at the end of June or July.

The 30-story Space Launch System rocket has been on the pad at Kennedy Space Center for the past month. It will return to the hangar next week for valve and fuel leak repairs. The problems cropped up earlier this month, preventing NASA from filling the rocket's fuel tanks for a critical dress rehearsal.

The rocket will likely spend weeks in the hangar before heading back to the pad for a testing redo, said launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson.

Managers are considering various options for getting back on track.

[caltrek]

NASA Determines Space Launch System Testing Complete
by Aria Alamalhodaei
June 24, 2022

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) The testing campaign for NASA’s super big, super expensive Space Launch System is now complete, the agency declared on Friday. All that’s left now for the rocket is launch the Artemis I demonstration mission to the moon, the first in a long line of planned missions to eventually return humans to the lunar surface by the middle of the decade. The launch could occur as soon as late August, NASA officials said.

The agency will roll the 322-foot-tall rocket and Orion spacecraft back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, an assembly hangar at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, on July 1 or 2, where both will be prepared for launch. From there, the agency will have roughly six to eight weeks of work before what should be the final roll-out, John Blevins, chief engineer of the Space Launch System Program, said Friday. Once SLS is back on the launch pad, officials would spend around 10-14 days preparing for liftoff, Cliff Lanham, senior vehicle operations manager for exploration ground systems, added.

NASA declared the “wet dress rehearsal” (WDR), as the slew of tests is called, complete despite a hydrogen leak issue that caused launch controllers to halt the countdown at T-29 seconds (officials aimed to count down to T-9.34 seconds, right before engine ignition).

The leak was detected in the hydrogen bleed line during the propellant loading process, when hundreds of thousands of gallons of cryogenic liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen were being loaded into the tanks. But despite the leak issues, the agency was able to load both rocket stages’ tanks with propellant, then drain them — major testing pieces that the agency had yet to put into place.

While officials did not give an exact launch date, Tom Whitmeyer, deputy associate administrator for common exploration systems development, said things are looking good for an end of August timeframe.

Read more here: https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/24/nas ... complete/

[raklian]

[weatheriscool]

Fuel leaks force NASA to scrub launch of new moon rocket
Source: AP

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A fuel leak and then an engine problem during final liftoff preparations led NASA to scrub the launch of its mighty new moon rocket Monday morning on a shakedown flight with three test dummies aboard. The next launch attempt will not take place until Friday at the earliest.

As precious minutes ticked away, NASA repeatedly stopped and started the fueling of the Space Launch System rocket with nearly 1 million gallons of super-cold hydrogen and oxygen because of a leak of highly explosive hydrogen in the same place that saw seepage during a dress rehearsal back in the spring.

Then, NASA ran into new trouble when it was unable to properly chill one of the rocket’s four main engines, officials said. Engineers continued working to gather data and pinpoint the source of the problem after the launch postponement was announced. The rocket was set to lift off on a mission to put a crew capsule into orbit around the moon. The launch represents a milestone in America’s quest to put astronauts back on the lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo program ended 50 years ago.

The 322-foot (98-meter) spaceship is the most powerful rocket ever built by NASA, out-muscling even the Saturn V that took the Apollo astronauts to the moon. As for when NASA might make another launch attempt, launch commentator Derrol Nail said the problem was still being analyzed, and “we must wait to see what shakes out from their test data.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/nasa-moon-ro ... 0001b3eca4

Nasa has become a joke when it comes to manned space travel. I hate to say it.

[weatheriscool]

NASA once again calls off Artemis I moon mission due to technical issues
Source: CNN

Kennedy Space Center, Florida (CNN)NASA has once again waved off an attempt to launch its massive new moon rocket on an uncrewed test mission because of technical issues. The launch had been slated to take off Saturday afternoon, but those plans were scrubbed after the team discovered a liquid hydrogen leak that they spent the better part of the morning trying to resolve. Liquid hydrogen is one of the propellants used in the rocket's large core stage.

The leak prevented the launch team from being able to fill the liquid hydrogen tank despite trying various troubleshooting procedures. It's the second time in a week that the space agency has been forced to halt the launch countdown in the face of technical issues. The first launch attempt, on Monday, was called off after several issues arose, including with a system meant to cool the rocket's engines ahead of liftoff and various leaks that sprung up as the rocket was being fueled.

The liquid hydrogen leak was detected at 7:15 a.m. ET in the quick disconnect cavity that feeds the rocket with hydrogen in the engine section of the core stage. It was a different leak than one that occurred ahead of the scrubbed launch on Monday. The launch controllers warmed up the line in an attempt to get a tight seal and the flow of liquid hydrogen resumed before a leak reoccurred. They stopped the flow of liquid hydrogen and proceeded to "close the valve used to fill and drain it, then increase pressure on a ground transfer line using helium to try to reseal it," according to NASA.

That troubleshooting plan was not successful. The team attempted the first plan again to warm up the line, but the leak reoccurred after they manually restarted the flow of liquid hydrogen. The launch window opens at 2:17 p.m. ET and closes at 4:17 p.m. ET on Saturday. NASA's live coverage began at 5:45 a.m. ET on its website and TV channel. This process has put the team behind schedule, but it's unclear how much of a delay it will cause in the countdown because they may be able to make up some time later.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/03/world/na ... index.html

The SLS is a disgrace and a joke. Why can't they use falcon heavy or maybe star ship to go back to the moon>

[caltrek]

For the sake of shortening my extract to fit within size limitation constraints, I have not included below references to the controversy highlighted by Weatheriscool’s comment above. There is a reference to that sort of objection within the linked article.

NASA’s Latest Moon Mission is the Dawn of a New Space Age
September 9, 2022

Extract:

(Vox) Artemis is the next generation of moon missions. It’s part of NASA’s broader ambitions for lunar exploration, which include astronaut treks across the moon’s surface, a lunar human habitat, and a new space station called Gateway. ..

All aboard Artemis 1

NASA’s ride to the moon, the SLS, was designed to carry an extremely heavy payload. The rocket is just a few meters taller than the Statue of Liberty, and it can generate 8.8 million pounds of thrust. Like other launch systems, the SLS is made up of several different stages, each of which plays a role in overcoming Earth’s gravity, breaking through the atmosphere, and reaching outer space. To make that happen, the SLS includes twin solid rocket boosters, as well as a 212-foot tall core stage filled with more than 700,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. It’s the largest core stage NASA has ever made.

…And while other space launches have started using reusable, or at least partially reusable, rocket boosters, the SLS will only fly once. This differentiates SLS from Starship, the super-heavy launch vehicle that SpaceX is designing for moon missions. SpaceX, which beat out Blue Origin for a $2.9 billion contract to build NASA’s lunar landing system, expects Starship’s first orbital test flight to take place sometime in the next six months.

… The Artemis program is laying the groundwork for an unprecedented level of activity on the lunar surface, including a human base camp, a series of nuclear reactors, and a mineral mining operation. NASA has expressly said that it wants to develop a lunar economy, and the space agency has also established the Artemis Accords, a set of principles for exploring the moon that more than 20 countries have now joined.

Eventually, NASA plans to turn the moon into a pit stop on a much more ambitious journey: a human mission to Mars. Right now, it seems like that could happen sometime in the late 2030s. But while many of these plans are still far out, it’s clear that the Artemis program is far more than a repeat of the Apollo program.

Read more here: https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/8/27/2 ... r-florida

[weatheriscool]

NASA sets date for another try at Artemis I launch
Source: CNN

CNN — NASA has set a date for another attempt at launching its Artemis I mission, after Hurricane Ian forced the space agency to roll back its massive rocket into its hangar at Kennedy Space Center in Florida late last month. The 69-minute launch window for the Space Launch System or SLS, will open at 12.07 a.m. ET on Monday, November 14, NASA said Wednesday.

If the launch is successful, the 322-feet tall rocket will send the uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon and back to earth to test its systems. The mission is expected to last 25 days with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean Friday, December 9.

The space agency said “minimal work” was required to prepare the rocket and Orion spacecraft for roll out to the launch pad, a slow, 4-mile (6.4-kilometer) journey that could take place as early as Friday, November 4.

The overall goal of NASA’s Artemis program is to return humans to the moon for the first time in half a century. And the Artemis I mission — which is expected to be the first of many — will lay the initial groundwork, testing the rocket and spacecraft and all its subsystems to ensure it’s safe enough for astronauts to fly.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/12/world/ar ... index.html

[raklian]

Yikes!

It's now too late to roll back the SLS to the VAB. Fingers crossed Nicole doesn't do much damage.

[wjfox]

[raklian]

[weatheriscool]

[raklian]

[weatheriscool]

[raklian]

Just wow.