The world’s biggest rocket is a step closer to reality, after Nasa completed a key flight controller test for the engine that will power it.
The space agency completed the test on the RS-25 rocket engine at the Stennis Space Centre in Mississippi.
The engine will eventually be fitted to the Space Launch System (SLS), which will be used to launch the Orion spacecraft in 2019, ahead of blasting humans to Mars in the 2030s.
Nasa’s Exploration Mission-1 has stepped closer to reality, as the space agency completed a flight controller test for the engines that will power its ‘megarocket’
Nasa completed the test, which lasted 500 seconds, at 14:55 CST (20:55 BST) yesterday.
Speaking ahead of the test, Philip Benefield, Systems and Requirements Team Lead for the SLS Liquid Engines Office, said: ‘The test that we’re planning to run on Thursday is a 500-second duration test, which is typical of what we’ve done in the past, it’s representative of a nominal SLS profile.’
During the test firing, the engine was throttled at thrust levels from 80 per cent to 109 per cent of rated power level (RPL).
The engine was throttled at 109 per cent RPL for 350 seconds, at 100 per cent RPL for eight seconds, and at 80 per cent RPL for 78 seconds.
Nasa live-streamed the test, and footage revealed an enormous plume of smoke being billowed into the air.
For the SLS vehicle, the engines will fire at 109 per cent thrust level and provide a combined two million pounds of thrust.
During the test firing, the engine was throttled at thrust levels from 80 per cent to 109 per cent of rated power level (RPL). The engine was throttled at 109 per cent RPL for 350 seconds, at 100 per cent RPL for eight seconds, and at 80 per cent RPL for 78 seconds
Speaking ahead of the test, Philip Benefield, Systems and Requirements Team Lead for the SLS Liquid Engines Office, said: ‘The test that we’re planning to run on Thursday is a 500-second duration test, which is typical of what we’ve done in the past, it’s representative of a nominal SLS profile’
Nasa is working to ensure the engines can perform at these higher levels under a variety of conditions.
The agency is now working toward a 2019 launch date for the Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) mission.
In the EM-1 mission, Nasa’s Orion, stacked on a Space Launch System rocket capable of lifting 70 metric tons will launch from a newly refurbished Kennedy Space Center in 2019.
Nasa live-streamed the test, and footage revealed an enormous plume of smoke being billowed into the air. Yesterday’s test was part of a series of tests on the RS-25 engines this year, ahead of their use in the Space Launch System (SLS)
The uncrewed Orion will travel into Distant Retrograde Orbit, breaking the distance record reached by the most remote Apollo spacecraft, and then 30,000 miles farther out (275,000 total miles).
The mission will last 22 days and will be designed to test system readiness for future crewed operations in the 2030s.
Yesterday’s test was part of a series of tests on the RS-25 engines this year, ahead of their use in the (SLS).
Prior to this, the engine was tested on May 23, when flight controllers for the engine were tested.
According to the space agency, the flight controllers are crucial to the maiden flight of the SLS rocket, and are a ‘key modification’ for the engines, which are former space shuttle main engines.
‘The component is often cited as the RS-25 ‘brain’ that allows communication between the engine and the rocket,’ according to Nasa.
‘Prior to flight, engine performance specifications, such as percentage of thrust needed, are programed into the controller.
The RS-25 engine will eventually be fitted to a new Nasa rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS), which will be used to launch the Orion spacecraft in 2019
When completed, two five-segment boosters and four RS-25 main engines will power SLS on deep space missions. The solid rocket boosters, built by Nasa contractor Orbital ATK, operate in parallel with SLS’s main engines for the first two minutes of flight
‘The controller then communicates the specifications and ensures these are being met by monitoring and controlling such factors as propellant mixture ratio and thrust level.’
Earlier this year, Nasa released breathtaking 360 degree footage of the moment a rocket engine explodes into life.
The space agency fired up the engine, capable of delivering 500,000 pounds of thrust, that will power the SLS rocket which will one day take humans to Mars.
The 2019 test flight will send Orion into lunar distant retrograde orbit – a wide orbit around the moon that is farther from Earth than any human-rated spacecraft has ever travelled. Pictured is the SLS in comparison to other rockets
The first test on the engines of 2017 took place on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Centre near Bay St Louis, Mississippi.
Engine No. 0528 ran for 380 seconds (six minutes and 20 seconds), allowing engineers to monitor its operating conditions.
Staff at the space centre captured overhead footage of the test using a drone, as well as 360 degree video footage.