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The second time was charming. NASA completed a critical hot-fire test of its Space Launch System core stage on Thursday, a follow-up to an earlier test that did not go as planned. The event lasted about eight minutes and created a massive billowing cloud that stretched into a nearby forest at Mississippi’s Stennis Space Center.
NASA wants to guide people back to the moon. The agency was aiming for an unmanned Artemis I mission around the moon later in 2021, but it had to try out its moon rocket here on Earth first.
NASA calls the core stage “the backbone of the SLS missile”. Hot fires are dramatic things designed to simulate the rigor of launch conditions. Today’s event would be the final installment of the “Green Run” series of tests designed to test the core phase of SLS before it is actually launched from Earth.
Here’s NASA’s description of what happens during the SLS hot-fire: “On the day of testing, engineers will power all core systems, load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic or super-cold propellant into the tanks and fire the rocket’s four RS. -25 engines simultaneously to simulate stage operation during launch and generate 1.6 million pounds of thrust. ”
The the first attempt at the hot fire in mid-January did not go smoothly, while the missile stopped just over a minute in what should have been an eight-minute test.
In late January, NASA said it planned to conduct a second hot fire. The recovery test was originally scheduled for late February, but was delayed after engineers discovered that a valve – part of a system that supplies liquid oxygen to an engine – was not working properly. The SLS team has resolved the problem and repaired the valve.
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“After analyzing the initial data, the team determined that the shutdown after firing the engines for 67.2 seconds on January 16 was caused by test parameters that were deliberately conservative to ensure the safety of the core stage during the test”, NASA said in a statement Jan. 19. The agency aims to achieve eight minutes during the do-over.
NASA reported that the core stage, engines, and test bench were all in “excellent working order” and no major repairs were required for the next attempt. The second test seemed to work as expected and caused applause from the NASA team monitoring the exercise.
Although Artemis I will not have people on board, subsequent SLS missions will be responsible for escorting astronauts safely into space. “All SLS missiles use the same core design,” said NASA, “so a second Green Run fire will reduce the risk not only for Artemis I, but also for all future SLS missions.”
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