Month: March 2021

Green Run Update: Power Up Started for Hot Fire Test

Engineers have initiated power up of the flight computes and avionics for the Artemis I core stage. This begins the countdown for the hot fire test with the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket scheduled for Thursday, March 18.

Before the test, the management team in the Test Control Center at the B test complex will provide approval to proceed into the test. One of the first actions on hot fire day will be to load the stage’s huge tanks with more than 700,000 gallons of propellant. Six barges filled with liquid hydrogen and oxygen will supply the propellant to the B-2 test stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where the Green Run tests are taking place. The engines use cryogenic, or supercooled, liquid hydrogen as fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidizer to create combustion.

To fill each of the six barges, three for liquid oxygen and three for liquid hydrogen, it required 18 to 20 tanker trucks worth of propellant. The barges are towed by tug from a fuel depot at Stennis to the B-2 stand.

In this video, SLS Stages Manager Julie Bassler, describes avionics and flight software testing conducted in the Systems Integration Laboratory at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to support Green Run. The computers and avionics are the “brains” of the rocket, and they control the core stage systems during the test, just like they will be required to control the rocket during the Artemis I flight.

Learn more about Green Run, and check back at this blog for updates on the SLS core stage hot fire test.

Green Run Update: NASA Targets March 18 for SLS Hot Fire Test

NASA is targeting Thursday, March 18 for the second hot fire of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s core stage at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

After performing tests to demonstrate that a recently repaired liquid oxygen pre-valve was working, the team has continued to prepare the core stage, its four RS-25 engines, and the B-2 test stand for the second hot fire at Stennis. Later this week, the team will power up the core stage again and do a final check of all its systems. Then, on March 16, two days before the test, they will power up the stage, starting the clock for the second hot fire.

Test Like you Fly Infographic
This infographic explains the objectives of the Space Launch System rocket’s core stage Green Run test series.

This hot fire is the last test before the Artemis I core stage is shipped to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center for assembly and integration with the rest of the rocket’s major elements and the Orion spacecraft. Exploration Ground Systems teams at Kennedy have stacked all parts of the solid rocket boosters for Artemis I in the Vehicle Assembly Building and are finishing up booster assembly. After the core stage arrives, it will be lifted and placed between the two boosters and attached at the core stage engine and intertank sections. Other parts of the rocket and the Orion spacecraft are also at Kennedy and are being prepared for final assembly and integration.

NASA’s SLS rocket is the most powerful rocket in the world, built to send both astronauts aboard Orion and supplies on missions to the Moon and beyond. The Green Run is a comprehensive test of the SLS core stage, a complex new rocket stage that not only includes four RS-25 engines and enormous propellant tanks that hold more than 700,000 gallons of super cold propellant, but also flight computers and avionics that control the first eight minutes of flight. The Green Run test series will help validate that the SLS core stage is ready for its first flight on Artemis I and subsequent missions.

Check back at this blog for an update on core stage power up for the second Green Run hot fire. For more information about SLS Green Run, visit https://www.nasa.gov/artemisprogram/greenrun

Mammoth Artemis I Rocket Boosters Stacked on Mobile Launcher

The Space Launch System boosters are stacked on the mobile launcher inside the Vehicle Assembly Building.
The Space Launch System twin solid rocket boosters are fully assembled and stacked on the mobile launcher inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 3, 2021. Photo credit: NASA/Isaac Watson

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Stacking is complete for the twin Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters for NASA’s Artemis I mission. Over several weeks, workers used one of five massive cranes to place 10 booster segments and nose assemblies on the mobile launcher inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Engineers with Exploration Ground Systems placed the first segment on Nov. 21, 2020, and continued the process until the final nose assembly was placed on March 2.

Prior to the arrival of the core stage, the team will finish installing electrical instrumentation and pyrotechnics, then test the systems on the boosters. When the SLS core stage arrives at Kennedy, technicians will transport it to the VAB and then stack it on the mobile launcher between the two boosters.

The SLS will be the most powerful rocket in the world, producing up to 8.8 million pounds of thrust during its Artemis I launch.

“Seeing the Space Launch System solid rocket boosters stacked completely on the Mobile Launcher for the first time makes me proud of the entire team especially  the Exploration Ground Systems crew at Kennedy who are assembling them and also the teams at Marshall and Northrop Grumman who designed, tested and built them,” said Bruce Tiller, the SLS boosters manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. “This team has created the tallest, most powerful boosters ever built for flight, boosters that will help launch the Artemis I mission to the Moon.”

Artemis I will be an uncrewed test of the Orion spacecraft and SLS rocket as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA aims to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon  and establish sustainable lunar exploration.

Green Run Update: Engineers Repair Valve for Mid-March Hot Fire Test

Engineers have successfully repaired a liquid oxygen valve on the Space Launch System rocket’s core stage with subsequent checks confirming the valve to be operating properly. The team plans to power up the core stage for remaining functional checks later this week before moving forward with final preparations for a hot fire test in mid-March at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. NASA anticipates setting a target date for the hot fire next week.

Propellant barges docked near the B-2 Test Stand Last week during checkouts for the second hot fire test, data indicated the valve (a type of valve called a pre-valve) was not working properly. The valve is part of the core stage’s main propulsion system and is opened at the beginning of the test and closed if necessary to stop the flow of liquid oxygen from the core stage propellant tank to the respective RS-25 engine during the hot fire.

While the valve was repaired over the weekend, the team continued to prepare the core stage, its four RS-25 engines, and the B-2 test stand for the second hot fire at Stennis. This hot fire test will be the last test before the Artemis I core stage is shipped to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center for assembly and integration with the rest of the rocket’s major elements and the Orion spacecraft.

Please check back at this blog for an update on the date NASA is targeting for the second Green Run hot fire. For more information about SLS Green Run, visit https://www.nasa.gov/artemisprogram/greenrun

Artemis I Boosters Reach New Heights

Space Launch System boosters for the Artemis I mission are stacked in the Vehicle Assembly Building.
In High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the left-hand and right-hand forward segments are secured on top of the center forward segments on the mobile launcher (ML) for the Space Launch System (SLS) on Feb. 24, 2021. Photo credit: NASA/Glenn Benson

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters have grown taller with the addition of the fifth and final pair of motor segments in preparation for the launch of Artemis I later this year. At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers with Exploration Ground Systems lowered the final solid rocket booster into place on the mobile launcher on Feb. 23. Up next, the nose assemblies will be placed atop the segments to complete the boosters. The twin boosters will power the first flight of the agency’s new deep space rocket during the launch of Artemis I. This mission is an uncrewed flight to test the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system, preparing the way for Artemis II and other crewed flights to the Moon.