Artemis

During NASA’s Green Run hot fire test, the team will be especially interested in several key operations when testing the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage under conditions it may experience during a variety of deep space missions.

Green Run, an end-to-end system test of the core stage with Artemis I flight hardware, will help validate the core stage design. One of the main questions Green Run will answer is: How does the integrated core stage perform during a series of dynamic operations it may experience during launch and ascent to deep space? The test is not only for environments and operations that the rocket’s core stage will encounter on Artemis I, but also for those it will undergo during future missions.

This video explains more about the operations occurring during the Green Run hot fire.

Hot fire day begins with filling the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks with more than 700,000 gallons of propellant. After the supercold propellant is loaded and the core stage systems are conditioned to cryogenic temperatures as low as minus 423 degtrees Fahrenheit, the test conductor will poll the team. When everything is ready, they will proceed with the terminal countdown that includes the final 10 minutes before the hot fire. During the terminal countdown, the team will initiate the autonomous launch sequence that simulates the countdown for the Artemis I launch. Then, the test transitions from ground control to on-board software control of the core stage so that the test is fully automated starting at T-30 seconds.

The core stage RS-25 engine ignition starts at approximately six seconds before T-0, beginning with Engine 1, followed by Engines 3, 4, and 2, each ignited in sequence a few hundredths of a second apart. Recording data on how the stage performs at T-0 and as the engines ramp up to 109 percent power is one critical test operation. Another is when the engines are throttled down to 95 percent, just as they are throttled down in flight at Max-Q, or maximum dynamic pressure when aerodynamic forces put the greatest stress on the rocket.

The team will also test the margins of the core stage thrust vector control system that gimbals, or moves, each engine in a specific pattern. Each engine has its own thrust vector control system that is essential for moving the engine to control the rocket’s flight. Depending on the trajectory flown, the thrust vector control system can gimbal the engines to direct thrust and thus the rocket’s path. The first gimbaling occurs a little over a minute into the test.

An important part of the hot fire occurs when this system begins rapidly moving the engines in specific patterns that are more extreme than those planned for Artemis missions. This occurs around 2 minutes and 10 seconds into the test. This test is called the frequency response test because it measures the stage’s frequency as the thrust vector control system gimbals the engine. The test ensures the thrust vector control system’s response is demonstrated under a variety of flight-like conditions. This is a very dynamic portion of the core stage hot fire test and understanding the thrust vector control system and the core stage’s response across a range of frequencies is important to understand the stage’s performance during flight.

To ensure SLS can safely send humans to space, NASA will use data from the Green Run test campaign, along with modeling and analysis, to show the core stage design can fly not only on Artemis I, but also for many deep space missions.

For updates on Green Run progress, check back at this blog. NASA TV coverage will begin about 30 minutes before the test. For more information about SLS Green Run, visit https://www.nasa.gov/artemisprogram/greenrun

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.

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

NASA and Space Launch System (SLS) core stage prime contractor Boeing are thoroughly examining a liquid oxygen valve inside the stage’s engine section in order to identify repairs needed before a second hot fire with the Artemis I stage.

During preparations for the second hot fire, data indicated the valve was not opening correctly. Technicians installed platforms that allow engineers to access the valve inside the core stage engine section while the stage remains in the B-2 stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. After completion of troubleshooting, which will continue over the weekend, NASA will be in a better position to identify a potential date for the second hot fire test.

This valve, called a pre-valve, must be fully operational during hot fire testing. The valve is part of the core stage main propulsion system, and it helps deliver liquid oxygen propellant flowing from the liquid oxygen tank to an RS-25 engine. For the first hot fire on Jan. 16, all four liquid oxygen pre-valves performed as expected as did all four liquid hydrogen pre-valves.

The Green Run is a comprehensive series of tests for the SLS core stage before it launches the Artemis missions to the Moon, and the hot fire is the final and most intensive test. The Green Run tests have provided invaluable information on how the new rocket stage operates before it is used to launch the Artemis I mission.

Check back at this blog for an update on actions needed to resolve the issue, as well as the schedule for the hot fire test. For more information about SLS Green Run, visit https://www.nasa.gov/artemisprogram/greenrun