If at first you don't succeed: Engineers power up the computers of NASA's monster SLS core stage once again
- Reference: 1616003464
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/03/17/sls_green_run_2/
- Source link:
The milestone came a fortnight after engineers [2]completed the assembly of the twin solid rocket boosters atop the mobile launcher currently sat inside Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building. The first of the 10 booster segments was placed back in November last year, and the final nose assembly was dropped into place on 2 March.
[3]
Those boosters are, however, missing a key ingredient: the SLS core stage, which continues to languish on the B-2 test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
Once managers give the nod on the test day, the stage's tanks will be filled with 700,000 gallons of propellant. Six barges loaded with liquid oxygen and hydrogen will supply the test stand. Each barge represents between 18 and 20 tanker trucks' worth of propellant.
[4]
The previous run suffered a [5]premature cut-off when "intentionally conservative" test parameters resulted in a shutdown of the four ex-Space Shuttle engines at the 67.2 second mark.
While useful data was collected, a lengthier burn was deemed essential in order to validate the system. At least four minutes of firing is required, and the full eight minutes of a simulated launch would be ideal, before the final tick can be made on the Green Run list.
NASA had hopes of launching the uncrewed Artemis I to the Moon this year, although this is looking increasingly unlikely following, firstly, the requirement to repeat the hotfire and, more recently, a delay for the repeat run caused by the need to repair a liquid oxygen valve on the stage.
Should tomorrow's test go well, NASA estimates it will take about a month to refurbish the core stage and its engines before shipping the hardware to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will finally be mated to the waiting solid rocket boosters.
[6]
Still, ongoing delays to Artemis aside, the activation of the stage's computers indicates that the test is imminent. [7]What could possibly go wrong? ®
Get our [8]Tech Resources
[1] https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/2021/03/16/green-run-update-power-up-started-for-hot-fire-test/
[2] https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/2021/03/09/mammoth-artemis-i-rocket-boosters-stacked-on-mobile-launcher/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YFKKC1qDzwg5MVOsY@lGogAAAE8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YFKKC1qDzwg5MVOsY@lGogAAAE8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/01/nasa_sls_hotfire_2/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YFKKC1qDzwg5MVOsY@lGogAAAE8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/1372192709465796615
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: What could possibly go wrong?
From whose perspective?
Boeing? Hardly - they're (re)using those propellant barges to move their massive cost plus payments so they don't care. It's also the closest to booster reuse they'll ever get.
NASA? Well they care - but they are at the mercy of congress critters who are using public money to fund re-election campaigns in the districts that make the bits.
SpaceX? The company doesn't really GaS although they're largely staffed with space geeks who want all rockets to succeed. They've got boosters almost as powerful that you can order more or less off the shelf (and re-use them) which would easily cope with the early Artemis loads (note - I think they would have issues with the capsule width though) and by the time Boeing et-al get Artemis II payloads ready I strongly suspect the Starship booster will be firing.
Blue Origin? Boeing/ULA MK2 - just funded by Bezos rather than the taxpayer. They'll probably have something in orbit around Earth by the time NASA are around the Moon and SpaceX around Mars.
Anyone living within 20 miles of the test? I suspect that they have ear plugs and strong windows.
Tech Support
Try turning it off and on again.
2H10?
"We are holding at 30 seconds while Windows downloads and installs the latest update."
Fair warning, I'm one of those "space geeks who want all rockets to succeed" so I wish them luck. They'll need it.
What could possibly go wrong?
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