Tag: QM-2
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QM-2 booster pulled apart for examination as SLS pair continue to take shape
With a series of successful test firings completed by Orbital ATK, engineers are gaining confidence in how their five segment boosters will perform in their role in helping the Space Launch System (SLS) push through first stage flight. With the first two flight boosters in production, Orbital ATK is also disassembling the QM-2 motor, which…
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High-tech camera records rocket test in never-before-seen detail
A major booster test for NASA’s Space Launch System in June doubled as a demonstration of a new high dynamic range video recorder that captured unprecedented imagery of the rocket firing, revealing hidden details normally masked by the motor’s bright-hot exhaust. Developed by engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, the high-tech camera is…
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Photos: SLS test booster ignited in Utah
Pushing out a brilliant plume of nearly 5,000-degree exhaust, a test booster for NASA’s Space Launch System fired in Utah for more than two minutes Tuesday to verify the upgraded space shuttle-era solid rocket motor is ready to help send astronauts into deep space. The 154-foot-long (47-meter) booster ignited at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1405 GMT;…
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Space Launch System booster fired in final preflight qualification test
The 154-foot-long solid rocket motor ignited at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1505 GMT) in Promontory, Utah. Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News A solid-fueled rocket motor mounted horizontally on a Utah hillside ignited and powered up to more than 3 million pounds of thrust Tuesday in a final full-up test-firing before a similar booster helps propel NASA’s…
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Huge solid rocket booster to be test-fired Tuesday
The qualification motor for Tuesday’s Space Launch System booster test sits at Orbital ATK’s test site in Utah. Credit: Orbital ATK A 154-foot-long (47-meter) solid rocket booster will be ignited for two minutes Tuesday at a remote test site in Utah, wrapping up a series of five ground firings to prove the motor’s readiness for…
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Orbital ATK prepares for QM-2 test of SLS Solid Rocket Booster in spring 2016
As work progresses around the country toward the debut of NASA’s SLS rocket in 2018, Orbital ATK is preparing for the final qualification test of the five segment Solid Rocket Booster motor that will power the SLS through first stage flight. That second qualification test, known as QM-2, is targeted for late spring 2016 at the…