Tag: SLS
-
Exploration Ground Systems, Jacobs practice building SLS boosters in the VAB
NASA Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and prime test and operations contractor Jacobs are busy practicing how to put Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB) together in High Bay 4 of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Working with inert motor segments and booster hardware, the EGS and Jacobs team are…
-
NASA requests alternative options to RS-25s on SLS core stage – RS-25 will remain uncontested
In the latest of a series of Request For Information (RFI) filings, NASA has called for alternative options to the RS-25 engine that will power the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS). The RFI appears to be aimed at engines to be used after the RS-25Ds left over from the Space Shuttle era…
-
EM-1 Update: Making progress, but still behind schedule
Top NASA human exploration administrators briefed the Human Exploration Operations (HEO) committee of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) on March 26, providing an update on development, testing, and preparations for the first integrated flight of the Orion crew spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) is currently expected to launch in…
-
NASA courts commercial options for Lunar Landers
As NASA refocuses – once again – on returning to the Lunar surface, the agency has published a Request For Information (RFI) that will be used to gauge interest from the private/commercial space sector in building domestic lunar landers. The request points to an evolution of concept, with small-scale cargo landers being used to prove the…
-
Pegasus ships latest SLS test article to NASA Marshall for key tests
After a week and a half long river trip on Pegasus, the second of four Core Stage structural test articles (STA) arrived at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to start final preparations for a series of structural tests planned to begin this Summer. The Space Launch System (SLS) Program completed construction of…
-
NASA, Boeing rewriting the book on building the SLS Core Stage
NASA and Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage prime contractor Boeing are making progress building their first vehicle, learning how to put it together and rewriting the assembly instructions on the fly. The major elements of Core Stage-1 (CS-1) and its companion structural test articles (STA) are being built up in work areas at the…
-
RS-25 hot fire pushes SLS engine to record 113 percent thrust level
An RS-25 engine throttled up to 113 percent of rated power for the first time in a milestone test-firing on Wednesday. Development Engine 0528 (E0528) was hot fired for about four minutes in the A-1 test stand at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi to give NASA and prime contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne a first look…
-
NASA releases Request For Information for new Orion Service Module engine
NASA has released a Request For Information for a new engine the agency will use on the Orion European Service Module beginning with EM-6 (Exploration Mission 6). The Request For Information states that the engine is needed by mid-2024 in order to support the EM-6 flight of the Space Launch System, which under the currently…
-
RS-25 fires up again to continue 3D printed Pogo testing
NASA and prime contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne are continuing a fast pace of RS-25 test firings with another single engine test on Thursday afternoon. Following a little more than two weeks after the last test, Development Engine 0528 (E0528) ran through its test in the A-1 test stand at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Another…
-
RS-25 hot fire opens 2018 testing for SLS engines
The RS-25 test team conducted their first hot-fire test of the year in the A-1 test stand at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The Tuesday afternoon test continued development work started with Development Engine 0528 (E0528) in last month’s hot-fire. The six-minute long firing put the new, “3D printed” pogo accumulator assembly through a…