Tag: SLS
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NASA boss Bolden goes head to head with lawmakers over FY13 budget
Wednesday marked a busy day of political argument between lawmakers and NASA administrator Charlie Bolden, with a notable focus on the battleground of providing required funding for the Space Launch System (SLS), Orion and the Commercial Crew effort. Lawmakers stressed concerns about funding being taken away from SLS to boost the Commercial Crew account. Full…
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Major KSC refurbishment work continuing ahead of SLS and Orion debuts
A significant amount of refurbishment work is taking place at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), as the spaceport prepares to welcome the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) to the world-famous launch site. Work is taking place throughout the center, with the focus on the refurbishment being conducted on SLS’ launch pad, Pad 39B.…
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Exploration Mission 1: SLS and Orion mission to the Moon outlined
The debut of the Space Launch System (SLS) will send the Orion (MPCV) on a 7-10 day mission to the Moon, with an aim to qualify the Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV) and Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) Orion to carry humans into deep space. Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) involves sending Orion around the far side…
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Acronyms to Ascent – SLS managers create development milestone roadmap
This year will mark several major milestones for the development of the Space Launch System (SLS), with teams already pushing through a systems review process. The roadmap – which may include a “battleship” pathfinder core test at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in 2015 – runs through the opening mission in 2017, which has been named as Exploration Mission…
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Space Launch System: How to launch NASA’s new monster rocket
With the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) falling silent after the retirement of the Space Shuttle, it’ll be at least five years before the public will see the iconic sight of NASA’s follow-on vehicle rising off the launch pad. Interestingly, the Space Launch System (SLS) will follow some of the Shuttle’s heritage of “Flight Operations” –…
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NASA outline FY13 Budget Proposal amid warnings of political battles to come
The US space agency announced a reduced FY13 budget proposal on Monday, with planetary science becoming this year’s major casualty. The Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion – as exploration – also received cuts, leading to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison issuing a warning that NASA should not cut any money from the Agency’s exploration vehicles.…
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SLS interest in DoD launch market and Secondary Payloads potential
The Space Launch System (SLS) teams are looking into the potential of finding extra roles for the vehicle, in addition to – or in tandem with – the flagship exploration missions, noting its availabity for Department of Defense (DoD) payloads and even what is known as “Secondary Payloads” – allowing satellites to hitch a ride…
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Aerojet cite Solar Electric Propulsion as an enabler for an Exploration Gateway
Aerojet – famous for being a key element of numerous launch vehicle and satellite propulsion systems – believe their Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) technology can be positively applied to an Exploration Gateway Platform – which has been touted as a potential – and often favored – approach in NASA’s ongoing studies into a long-term exploration…
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SLS Exploration Roadmap evaluations provide clues for human Mars missions
As NASA managers continue to work through the evaluations into an exploration roadmap for the agency, the end goal of sending humans to Mars is starting to show a level of consistency. Per documentation, the key Design Reference Mission (DRM) evaluations are pointing to the “Flexible Path” approach of visiting a Martian moon, prior to…
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Engineers begin removing orbiter MPS components for donation to SLS
Kennedy Space Center engineers have begun removing Main Propulsion System (MPS) hardware from the aft of the retired orbiters. The flight-flown hardware – a natural match to the RS-25Ds the SLS will initially fly with – will live on with the monster rocket, as much as some of the orbiter hardware will be focused on…