The Space Launch System, or SLS for short, is a vehicle developed by NASA that will lay the groundwork for human exploration of space beyond Earth’s orbit in the 21st century.
Up to now, SLS is the latest rocket that NASA has painstakingly developed for many years. The SLS is also the strongest, tallest, and heaviest in NASA history. What’s special about SLS is that whatever NASA has learned from previous rockets and space missions, especially those on the Moon, has been applied to improve the SLS rocket.
Given the rapid pace of things progressing for the SLS, the scheduled launch date for the Artemis I mission is highly likely to come just this year. Specifically what time period?
NASA DATES SLS FLYING
Since the lunar super rocket SLS (Space Launch System) and the SLS-mounted Orion spacecraft returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ( USA) on July 2, 2022, NASA engineers expanded the approach platforms around the rocket and spacecraft to perform repairs as well as perform final procedures before putting the rocket complex. The spacecraft returns to launch pad 39B for the Artemis I mission.
NASA’s director of exploration systems, Jim Free, said that the US space agency is targeting the launch of the world’s most powerful super rocket SLS between August 23, 2022 and September 6, 2022. Artemis I mission – The premise of the three-stage Artemis series to land a man on the Moon in the 21st century by 2025.
If the Artemis I mission is successful, it will set a record for sending a spacecraft (for astronauts, specifically the Orion) in space for the longest time ever.
In order to thoroughly prepare for the direct launch to the Moon of SLS (with Orion spacecraft without astronauts, mounted on top of SLS), NASA technicians are working hard on inspection work, testing and repairing equipment identified as the source of the hydrogen leak during SLS’s pre-launch exercise on June 20, 222.
Image of an SLS rocket with the Orion spacecraft (white) mounted on top, at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Source: NASA
Working in tandem with those repairs, engineers also performed final engineering checks that were left as part of an integration test in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).
In addition, launch teams also carried out previously planned work on the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. Engineers swapped a computer on the Interim Frozen Propulsion Stage (ICPS) that had been used in previous SLS pre-launch maneuvers – to a computer that would be used for the official flight. of the SLS in Artemis I.
“The launch team knew exactly what they needed to do when they brought the SLS back to the VAB after the June 20 pre-launch exercise. To get the SLS to the Moon, NASA’s director of exploration systems Jim Free said. We understand, there is no room for even the smallest error. Everything must be perfect.”
SLS & STARSHIP: WHAT FLYS FIRST?
After successfully completing pre-launch rehearsal for NASA’s SLS on June 20, 2022 – and when SpaceX’s Starship rocket received a favorable assessment from the US Federal Aviation Administration [that the construction, testing, testing and launching SpaceX’s Starship heavy lift vehicle from its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas (USA) will “have no significant environmental consequences” for surrounding sensitive areas] – it is possible See the world is witnessing an underground space race right in the US see SLS or Starship – two super rocket boosters – which will leave the ground first!
Starship is about 120 feet (120 m) tall. The SLS Block 1 configuration is 322 feet (100 m) tall. Which will fly first?
Starship is a giant rocket, almost as tall as a 30-story building, built entirely by the (private) American Space Exploration Technology Corporation. Starship intends to carry people and equipment beyond Earth orbit to destinations including the Moon, Mars and deeper space.
It is worth mentioning that Starship has been considered by NASA as the main support vehicle for the Artemis Program mission to bring astronauts back to the lunar surface. Specifically, NASA chose this system as the first human lander for Artemis.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said via Twitter that Starship will be ready for a test flight in orbit in July 2022. However, SpaceX still has to wait for the US Federal Aviation Administration to officially grant permission to fly.
Moreover, according to the news Elon Musk provided on July 11, Starship had an unexpected test.
A fireball erupted at the base of the Booster 7 booster – a prototype of the Super Heavy, the giant first stage for SpaceX’s next-generation Starship deep space transport system – during today’s test Monday (July 11) at the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas.
Starship’s ‘terrible’ Raptor rocket engine. Photo: Elon Musk
Space information, SpaceX is preparing Booster 7 for the first test flight of Starship. That landmark mission could launch in the near future, IF everything goes according to plan (and if Booster 7 isn’t badly damaged by the events of July 11). Likely, SpaceX will launch Starship by the end of summer 2022.
If the test orbital flight is successful, Starship will be a super rocket possessing more power and carrying capacity than any previous rocket in world history, even stronger than NASA’s legendary Saturn V. (the rocket that brought Apollo 11 astronauts to the Moon in 1969).
The Starship system consists of a Super Heavy rocket and a Starship spacecraft (with the same name as the system). When fully stacked, the Starship System will weigh up to 5,000 tons and be 120 meters tall. Both will be fully and rapidly reused, potentially making travel to Mars and other ambitious space exploration feats economically viable, Elon Musk said.
Unlike other rockets (using 2 to 4 engines), the system of the super rocket Starship is much more complicated because the number of engines currently available is up to 33 Raptor rocket engines. That’s why Elon Musk calls his Starship rocket “a rather complicated monster”.
