NASA to Conduct Second SLS Rocket Test; Will The Rocket Send People to Moon in 2024?

NASA will perform the second Green Run hot fire test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's core stage.

(Photo: NASA/Isaac Watson)
Stacking is complete for the twin Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters for NASA’s Artemis I mission.

On Monday, the agency said that a two-hour test window would be held at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on Thursday, March 18 at 3 p.m. ET.

The 212-foot tall central stage's tanks will be filled with more than 700,000 gallons of supercold fuel so that it can fire its four engines without ever blasting off.

NPR says NASA intends to simulate what will happen at the mission's first flight, which will be a mission to take a capsule around the moon and back without a crew.

The SLS rocket core stage built in the restored B-2 Test Stand is the agency's tallest rocket stage ever. Engines, a liquid hydrogen tank, a liquid oxygen tank, batteries, avionics, and computers make up the aircraft.

NASA's acting administrator Steve Jurczyk, the lunar mission is currently scheduled for November, and this rocket "will be the most powerful rocket ever produced."

He states that the simulation could last about eight minutes to approximate this rocket stage's whole flight profile but that the absolute minimum is about four minutes. If all goes according to plan, the rocket will be transported to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where most of the launch hardware is already in place.

ALSO READ: NASA Stacks Twin Boosters for Space Launch System Rocket

Why Is This Green Run Experiment Important?

Green Run experiments, of which there are eight, are vital to the performance of NASA's next lunar missions because the core stage architecture will be included in all versions of the SLS rocket.

The word "green" refers to the new hardware that powers the level, while "run" means that all of the components work together for the first time.

The hot-fire test is the eighth and final in the Green Run sequence, Fox News said. It may or may not guarantee that the core stage could launch NASA's Artemis lunar missions.

"The SLS core stage is an engineering feat that includes not only the largest rocket propellant tanks ever built but also sophisticated avionics and main propulsion systems," Lisa Bates, SLS deputy stages manager, said in a July 2019 release.

"While the rocket is designed to evolve over time for different mission objectives, the core stage design will remain basically the same. The Green Run acceptance test gives NASA the confidence needed to know the new core stage will perform again and again as it is intended."

Stennis Space Center Director Richard Gilbrech said in the same statement that the Green Run is a landmark moment for NASA and Stennis for various reasons.

He said the Stennis test stands would once again test the central stage for Moon launches, marking the first time in NASA history that a space vehicle will use flight hardware for its first test.

The stage will be validated and refurbished as required before being delivered to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the Artemis 1 mission.

NASA plans to air live coverage of Thursday's hot-fire drill on NASA Television, the NASA app, social media, and the agency's website, as well as a two-hour briefing on the test.

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