NASASpace Launch System (SLS) rocket heart rate fired its four RS-25 engines on March 18 at the Stennis Space Center near St. Louis Bay. Louis, Mississippi.
The main stage includes the smelting hydrogen tank and smelting oxygen tank, four RS-25 engines, and the computers, electronics, and avionics that are the “brains” of the rocket.
The hot fire was the final test of the Green Run series. The term “green” refers to the new hardware working together to power the platform, and “running” refers to working all the parts together. at the same time for the first time. For the test, the 212-foot heart rate generated 1.6 million pounds of effort, while anchored in the B-2 Test Center at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near St. Louis Bay. Louis, Mississippi. The hot fire test involved loading 733,000 gallons of dissolved oxygen and dissolved hydrogen – as a mirror of the count-down mode – and lighting the engines.
The main stage for the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is seen in Test Center B-2 during a second hot fire test, Thursday, March 18, 2021, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near St. John’s Bay. . Louis, Mississippi. The four RS-25 engines fired for a full 8 minutes during the test and generated 1.6 million pounds of effort. The hot fire test is the final stage of the Green Run test series, a complete evaluation of the main stage of the Space Launch System before the launch of Artemis I mission to the Moon. Credit: NASA / Robert Markowitz
Artemis I is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions, testing the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft as a unified system ahead of crew flights to the Moon. Under the Artemis program, NASA is working to land the first and next woman on the Moon. SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon on a single mission.
Read Mega Moon Rocket Passes Key Test, Readies for Launch for more on this SLS premium test.