Tag: SLS

AIAA Statement on the Successful Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage “Green Run” Testing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 18, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) congratulates NASA on its successful “Green Run” test firing today. AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement:

“The completion of the ‘Green Run’ test marks the completion of all testing on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket Core Stage – we now have hardware testing proof that America is ready to take our next steps to the moon and Mars.

“The core stage is the element of the system that gives it the main push to get astronauts and large payloads to the moon, Mars and beyond. This is the large ‘moving van’ needed to get people and material to places beyond low Earth orbit. It will allow the United States to build large new outposts on and near the moon and Mars more simply and more efficiently.

“This rocket is designed to take us to the moon and Mars, it provides a fundamental new capability that will also enable us to retain and grow U.S. leadership in space.

“I want to recognize the countless AIAA members involved in all aspects of the supply chain in this endeavor, including those who have helped design, build and test SLS. We salute and applaud the professional, young professional and corporate members for their important contributions to this much needed capability.”

AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270.

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

NASA to Perform Hot-Fire Test of Heavy-Lift Rocket Thursday

Spaceflight Now reports that NASA plans to ignite the core stage of the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket Thursday “to confirm it is ready for shipment to the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations.” The hot-fire test is scheduled for a two-hour window beginning at 3 p.m. EDT at NASA’s Stennis Space Center on a B-2 stand. The rocket’s “four liquid-fueled Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines will fire for about eight minutes, the same time they will fire when the Space Launch System blasts off from the Kennedy Space Center,” if successful. Once testing is complete, the core stage will be inspected by ground crews before shipment to Florida “for attachment to the rocket’s two side-mounted solid rocket boosters, upper stage, and an Orion capsule the SLS will propel on a mission to the moon.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

SLS Exploration Upper Stage Passes NASA Critical Design Review

Space News reports that The Boeing Company announced Monday that the Exploration Upper Stage of the Space Launch System completed a critical design review with NASA that “confirmed the design of the EUS, allowing Boeing to proceed with development of the stage, including hardware fabrication.” The EUS, which has larger tanks and uses four Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engines, “will be used on the Block 1B variant of SLS, replacing the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) used on the initial Block 1 version of the SLS and based on the Delta 4 upper stage.” The Block 1B variant can place 38 metric tons onto a translunar injection trajectory, an increase from Block 1’s performance of 27 metric tons. This will “enable SLS Block 1B missions launching Orion spacecraft to carry additional ‘co-manifested’ payloads, such as components for the lunar Gateway.”
Full Story (Space News)