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Anyone dreaming of seeing humans traveling on Mars will be happy to hear that NASA has just provided a detailed update on the progress of the vehicle that could get us there. According to NASA, the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion crew capsule are getting closer.
NASA gave a rough idea of when it was actually planning to see the two spacecraft heading towards the sky, with an unmanned test flight tentatively scheduled for 2020 and a manned mission around the Moon scheduled for 2023.
All eyes are on the partnership between SpaceX and NASA in recent weeks. The launch, stowage and landing of the Crew Dragon spacecraft have strengthened hopes that NASA will have its own launch system ready for flight testing.
The crew, along with Boeing's Starliner, will give NASA the ability to send astronauts to the International Space Station whenever necessary, but the Agency's ambitions for deep space require something much more robust.
This is where the Space Launch System, or SLS, comes in. The SLS is NASA's big gamble on traveling to far-flung spaces. This massive launch vehicle will give NASA the power to send manned missions to the Moon and eventually to other planets.
A test scheduled for June will test the safety measures of the Orion crew capsule. The launch abandonment system, which is used in the event of a serious rocket failure, moves the vehicle away from some of the ruins and allows it to return to Earth safely. The test will not include the SLS rocket, but the Orion will be attached to an amplifier that will send it up to an altitude of 31,000 feet so engineers can make sure that the abandonment system works as expected under load.
Meanwhile, the SLS is still in the construction phase, with the engineers developing the structure and adapters to fit it perfectly, and NASA seems confident that the multi-billion dollar mission is preparing well.
Source of image: NASA
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