NASA plans to fire its massive SLS lunar rocket this month

NASA has high hopes for 2021, and one of its main goals is to launch Artemis I, an unequipped lunar mission meant to show that its Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket will be able to send humans to our lunar neighbor. But first, NASA plans to make some noise with a fiery SLS test this month.

NASA is nearing the end of the Green Run test series that puts the main stage – which the agency describes as “the backbone of the SLS rocket” – to the test before it actually launches that boulder in. the future.

The eighth and final part of the series of tests could take place as early as January 17, when NASA starts a scorching fire.

“The next hot-shot test will simultaneously fire all four RS-25 stage engines for eight minutes to simulate main stage performance at launch,” NASA said in a statement Tuesday.

SLS has experienced delays during its development, but it is still at the heart of NASA’s ambitious plans to bring humans back to the moon by 2024 through the Artemis program. A report from last year question this date based on program costs, SLS setbacks, and planning for the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Test fires are a lot of fun, as we saw last year when a The SLS booster lit up the Utah desert and turned the sand into glass.

The SLS Green Run test will take place at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, and it comes after NASA fixed an unexpected issue with a previous test, a wet dress rehearsal that “marked the first time that both fully loaded and drained. huge tanks of the SLS center stage. “

The wet dress rehearsal was halted a bit early, but NASA traced the problem to a timing issue which was corrected later and should not affect the burning fire. If all goes well, NASA will still be on track for a possible late 2021 launch of Artemis I.

Each successful test puts the moon a little closer to human hands.